help fast!!!!

[cowsrcool]

i just had a bull calf born out of a heifer calf about 1 1/2 to 2 hours ago. the calf is up and standing but will not suck on anything my finger, a bottle or the cow. i need to get him something to eat soon so any help is greatly appreciated

 

[Turkey Creek Ranch]

We use a tube on a squeeze bottle......it goes down their throat straight to the stomach......works well for us

worth a try

 

[DL]

If you don't know how to use an esophageal feeder and he still isn't eating call your vet or someone who knows how to use it - calf needs colostrum at least 2 quarts  within the first 24 hours of like - can you milk the cow?

 

[CPL]

i just had a bull calf born out of a heifer calf about 1 1/2 to 2 hours ago. the calf is up and standing but will not suck on anything my finger, a bottle or the cow. i need to get him something to eat soon so any help is greatly appreciated


You need to call a vet. So, your calf isn't sucking and really needs colostrum..........and................ your create an account on some website and ask complete strangers. What will you do if your computer crashes? Let the calf die? Major example of someone who needs to strike up a relationship with their local vet.

 

[DL]

i just had a bull calf born out of a heifer calf about 1 1/2 to 2 hours ago. the calf is up and standing but will not suck on anything my finger, a bottle or the cow. i need to get him something to eat soon so any help is greatly appreciated


You need to call a vet. So, your calf isn't sucking and really needs colostrum..........and................ your create an account on some website and ask complete strangers. What will you do if your computer crashes? Let the calf die? Major example of someone who needs to strike up a relationship with their local vet.

a little harsh CPL - sometimes newbies need direction not criticism...we try to get along, educate and not be overly critical of any question ....CRC please keep us posted on what you do and how the calf does ...while I sure believe that everyone should have a fabulous relationship with their vet, not everyone has that luxury 

 

[Show Heifer]

With the warm weather, you might just wait an hour or so.....make sure the calf is GOOD AND HUNGRY!!! If he still doesn't nurse, call someone that can tube him, either a vet or a cattleman. If done wrong, the tube can go into the lungs and drown the calf, so don't do it if you are not comfortable doing it!
There are also a few injections that you can give to help that nursing reflex, call your vet on that one!
(My vet recomends an antihistamine, but yours might have another idea)
Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[CPL]

i just had a bull calf born out of a heifer calf about 1 1/2 to 2 hours ago. the calf is up and standing but will not suck on anything my finger, a bottle or the cow. i need to get him something to eat soon so any help is greatly appreciated


You need to call a vet. So, your calf isn't sucking and really needs colostrum..........and................ your create an account on some website and ask complete strangers. What will you do if your computer crashes? Let the calf die? Major example of someone who needs to strike up a relationship with their local vet.

a little harsh CPL - sometimes newbies need direction not criticism...we try to get along, educate and not be overly critical of any question ....CRC please keep us posted on what you do and how the calf does ...while I sure believe that everyone should have a fabulous relationship with their vet, not everyone has that luxury 

CRC if the calf still hasn't sucked tonight you really do need to call the vet and look into tubing him.

My post was the truth, last time I checked playing vet over the internet had a huge failure rate.

 

[renegade]

I know for one that often times if you don't have a really good vet or you don't go to a vet regularly (like us - we give most of our own injections and can handle most crises because my mom use to be a vet tech) they aren't extremly willing to come out on a house call and are hard to get a hold of after hours and of course the one time you need them they are gone or something else. I am not saying that of all vets and not where i live now but in Missouri we had that issue and i am not saying this was a perfect idea either but every little bit helps, right?

 

[jason]

Plus there is some very, very knowledgeable people on this board that are willing to help. 

 

[knabe]

this probably sounds funny, but one time i took some animals to the vet for work as he was preg checking 100 cows and didn't have time to come see me at my place.  after this is over, strike up a relationship and find a vet who is willing to work with your experience and potential cash flow to them.  I really like my vet, so i'm not gonna knock vets.  what kinda gets my hide is when you call people and they won't call back and say your're too small of a customer, here's someone i recommend who's starting out.

i have had the worst luck with farriers about this till on e moved in next door who's also does body work (on horses).  the other thing i've had extremely bad luck with is trying to find a cutting stallion with big feet, and good hocks who will talk to a amateur.  so far i have not found one.  it seems like all the cutters have doc's hickory feet, except for a couple like peptoboonsmall whose fee is a little outa my league, though he was only a thousand or so when he first went to stud.  a lot of these cutters have a weird conformation, straight in the shoulder, front feet behind vertical, butt in the air, long backed, cow hocked, uneven shoulders, uneven where the base of their skull goes into their spine.  no breeder calls back when you mention feet.  kinda like PHA.

