Need help- grafting a calf

[Shebet21]

Looking for the best or most effective way people graft an orphan calf onto a cow.
Thanks

 

[greenbean]

Tadpole did one last year and he cut the hide off of the dead calf and tied it over the orphan.  The cow took to it really quick.  Not sure if it's the best way but seemed to be really effective. 

 

[cowcrazy]

Try milking the cow and pour some of the milk on the calf.  This might help!

 

[oakbar]

If everything else fails--listen to Baxter Black on the topic of grafting calves!!  At least you'll get a good laugh while mixing up the milk replacer!!

 

[Shebet21]

Thanks for the ideas.

Gee thanks Oakbar, your response gave me a chuckle after a crappy day. Baxter Black is a hoot.

 

[dutch pride]

If you still have the afterbirth, we rubbed it on the new calf and tied a peice of it on the calf for a couple days and that worked for us one time. We lost a calf and went to a local dairy and bought a 5 day old bull calf and got the cow to accept it.

DLZ

 

[jbw]

My 90 year old Grandpa always told me to get the cow in, feed her, feed her, then feed her more. After 48 hours her bag will hurt, she will want to be sucked. It will be a relief to her. We also skin the dead calf, and tie it on with twine for a day or two, I have added different concoctions and put on the calf, probably like wet distillers the best. Usually listen to Grandpa, he's seen alot more than I have!

 

[sjcattleco]

Skinning works great... If you can't do that.  get some vics vapo rub and rub on the cows nose and rub it on the calf... confuses the cow and once the smell goes away she has licked that new arrival and all is good.

 

[braunvieh]

My vet does some homemade potion he calls "calf claimer", I believe it is a mixture of rompum and ace. Give to the cow and let her out and then after it has taken effect send the hungry calf to her.

The skinning has worked well for us. Just this year we were pulling a dead calf and gathered the fluids from the cow into a bucket and poured that all over the calf we wanted her to take. At first she didn't buy it but a few hours later they were a happy family! Good luck.

 

[kanshow]

Skinning works.    However what has worked the best for us is just locking the cow up in a chute a couple times a day so she can't move and let the calf suck.  Once the calf gets her milk going thru it, things really speed up. 

 

[Dave]

There is a product called O-no-Mo that I use. You wet the calf down then sprinkle it on. Best results when you get it on the tailhead all the way up to the head. The water makes the cow think she has a newborn.

 

[ratmama2]

We had put the cow in our chute 4-5 times a day for the calf to nurse and left the calf in with her. After about 2 weeks the calf started nursing by herself and the cow accepted her. We had no afterbirth and tried vanilla on the cows nose and rubbed the calf down with it. I don't know if it was the vanilla or our diligence of keeping the calf nursing that made the cow finally accept the calf.

 

[GoWyo]

I have put a set of hobbles on the cow's back legs (that can be a little tricky with the wild ones) and a horse halter and then just snub the old sister to a post at feeding time and let the calf have at her.  The couple I have had needed to be snubbed because they kept knocking the calf around even if they couldn't kick.  O-No-Mo helps and as soon as the cow starts licking on the calf, the battle is about over and you can pull the hobbles.

 

[randiliana]

Our process is

First headgate the cow, tie a leg back if she is a fighter, so she can't kick you or the calf. Let the calf suck her out, then separate them. We do this for the first day, it helps to get the cow's milk through the calf. From there on it depends on the cow. Some want any calf that they can get, and that may be all you have to do. If she isn't that eager we hobble her hind legs together, be careful you don't get kicked. We use the hobbles with the chain. And, if you have a real fighter put some sort of halter on her. It will save you having to run her down the chute again if she is a bunter too. That way you can simply tie her up for the calf to suck. Did I mention a smaller pen? That is important for a # of reasons. First she can't get away from the calf, second, if you have to tie here up it is easier to tie up a mad cow in a small pen. Usually the cow will accept the calf within 2-4 days. The longest we had took 3 weeks, it was a heifer and we ended up using the figure 8 horse hobbles to slow her down. We won in the end, but I don't know if it was worth it. In rare cases, you may not succeed at all.

I refuse to skin a calf, have done it, and to me it is a horrid job. Most of the cows we have adopted calves on have taken less than 4 days, and I don't think that the hide would have made that big of a difference. Besides which, if you had a sick calf that died, I can't see that putting it's hide on a new calf would be real healthy for the new calf either.

 

[Shady Lane]

I have used just about all of these methods in the past, all good sugestions.

The most effective, althougha touch gruesome is to skin the dead calf. It seems to really work well.

I have also used a product called "Calf Claim" smells like black liccorice and is available in some of the feed stores around here.

The hoble method seems to be key, if you have a good strong calf with the desire to suck and you can keep the cow hobbled and contained for a few days the calf will usually get most of the job done for you.


For these hobbles I have used a short piece of chain, looped around each hind foot and held together with two bolts and a set of washers, previously wrapping the part of the chain that goes around the foot (just above the dew claw) with foam carpet underpad and wrapped with duct tape.

I have found it best to keep the hind feet tied quite close together, only a few links between the feet, makes it much more difficult for the cow to kick or run away, like I said a good aggressive calf will be in there and nursing quite quickly.

 

[inthebarnagain]

If you can't rub the afterbirth on the cow then catch some urine from the cow and pour over the calf.  That will also help get her smell on it but the most important is getting the cows milk in the calf for her smell to come through.  Put the cow in the chute for it to milk at first or the calf will get very discouraged very fast getting kicked at.