# Calf that won't suck



## llamaqueen (Feb 22, 2006)

I have two calves (twins: 1 bull & 1 heifer). I got them Sunday. The heifer is doing great, but her brother isn't. They are a week old today. The bull calf nursed off of mom a couple of days last week. One morning he was fine and by that evening he was flat out on his side. (I'm beginning to think that he might have gotten kicked by mom). He was tubed a few times before I got them and was tubed yesterday when the people that had the cow brought the tube over to me. My problem is this little guy will not suck! He just kinda chews on my fingers. I have put a bottle in his mouth and worked his mouth trying to get him to get the idea, but its not working. One nipple I have pours out and the other gets barely any out. I'm thinking of maybe getting a lamb nipple and seeing if maybe that helps??? He is not scouring and can stand up on his own. His body temperature is always lower than his sister's (I can't remember what their body temp. is supposed to be for sure, but I know he is way under it). I'm trying to get his sister to drink from a bucket and I have offered it to him, but he had no interest. Last night he did something that gave me hope that he might suck on a bottle. He was ducking his head under his sister like he wanted to nurse. Tried putting a bottle down there, but he didn't do anything. 

He is starting to frustrate me as I have never worked with a calf that wouldn't suck! I worked at a dairy farm for 5 months last year raising heifers (getting them at a day or two old) and I never had one that was as difficult as this one! Any ideas?!?!?! All of the tricks that I learned from weak lambs when I was younger and on weak calves at the dairy are not working on this little guy. I don't want to tube him. If I have to, I know I should stay to the left side of his mouth (when you're straddling him) and that I should be able to feel the bulb. If I can feel it, it's in the right place (and if he is swallowing). What I am not sure is how much of the tube has to go down him? What they brought over has a plastic bottle that you put the milk in and that screws onto a stiff piece of plastic that has a bulb on the end. When he tubed him yesterday he made it look really easy, but I'm still a little nervous about it. I don't want to give up on the little guy though since he still gets up and moves around. Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated!


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## bqz (Jan 26, 2007)

Temp should be about 100.5.
I would say get him warm first and maybe some antibiotics and see if he comes out of it.
Try a flat pan and dip your hand in it to bring it to his mouth using your fingers like a tit,make sure his head is in a upward position just like he would be if sucking from momma.


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## jerzeygurl (Jan 21, 2005)

try raw egg it should slide right down, also corn syrup will as well, both are to give him a jolt that MAY get him going again.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Will he suck on your finger if it is covered with milk? Squirting a small amount of milk into his mouth?

What about tickling the base of his tail to start the sucking response?

Covering his eyes to simulate nursing at an udder?

For goats they hold the tube next to the goat to see how far it needs to go in and then mark that spot. Also listen to the tube once it's in place to make sure it's not in the lungs.


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## llamaqueen (Feb 22, 2006)

He won't suck on my fingers no matter what I do. Just kinda chews on them (looks like he is trying to chew cud is the best way to describe what he does). I'm going to try to get a tube in him in a little bit. Hopefully everything goes ok!


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## jerzeygurl (Jan 21, 2005)

good luck, could you try adding some caffiene or corn syrup to what you are tubing him with, he sounds lethargic


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## Donna from Mo (Jan 8, 2003)

The main thing with the tube is to insert it far enough in. I've tubed dozens of calves, and it really isn't hard. Several full-time farmers have been known to come and get me, a lowly "hobby farmer", because they were afraid to do it. (They had to come get me because I don't drive). There was one calf I acquired when it was about a month old, wild as the dickens, and he refused to suck, ever! I had to catch him, straddle him, and force-feed him. He was a nice, healthy calf. Just wouldn't nurse. You can bet I weaned him at six or seven weeks of age. He was too big to be wrestling around like that.


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## dcross (Aug 12, 2005)

Is the tube about 18-24 inches long? If it is the whole thing goes in, or almost all. We would attach the bottle before tubing and then keep their head down a little until it was all the way in and then tilt the bottle up.

As long as they were young calves and not laying down it worked fine.

Does he have access to mom? It could be that he is just used to that.


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

Tube him, you have nothing to lose as he is going to die otherwise. If he dies you will have experience for the next time.


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## Donna from Mo (Jan 8, 2003)

If you've got a regular tube-feeding rig, it's the right length. And it has a little "knob" on the end you insert that is too big to go down the wrong hole (to the lungs, in other words). Agmantoo is right.


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## llamaqueen (Feb 22, 2006)

Thanks for all of the advice. However, my little guy didn't make it When I went out to tube him, he was flat out on his side. He had a large amount of yellow scours so I thought he might be dehydrated. I got him upright and did manaage to tube some electrolytes into him. I think he had something wrong with his throat though. I don't know if it happened when the people that had him tubed him or what, but I could never feel the bulb on the tube because there was a large mass (not solid, but mass is the only way I can think to describe it). His sister's throat didn't feel that way so I'm wondering if that is why he wouldn't take a bottle? I don't know though. His momma was back at their farm and she has been calling for her heifer calf since Monday morning so they picked her up this afternoon to see if she would take her back. When they brought the calves over Sunday mom had very little milk for the heifer, but by Monday morning her bag was huge. They didn't bring her back this evening, so we'll see if she comes back tomorrow. I didn't think her mom would accept her now that she has been handled so much and completely gone from the property, but I may be wrong. I had gotten use to having them around though....


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## Donna from Mo (Jan 8, 2003)

It always hurts to lose one, even when you've done everything possible.


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## llamaqueen (Feb 22, 2006)

I got a picture this morning on my cell phone. The little heifer is nursing off of mom! Yeah!


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## jerzeygurl (Jan 21, 2005)

That's great, sorry about the baby though


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## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

only thing i can add is you stradle the calf with the tube in left hand a bottle part in your right hand you run the tube down the left side of calfs mouth that will put it in the right stomack....


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