Calf without Mom

carltonkaye · #1 01/15/14, 03:46 PM

Bull calf is 3 months old. His mom died of unknown causes yesterday. Give him milk replacer or hospital milk? I have raised bottle calves before and they get weaned between 8-12 weeks. I also have cow/calf pairs and wean at or around 6 months, depending on the calf. But with him being used to cows milk for 3 months, is it safe to switch him right over to MR or wait another day and see if he feeds off of another cow? Thanks in advance!

G. Seddon · #2 01/15/14, 04:02 PM

Never raised a bottle calf myself, but if he's actually 3 months old, I think I'd offer him a good quality calf starter (in a pen separate from the others so they can't steal it) and gradually increase the amount; he also needs good quality hay and loose minerals. It might take a while to accustom him to this, but if he's hungry, he'll figure it out. He might also find another cow who's willing to share; you'll just have to watch and see. It would probably be difficult to switch him to a bottle at this point.

Might be advisable to find out why his dam died!

Oakshire_Farm · #3 01/15/14, 06:35 PM

I would just leave him, he is old enough to be weaned. Is he running with a herd of cow/calf pairs? He may start snacking off other cows.

carltonkaye · #4 01/15/14, 06:51 PM

He was born October 20th. Ok thanks!

Yes, he is running with a herd of cow/calf pairs. I'm guessing he will start snacking. My cows seem to be good with any calf feeding from them.

Checked him today. Besides yelling a lot, he looks good. Still eating hay, drinking water. He is a pretty plump calf.

Oakshire_Farm · #5 01/15/14, 06:59 PM

O would leave him with the herd, he will figure it out and be just fine.

carltonkaye · #6 01/15/14, 07:02 PM

Looking into reasons for the sudden death of the dam. Besides an occasional cough, she was fine. When we found her at the top of the pasture she had blood at her rear. Has anybody else had this happen? 3 months after calving. Didn't get the afterbirth out and got infected? Anthrax? Ideas?? Not sure what other info to give, so ask questions.

carltonkaye · #7 01/15/14, 07:03 PM

Sounds good! Thanks OakshireFarm!

randiliana · #8 01/16/14, 12:00 PM

Personally I would bring him in, a calf that old IS old enough to wean, but unless you are creepfeeding your calves he'll have a hard time getting enough quality food to eat. Especially this time of year. He may start stealing, or he may not... some don't want anything to do with any cow other than mama, or he may get kicked good by the first couple cows that he tries and he will quit trying. Or you may get lucky and he finds a easy cow. But then you have him stealing from another calf. I guess that is up to you.

It has been my experience that calves that young really aren't ready to wean unless you are able to feed them grain. Their rumens really aren't totally developed at this point which is why bottle fed calves are given grain, he's not much difference. I prefer not to have a calf out in the herd that is stealing, that means he is taking away from some other calf, and you end up with 2 smaller calves rather than 1. And if they don't steal (and usually even if they do) they end up pot bellied little runts, that often will never catch up to their mates.

randiliana · #9 01/16/14, 12:01 PM

Oh, and at this point, the chances of you getting them to suck a bottle is pretty small, it might happen, but not without a lot of work.

carltonkaye · #10 01/16/14, 01:09 PM

Ok thanks. I'll work on figuring out a way to get him grain.

The dam died from an infected uterus.
Lesson learned. Will be treating other moms with "uterus cleaning" pill.

Athena · #11 01/16/14, 01:36 PM

I had one die last year when the calf was ten weeks old and we put him in a race and two of us got a bottle down him. Next feed it was easier and by the fourth, he was looking for the teat. We fed him to six months (cow's milk) and he was the same weight as the others weaned from the cows then.

A previous experience with a seven week old, we had no milk and had to buy MR. He didn't do nearly as well, but he would have been much poorer had we not given him anything.

Most of my cows won't let another calf steal - only the naive young heifers don't seem to notice.

That's a long time for an infection to kill a cow! You got a PM?

carltonkaye · #12 01/16/14, 04:02 PM

Ok yeah. I haven't seen him eat off of anybody yet, so I have a decision to make.

What does PM mean on here? Private message?

Athena · #13 01/16/14, 05:27 PM

Post mortem.

carltonkaye · #14 01/16/14, 11:21 PM

Tuesday morning.

carltonkaye · #15 01/16/14, 11:24 PM

No didn't have an autopsy. We brought in a local experienced farmer. Didn't even finish explaining the cows story and he said he had seen it before and knows the condition to be an infection in the uterus.

Athena · #16 01/16/14, 11:49 PM

Oh. I wouldn't put money on it without having cut her open. How long was she sick? Or did you not see that she was?

carltonkaye · #17 01/17/14, 12:27 AM

She wasn't sick, at least not visibly.

carltonkaye · #18 01/17/14, 01:28 AM

I'm not saying I'm totally positive what happened. But it makes the most sense. She had blood "pouring" out of her vagina which was wide open (?). I am all ears to what others think happened.

I wasn't there for the delivery. Missed it by a few hours by the look of things.

That's the plan, to put the "cleaning" pill in after a cow calves. Seems to be a safe route to go but still looking into it.

Yeah the calf is doing great!

carltonkaye · #19 01/17/14, 02:07 AM

Not offended. Keeping an open mind. Just trying to get ideas, and hope it's not something that will spread through the herd.

Yeah, I walk around the farm multiple times a day checking on everybody. We have 50 head in all.

Found what I think was a mucus plug by the barn, but a calf was born that same morning from a different cow. Didn't see any obvious signs from the now dead cow. Yeah, not sure she discarded the afterbirth.

Ok true, makes sense. I'll keep researching the cleaning pill and ask a vet when the next calf comes. Thanks!

carltonkaye · #20 01/17/14, 02:13 AM

Exactly

Thanks!