Funny Business Advice

GOATDADDY · #1 05/21/05, 10:01 AM

Getting a bottle calf about one week old, wouldn't or couldn't nurse its momma. He takes a bottle ok. Received injection of nuflor (sp) and something else. The weird thing he has an odd, clear, sticky, drool out of his mouth. Seems alert and not apparently sick other than that. My soninlaw just gave him to me cause they don't want to mess with feeding him. What do you folks think?

Ronney · #2 05/21/05, 04:21 PM

My calves sometimes drool and after much thought over the years I've come to the conclusion that they are thirsty. Unlike a calf reared on a cow which can dive in and get a drink at any time, our hand reared ones are confined to twice a day feedings with long gaps inbetween. Even though they have access to water, very young calves rarely drink it so after they've fed and I've cleaned out their calfaterias, I fill them with water. It gets drunk during the course of the day and it seems to stop that drooling. Worth a though anyway.

Cheers,
Ronnie

GOATDADDY · #3 05/21/05, 09:44 PM

Thanks for your suggestion, you may be on to something. I didn't understand exactly what you ment about calfeteria but it got me thinking that maybe if I hung a bottle of water from the side of his pen maybe he would drink from it. Thanks for your thoughts! It makes some sense.

Ronney · #4 05/22/05, 07:25 AM

Hi again,
If you go into the thread "Calf feeding Observations" (I think that's what it's called) there is a link there that will show you what a calfateria is. However, the bottle filled with water hanging on the fence will achieve the same end. For the first couple of days fill it with warm water if it's to hand, while the calf is still banging the bottle around looking for that extra bit of milk. That way it will get the idea that there is something to be got from it and will test it during the course of the day.

I would appreciate if you could let me know if this cures your drooling problem as I suspect that thirst in very young, hand reared calves is a bigger problem than we realise and that many possibly border on dehydration because of the long periods of time between feeds, and more so in warm weather.

Cheers,
Ronnie

Hovey Hollow · #5 05/23/05, 03:33 PM

We give our calf a bottle of water every afternoon. No one told us we needed to but I haven't been able to get him to drink from the bucket and I know he has to be thirsty. The kids enjoy giving him a bottle so he gets a bottle of water every afternoon after school. He still sucks down his evening bottle of milk so I can't see that it hurts his appetite.