# Bull calves nursing on each other



## Buddaking (Apr 23, 2011)

Well I have heard happy cows come from california :ashamed:


JK I have a serious question & can't find any info about it here & all google will give me is porn links so here goes & please don't laugh at me too hard.

My 3 jersey bull calves (2 weeks old) nurse on each others penis. I had to seperate the weakest one (Moe) because he is getting hammered by the other two. His junk is swolen with sores & appears raw.

Is their anything I can put on them (like something that tastes bad)to deter each other from this. I figure it is natural as they have no mother other than the bottle.

I have some iodine, Should I clean his junk & keep him seperated till he heals up.


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

They need to be separated. 
The good news is that they will outgrow this once they are weaned.

I would spray the area with iodine and keep them all apart from eachother.
This is very common behavior with bottle calves. 
They will suck eachothers ears down to nothing too, or on their navels. 

Seems like they get in the habit and nothing will stop it except removing them.
With heifers, they can suck each others tiny udders and cause permanent damage to the teats.

Good luck with them.


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Seems like the people who use those calfateria feeders have less trouble with this issue?

The calves focus on sucking the nipples there and leave eachother alone more.
I have no experience with these feeders. Surely someone else will chime in.


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## Cheribelle (Jul 23, 2007)

I was always told, keep them seperate. Little pens made from cattle panels were the way to go. They don't Always do this, but since they have started it, you will have to seperate them.


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

Well Bud, at least your calves are up and interested and that has to be a plus:happy0035:

This is a common habit in bottle fed calves and to a lesser extent, in calfateria fed calves. Gone-a-milkin, I have the odd calf that will do it on the calfateria but very rarely and I suspect that a good non-return valve slows down the flow of milk and makes the calf work for it so that consequently it takes it longer to feed and satisfies the suck instinct.

I also feed meal straight after their milk and by accident, found that this broke the habit. They went straight from their calfateria to the meal and by the time they had finished their meal, they had forgotten about sucking ears, pizzles and udder areas. Paddocking rather than penning will help if that's possible as they can easily move away from the offending calf and there are distractions for them. 

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I've found that mine would only do it for a few minutes after drinking from a bottle. If I could distract them with a handful of grain or something (spray of water) for just a bit - they would quit. It was like they got that sucking reflex in their heads and needed a distraction to help them think of something else.


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## sammyd (Mar 11, 2007)

we usually raise ours in individual hutches but have seen some of this on the rare occasion we group them.
I know an organic vet that recommends the following...
give them each 1 gallon of milk twice a day in a cafeteria feeder and make sure that it takes at least 20 minutes for them to finish it.


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## Buddaking (Apr 23, 2011)

Ronney said:


> Well Bud, at least your calves are up and interested and that has to be a plus:happy0035:




I am glad to see them up & running around again. You would never know 4 days ago they looked to be knocking on deaths door.






sammyd said:


> we usually raise ours in individual hutches but have seen some of this on the rare occasion we group them.
> I know an organic vet that recommends the following...
> give them each 1 gallon of milk twice a day in a cafeteria feeder and make sure that it takes at least 20 minutes for them to finish it.


I think that the nipple hole size may be one of my problems. I opened them up a bit to get them to take the bottle the first few feedings. I will stop by TSC tomorrow & get some new ones along with some bands for the balls.

Thanks to everyone for the help :thumb:


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

Buddaking said:


> I have some iodine, Should I clean his junk & keep him seperated till he heals up.


keep him clean, and by all means separate those lil buggers. I had the same problem when I was raising bottle calves several years ago. only a few developed the habit, so I put them in their stalls till they were on dry feed for a couple months.


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## nathan104 (Nov 16, 2007)

My one year old heifers suck on each other. Our 1yo dairy calf was bottle fed and she will nurse on another 1 year old cross heifer. The little heifer lets her. Mainly because most of the time, the heifer being nursed on is ear sucking yet another of our heifers. The ear thing doesnt bother me as much but the nursing has worried me about causing damage to her teets. Everytime I see her doing it, I break it up. Have even popped her in the butt with a bb gun before which barely fazed her. Not sure what to do, if they are this old, is it something that can still be broken out of them?


