# Calf won't nurse



## Laurie J (Mar 9, 2005)

I have a 9 year old angus cow that has been a great mother. Monday she gave birth to a fairly large bull calf. I watched his birth, and she cleaned him up well and was very attentive like she has always been. Then I had to leave. When I came home several hours later, my husband had just banded the calf, vaccinated him, and gave him an ear tag. At that point he put the cow and calf in our pasture with the rest of the cows. The next morning (yesterday) I went to take photos of him for our daughters, who are away at college, and the cows were their 4-H projects. The calf was walking around fine, but was crying. I observed him for 3 or 4 hours, and while our other calf - a heifer a week older - nursed at least 3 times in that time span, he did not. I noticed him nibbling at the cow's tail, nuzzling and trying to nurse her neck, but never once latching on or even coming close. I grew pretty concerned at that point, as he was 24 hours old.The cow's udder was very large, and didn't look like it had been nursed on at all. When my husband came home, we tied her up and managed to (1.) Get kicked and (2.) Get a couple of pints of milk from her (there was more, but my husband didn't want to take it all or push his luck any longer!) We mixed this with some frozen goats milk we had, and the calf consumed about a quart and a half of milk, at first grudgingly, and then quite happily once he realized he was finally getting something to eat. For a calf that we are quite sure didn't have anything to eat for 30 hours, he is doing quite well. When we get him up, he stretches and eagerly takes the bottle and swings his tail. I cannot milk the cow when I am alone when my husband is at work. While she was a 4-H cow and is tame, she is a one-person cow, and will swing her head and kick anyone but my daughter. I am giving the calf a quart of milk at a time (4 times a day....I've been told), until tonight when my husband is home and we can try to milk her again. We are also going to try to get the calf to suck, as this is our main objective. The calf is just dumb, and like I said, will nibble her tail, try to nurse her shoulder, and never looks elsewhere. When I push him toward her udder and even squirt some milk at him, he just balks. Any tips would be appreciated! We raise sheep mostly, and it is hard to make even a little 10 lb. lamb that doesn't want to nurse do something they don't want to do.....a 100 lb. calf is even more impossible!


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## Jennifer L. (May 10, 2002)

Best I can say is confine Mom and keep showing the calf the right place to stick his nose. Sounds like he's perfectly capable, just not "getting it" yet. BTW, for whatever reason, I've always found if you are going to have a stupid calf, it's those really big bull calves. Some of it could be because he's big and doesn't realize he has to get down further to reach a teat. Keep at him. I'll bet he picks it up quickly once you get through his fat head!


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## CountryMom22 (Nov 27, 2014)

So, did the calf finally figure out how to nurse or do you now have a bottle calf?


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

If the calf is hungry and the cow's not aggresively kicking him off, keep them together in close confinement. He might eventually figure it out. I've had this work.


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## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

Karo syrup on the teet


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## Laurie J (Mar 9, 2005)

The calf finally figured it out! At 5 days of age, we found him nursing! What a relief! I kept him hungry, and he actually hadn't had a bottle for 18 hours, so I guess he was desperate and figured it out. I'll have to keep the Karo syrup trick in mind if we ever run into this situation again (and I really hope we don't!) Thanks!


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