 

[DL]

We have had this conversation before but there are fewer and fewer cow vets around - if you want one to come out on an emergency they you need to give them the gravy work too - if I have never seen you before or never been to your place I am unlikely to drop everything and rush out in the middle of the night..

On another note there are lots of talented and intelligent cattlemen who can tube a calf - and there is lots of useful veterinary information on the net - CPL sometimes people need a little guidance - and the board can be helpful for that  - ask chambero (and others) how online advise saved some of his calves - I wouldn't be quite so critical of what you clearly don't know about the planet dwellers ;D

 

[knabe]

it's useful to know how to tube an animal. i've tubed many a bull off pasture going into feeding trials who bloated.  talk about getting a whiff in your face. i usually just down spouted it into a bucket till the pressure was all gone.  course you gotta have a tube too, and make sure it's not too short  ;D

 

[renegade]

We had to do that to my brothers steer. The guy we get our cattle from keeps part of an old hose on every gate for that reason.

 

[Show Heifer]

Hows the calf??  Did it nurse? Or did you find help?

 

[cowsrcool]

thank you for all the help. the calf is doing better, we finally got him to eat some last nite with help from my boss who breeds horses w/o having to tube him. he will mostly likely end up being a bottle calf because he doesnt want anything to do with the cow. we had to hold his head and massage his throat to get him to eat last nite. this morning the same thing but he did suck a little on his own. and then tonite he sucked on his own, but you have to hold his head up or he just lets it drop and stands there. this morning the guy that i usually get advice from stopped by and looked at him and gave him 10cc of iron and the same of b12 to help him along. there really is no large animal vets around here, the one i use for health papers and such is older and doesnt make emergency calls anymore and u have to book 2 weeks ahead for a farm call anyways. the other one is a equine vet for the barn that i work at, and its kinda hard to get them to come out for my 4 head counting the heifers me and my brother just showed this year. thank u again for the help and i will report back how he does

 

[DL]

CRC - is he a big boy? Sometimes the big ones are a little dumb and need extra help until the light goes on - will he suck from a bottle? You want to make sure he gets adequate nutrition - what I do is help him nurse the cow (yeah I know it is a huge amount of work) then when he is done or you can't hold his head up anymore offer him a bottle - as long as you maintain a "relationship" with the cow he will (hopefully) eventually get it - in the meantime he will also be getting adequate nutrition. Get a milk based (not soy based) milk replacer - Calf Manna milk replacer is good and it comes in small bags so when he gets his act together you don't have 45 pounds around - he should eat about 2 quarts twice a day - also if you can find it Beef Nutradrench is a good thing too...good luck and keep us posted, dl

 

[SKF]

You need to call a vet. So, your calf isn't sucking and really needs colostrum..........and................ your create an account on some website and ask complete strangers. What will you do if your computer crashes? Let the calf die? Major example of someone who needs to strike up a relationship with their local vet.


I know that were we live it is VERY hard to get a vet out in an emergency. We only have a couple of vets that treat cattle close by. We don't have any in our town they only will treat horses. Our vet is great about coming out for scheduled things such as health papers, vaccination and ect... but everytime we have had an emergency we have not been able to get a vet out so when you are on your own you ask anyone for help and that includes the internet. I actually appeciate the help from the internet because I know alot of the people on here have a lot of experinece with cattle unlike were we live which is horse country. 

 

[Show Heifer]

Glad to hear everything is working out cowsrcool!!! We like looking at pictures on this site, so if you can post a photo of your little baby I am sure everyone would love to look at him, except maybe CPL and I am sure even they would enjoy it!

 

[DL]

Boy SKF did you confuse me!! It was purple and I thyought I wrote it but I didn't remember doing it! (lol) (lol) Weaning must have gone to my brain! ;D

 

[SKF]

Dragon Lady- I confused myself!! I think this heat is getting to me. :