Calf won't suck

[Woodland Farms Show Cattl]

Had a heifer calf born this morning around 4, had to pull it but the cow had been in labor for a while before that. Cow is fine other than what seems to be a numb(ish) leg but is getting better fast, up and around already. The calf on the other hand puzzles me. She too is having a little trouble finding her legs and she's now almost a day old. She is getting up and walking on her own but she struggles a little.
The real problem I am having is we can't get her to suck. Not even on a finger or a bottle. Our vet had us tube her with colostrum this morning but doesn't want us to keep tubing her. anyone have any ideas on what to do or give her? Will she snap out of it on her own if we just keep trying to feed her with a bottle? We've never had one like this before. She seems healthy otherwise.
Thank you in advance!

 

[diamonddls]

Try giving her about 1cc banamine under her tongue and then try her on bottle 5-10 min later. Has worked in the past with similar situations. Learned it from an old charolais producer I knew. Good luck

 

[cmc]

I had your same situation with a bull calf last year and tried everything but nothing worked. I ended up tubing him for two weeks and one day he just decided to suck.

 

[xxcc]

Or Dexamehtasone instead of Banamine...same, under the tongue. My experience Dex is more likely to stimulate them, as Banamine is an antiinflammatory drug.

 

[DSCSD]

if your vet will give it to you... dopram... 1cc under the tongue in the muscle .... ive seen calves on their last breath jump to their feet.... might have to tube them a time or 2 after that....  but if the weather is nice get them out of a barn and put them in the sun.... we have had 2 like that so far this year with calving 600 head it comes to a point where its do or die for the calves due to the fact their is only 2 of here.... both are still living. I carry the bottle in my saddle bag.

 

[vlast]

Also have a heifer calf that won't suck. Found her out in the pasture 36 hours ago almost non-responsive. Warmed her up but she won't suck a bottle, finger or anything. Do you inject under the tongue with the Banamine or Dex?

 

[diamonddls]

Just squirt it under  the tongue and let the capillaries absorb it in.

 

[JTM]

You will need to continue tubing this calf until it gains enough strength to move around on it's own, start nursing a bottle, and then start nursing on the cow. I would tube the calf every 8-10 hours until these things happen. As far as drugs I would also recommend dex or banamine. You could even give the calf a shot of banamine(flunixin). Also, give the calf a BOSE shot and some Convert vitamin/energy paste from Select Sires. Convert works great. Just whatever you do don't listen to your vet telling you to not tube the calf anymore. It will die. Good luck!

 

[JTM]

Just realized this post was 6 days ago. Hope the calf lived...

 

[vlast]

Now we have scours, what do you suggest

 

[JTM]

I suggest tubing her with a hydration/scours product. It's a powder kind of like colostrum in a bag that you buy and mix with warm water. Do this according to the directions. Sometimes giving that young of a calf boluses can be dangerous and may kill them. Continue to feed this calf milk too if you haven't confirmed her nursing yet. Also, you may look into some vaccinations for scours and respiratory for newborn calves. Good luck. jtm

 

[vlast]

Thanks JTM, still not nursing and seems to be going downhill. Doing electrolytes, milk replacer, gave her colostrum. Vet gave me metronidazole pills and bio-sponge paste. This calf is very hard to tube feed,  fluid doesn't seem to want to go down. Haven't had problems with past calves. To weak to stand tonight.

 

[JTM]

Ok, I had a calf that was that bad one time and I was able to save it. I used some serum from Novartis I believe. It's an injectable for the immune system and fights off several different things. It takes like 75 ml of this stuff or something. I wish I could remember the name of it right now.. Ok, I looked it up and the stuff is called Novartis Poly Serum. Costs like $35 for a bottle. It treats E coli, salmonella, pasturella, and a couple other bad things a calf may pick up at an early age.

My only other suggestion would be to get some of that red liquid scour treatment they use on pigs and mix it in with the milk replacer when you tube the calf. Also, maybe less milk per feeding but feed the calf every 6 hours. Just trying to think of some things to help. Hope the calf gets better...

 

[librarian]

If your calf is still alive, I would keep it super warm. Dont feed it so much at one feeding. Its getting so much different stuff its probably hard for it to deal with.  Just feed it like every four hours, not so much and keep it warm. Hope it lives.
I would just put it in the bathtub or something with a blanket.

 

[cowpoke]

If the calf had colostrum and is still alive electrolytes are the key to keeping it alive.Too many cures can make things worse.Tubing if done correctly will not hurt him and some just don't have the will too live.The best way to avoid scours is vaccination of cows and there are also some products for prevention in calves ,weather and clean enviorment make thing easier, it sounds like your case is overfeeding or colostrum later than first 24 hours.