Posted by Helene on February 13, 2002 at 11:17:14:
Well, we are pretty much the "rescue center" for calves that need rescuing from my husband's uncles farm. They raise cattle. We started this around Thanksgiving, and he has sent us 4 calves so far. 3 We got on Thanksgiving, and they were all pretty much on the bottle, but each a problem, one lost his mamma, the other was attacked by a dog and the other attacked by a coyotee. All 3 are healthy and doing beautifully!
We just got our 4th calf this morning. I am really puzzled and we really need some help. I was wondering if any of you guys deal with bottle fed calves or cows in general. This poor little guy is 1 month old and dehydrated, he is pretty tiny too. Evidently his mamma was not producing enough milk for him. He has never had a bottle before, and we all know how stuborn animals can be when trying to feed them w/the bottle for the first time. We have him penned up for a few days until he gets used to the bottle. We tried feeding him when we got him this morning, with little to no luck. He will not drink. I am hoping that he will become a little hungrier as the day goes on..and the next time we try he will gobble it up (smile).
My first instinct is to force feed him with a drencher or a gravy baster or something like that. I really do not know much about cows and calves..That is what I would do for the goats..but I know that goats and cows are so different. We are using a milk replacer for calves which is the same we had used before on the other calves. He has no desire to eat anything solid, nor will he drink any water..not that we can see anyway.
Just looking for some ideas or suggestions for this little guy, if anyone has any. He is pretty thin and small.