I am being out smarted by a calf!

Lady89 · #1 05/06/14, 03:51 PM

So my 2 ½ month old battle calf has learned a new trick he now refuses to drink water from a bucket. It is a large mouthed bucket with plenty of room for him to drink without his ears or head touching the sides and he knows how to drink from it I have watched him do so from well berth. But as of late he has got in his head that he does not like it and knocks the bucket over at least once a day. He will take a little water from a bottle but not nearly enough to keep him hydrated. So I went and got a nipple bucket and filled it with water, thinking he might find suckling enjoyable enough to get him to drink, but he turned his nose up at it. I tried cutting his milk a bit and seeing if that would make him thirsty enough to try it but he just got really dehydrated and ended up peeing blood. So now that the weather is getting hot I am giving this calf a gal of electrolytes in the nipple bucket every day around noon (he likes the taste better then water and will drink it) as well as free chose water and I am cleaning up said bucket of water every day after he knocks it over. I am beginning to think this calf did not get enough air at birth!

topside1 · #2 05/06/14, 04:08 PM

Trying to figure out who's in charge right now. Tie the bucket off to a post because bucket flipping is entertaining to a young calf. The best solution is to get the nipple out of his mouth all together and feed the milk from a bucket. As far as water flipping goes, use a larger container with a flatter wider bottom or have the water lodged/wedged in a barn corner. The calf is just bored, the nipple needs to go and maybe even the milk too....Topside

65284 · #3 05/06/14, 04:27 PM

When I've had calves reluctant to drink water adding a package of strawberry jello to a bucket of water has always worked. They seem to love the taste.

Lady89 · #4 05/06/14, 08:35 PM

The answer of who is in charge is not me.

I know the calf is just throwing tantrums like a small child and I should not give in but when I tried 2 put my foot down he ended up peeing blood and I got to say that is one heck of a tantrum.

I hadn’t thought to try package of strawberry jello that is a clever idea

**gone-a-milkin** · #5 05/06/14, 08:46 PM

I have never personally seen a calf pee blood because of dehydration.
Perhaps your calf was actually sick with something else, causing it to go off the water?

topside1 · #6 05/06/14, 08:54 PM

A gallon of electrolytes per day sure can get costly, my final bit of advice is stop spoiling the spoiled calf. What's next Doritos during movie time. Ok I'm exaggerating, hope you can take a joke....I'm done....Topside

Lady89 · #7 05/06/14, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gone-a-milkin

I have never personally seen a calf pee blood because of dehydration.
Perhaps your calf was actually sick with something else, causing it to go off the water?

i took a pee sample to the vet he said the kidneys were shutting down from dehydration. like i said it is a heck of a tantrum when a calf almost shuts down his kidneys just when he doesn't want to drink his water

Ronney · #8 05/07/14, 06:30 AM

I'm sorry but I'm having real problems getting my head around this thread.

My hand reared calves have access to water from day one - but never from a bucket. And why? - the first thing they do is knock it over and play games with it. Consequence is that when they need water there isn't any. My calf rearing pens and paddocks all have 150ltre troughs in them and watch them try to knock them over. What's more, none of them are overly interested in drinking water anyway.

Lady, a milk fed calf, either on the mother or calfateria, rarely suffers from dehydration to the point where it probably just doesn't happen. They get more than sufficient fluid from the milk. I too have never seen a calf pee blood unless it has something majorly wrong with it. You would know if your calf was dehydrated long before this were to happen anyway - the eyes would be sunk back in the skull, the coat would be dry and starey and if you pinched and raised the skin it would tent and take several seconds to fall back into place.

Take Topsides advice and stop spoiling the spoilt.

Cheers,
Ronnie

Lady89 · #9 05/17/14, 02:30 PM

I have not been on in a few weeks to let you all know but I fixed my problem with the help of a very heavy old tractor tier that fits snugly around the bucket and prevents tipping over. I will post a pick of my fix latter

DJ in WA · #10 05/17/14, 03:38 PM

Good you got the water so it wouldn't tip over.

In my opinion, one can spend too much time with their animals and notice all sorts of stuff that isn't really a problem.

First, if he is getting fluid from milk, maybe doesn't need to drink from bucket. And if the bucket was flipped, how know he didn't drink from it before that?

Second, how do you know he was peeing blood? Did you see blood on the ground?

Third, often you can take samples to a vet and get results that are false. Or they can be interpreted in a way that doesn't match what is going on. If the kidneys were shutting down, the calf would be quite sick, unable to rid toxic waste from his body. If you told the vet the calf was not drinking, that might influence his/her interpretation of tests.

Fourth, did the vet say there was blood in the urine? That should be part of a urinalysis. And if so, where was it coming from? Would take severe dehydration for kidneys to shut down, and then I don't know how that would result in blood in urine. Unless as mentioned, calf was sick or injured and blood then went in urine, but doesn't sound like calf was sick if he was playing with water bucket.

What I'm getting at is we can often fiddle too much and come up with more questions than answers.

As long as a calf is bright, alert and food going in and out, it is usually best to leave them alone.

Sensiblefarmer · #11 05/18/14, 09:23 AM

Quote:

In my opinion, one can spend too much time with their animals and notice all sorts of stuff that isn't really a problem.

It's called anthropomorphism. It is responsible for more animal abuse, neglect and mistreatment than all intentional abuse put together. Simply add an "oops" or a : ) to the admission, and people will fall all over each other to enable the abuser and justify the actions or inaction. Meanwhile untolled animals suffer, and no one says a word.