# Goofy tongued calf?



## Heritage (May 30, 2005)

I got a question for the experienced here. One of my calves seems to have a problem with his tongue. It isn't serious apparently, it still works (he can clean his nose amazingly well with it). It almost permanently stays stuck out about an inch on the left side of his mouth. When he sucks the nipple (bottle fed) he doesn't wrap his tongue around the nipple like the others, it hangs out the left side of his mouth. It takes a little longer to feed him because he pulls off the nipple so often, I'm thinking because of his goofy tongue. Has anybody seen this before? Maybe his tongue is just too long for some reason (I know some people with that problem)  I'm going to try feeding him from a bucket instead of a bottle and see if that helps him out. Like I said, it doesn't seem to be a problem, just a curiosity, it doesn't seem to hinder him at all.


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## caseyweiss (May 26, 2005)

I had a calf like that once. It also took him a long time to nurse a bottle. 
At two weeks of age, he finally figured out how to nurse and he really took off. My calf happened to be a very large calf. In my experience, the big calves are a little harder to get started. Hopefully he will catch on soon.


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

I too had a calf like that and he was so bad we actually called him Long Tongue.
It didn't seriously affect his ability to feed and at some point he did grow into his tongue and put it away  

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## Heritage (May 30, 2005)

Well it's good to know he's not alone in the world, huh! I tried him on a pail today and he sucked it dry in no time flat! Didn't have a problem. I will definitely put his bottle away, it's just so much easier with the pail. He just looks kinda funny. I'll have to take a pic sometime soon.


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## RedneckWoman (Jun 10, 2004)

No, he's definetly not alone in the world. I have a Holstien bull calf with an extra large tongue now. I've actually considered naming him Gene, after Gene Simmons of course lol. I had another like that several years ago and he did eventually "grow into his tongue".


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