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

A weaner ring in their nose is about all it takes. > Marc


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## pheasantplucker (Feb 20, 2007)

springvalley said:


> A weaner ring in their nose is about all it takes. > Marc


Make certain it's a weaner ring and not a weiner ring! And quit exposing them to cornography!!!


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## MandersGoaters (Apr 14, 2007)

I always switch over from a bottle to bucket as fast as i can but they still have the nipple complex(suckin everything) so at feeding time all the calves get tied up, drink their milk and by the time I'm done milking the cows (bout 45 minutes) they've forgotten about the suckin' then i turn them out in the pasture. thats just my routine. but i agree seperation is key. and if thats not possible, the weaing rings help, unless they are suckin each others ears and i one time had a calf butt the other and almost poked his eye out. (so no more rings for this pace)
all in all seperation is best.


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## nathan104 (Nov 16, 2007)

I went and bought one of the weaner rings today. It was the last one the feed store had and he said they cant get any more of them as they arent considered humane any more. I dont know, sounds crazy to me. But, I will try this on my heifer and see if it works. She doesnt only try to nurse off the other heifer when we give them some grain but just any time she feels like it. Hopefully this ring works. Not really looking forward to popping a hole through her nose to put it on but gotta do what I gotta do I guess.


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## nathan104 (Nov 16, 2007)

Ok, I am NEVER doing that again. The deed is done though. "Self piercing" my butt. It took everything I had to stab that thing through the inside of her nose. She didnt like it either. If it was sharper it would have been a lot easier. But, it finally popped through and its on there. Sure hope I did it right. Put it through about 1" into the nose right below where the cartilidge starts. Im going to watch her the next several days to make sure she can still graze good and everything. I guess I can see the inhumane part of it now. I know I wont be doing that again. Another of my heifers is an ear sucker but I guess Ill just let that be.


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## MandersGoaters (Apr 14, 2007)

I tried the kind with the wing nut in the center, it doesn't poke a hole just screws on
http://www.nosering.co.za/
but i can see why the one you used wont be available anymore. man that sucks. is she grazing ok?


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## saskprairiegal (Apr 7, 2012)

Hello, I had this happen to a couple of bottle fed calves. They would suck everywhere they could, especially the underside. I put some vinegar in a spray bottle and would give them both a light spray all over and don't forget the underside as well. Vinegar is harmless and it turns them off when they go to suck. It worked for me and I could leave them together in their pen  I would give a light spray after each bottle feeding. It didn't take them long to stop trying to suck each other, but I have the bottle handy in case they do!!!It's normal for them to keep wanting to suck so I put a rubber dish with a small molasses lick in it so that kept them busy and occupied as well. Just keep an eye on them at first to see how they are making out.


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## MARYDVM (Jun 7, 2004)

nathan104 said:


> Ok, I am NEVER doing that again. The deed is done though. "Self piercing" my butt. It took everything I had to stab that thing through the inside of her nose. She didnt like it either. If it was sharper it would have been a lot easier. But, it finally popped through and its on there. Sure hope I did it right. Put it through about 1" into the nose right below where the cartilidge starts. Im going to watch her the next several days to make sure she can still graze good and everything. I guess I can see the inhumane part of it now. I know I wont be doing that again. Another of my heifers is an ear sucker but I guess Ill just let that be.


The way to put a so-called self piercing ring in is to first put a nose lead on and tie the head to the side. This stretches out the nasal septum while holding them still. Puncture the nasal septum just behind the nose lead with a scalpel blade or a thin sharp knife. Then push the ring through and close it. Done right, it takes less than a minute and is much less painful to the bovine getting ringed.


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## BlackWillowFarm (Mar 24, 2008)

I was forced to put one of the piercing nose rings in a 9 month old steer that refused to stop suckling the other cows. The plastic screw in type didn't work. I hated to see him go through it, but it's over now and he's fine. No more sucking either.

I have a 2 1/2 year old cow who refused to stop nursing her mother so I had to separate them. Some calves have a much stronger instinct to suck than others. I happened to get two of them here in my tiny herd of five.


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## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

calfateria fed calves usually suck on nipples and not each other....but ever once in a while they will not stop sucking on each other at weeks old but by 2 or 3 weeks they all stop....beef calves will do it more than dairy


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