Getting my heifer to take a bottle calf

My Charolais heifer had her calf but sadly he was stillborn. I want her to raise a calf because she has an outstanding bag and acts like she would make a really good momma cow. I've found a guy with a little Holstein bull calf he's going to sell me that's already been sucking on a nurse cow. Any suggestions on getting my heifer to let him suck? I've got a lot of grown men telling me I can't do it being a 15 year old girl that it is to much responsibility and that I will only end up bottle feeding it but I want to show them I can do a few things by myself. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

In the end its up to the heifer and the calf, but usually at first they put the cow in the chute and let the calf suck. The sooner the better. If no one is helping you, then
dont leave the calf alone with her until you are sure she wont hurt it. Put them in pens side by side while you are at school until you see her licking the calf and really accepting it. After school put them together and watch. If you just keep putting her in the chute and letting it suck she might take it. It could take awhile.
If you still have the dead calf, try to rub some of the scent on the the new calf. It can't hurt.
After it sucks in the chute and poops her milk out she will be more likely to accept him. Cows identify calves that way.
Even if it doesn't work, you will be a person who did all they could, which is how we learn. Do it because you want to though. Not to prove anything. There's always next year.

It is possible if the cow is motherly. I did this last spring with my donor cow after we weaned her calf, her full sib didn't accept her calf, so we took a chance. tie your heifer up and get the calf to nurse while you help. if the cow kicks you can slip a lasso or rope halter on one of the back legs and hold it slightly off the ground, so they can't kick because they have to keep their balance. it will take a while but if you keep it up then eventually she will accept the calf. also they have sprays and powders that will help the bonding but I've never tried it. good luck!

Put the heifer in any kind of chute, even a trim chute will work.  put karo syrup in the calf's mouth and on the utter.  the syrup is sticky and calf will start smacking and eventually start sucking.  Stop laughing everybody, the old time ways sometimes still work..

We have had the most luck by skinning the dead calf. Leave the tail attached. We take baler twine poke holes in the hide and tie it to their legs and loop a strand across their body in front of the front legs and just behind them. Every time we have done this the cow has took the calf within two days. When not able to skin the calf I have used O NO MO.
Good Luck!

Sorry forgot-Valley Vet carries O NO MO.

"I've got a lot of grown men telling me I can't do it being a 15 year old girl that it is to much responsibility and that I will only end up bottle feeding it "
The objections you are hearing may be coming from a practical point of view rather than something personal. Most anybody can do this if have the time and patience. Maybe they think time is a problem.
Practical considerations I can think of are:
Have you checked out the herd health of the place offering to sell you the calf?
Have you seen the cow he is with?
What do you plan to do with the calf?
Can you afford the milk replacer to feed it if the grafting fails?

Usually a calf is grafted onto a cow because the calf has value and it saves time and money if a cow will do the work. In this case, what is your practical reason for doing all the work?
Not discouraging you, just trying to think it thru.

KAXX said:

We have had the most luck by skinning the dead calf. Leave the tail attached. We take baler twine poke holes in the hide and tie it to their legs and loop a strand across their body in front of the front legs and just behind them. Every time we have done this the cow has took the calf within two days. When not able to skin the calf I have used O NO MO.
Good Luck!

Click to expand...

This works, we did this last year. We put the skin on a 4 week old calf and it still worked.

I think Librarian has some good points.  Are you doing it for you, the calf or for the heifer?  Is the effort worth the sacrifice?  Yes, you will have a holstein calf but is your time better suited for something else?  The heifer will survive just fine without a calf.  She will dry up and you can breed her again and move on down the road.

Don't let your pride get in the way but live to fight another day and save your strength and spend your time studying your books and looking at the next great AI Bull for your heifer.

I have 2 recommendations. 1. spread the cow's manure on calf from head to toe. make sure calf is hungary and introduce to cow. If you have a dog, place dog outside pen make sure he is on leash and her instincts may kick in to protect calf. 2.If you are adverse to the manure you can use lots of perfume on calf and cow, the same perfume. good luck.

If I may, I would like to offer some reassurance to you since I went through a similar scenario.

Young charolais purebred female, delivered Monopoly calf and mothered it very well.  Unfortunately, the calf died within a week, and as has been said earlier, she did dry up just fine and went on about her business of being a cow and settled with another pregnancy with no issue.  Delivered another Monopoly this year, calf is fantastic, and she is raising it just fine.  She did not suffer from not having a calf to raise in the least bit, either in mothering ability or milking ability or volume.  Many do not give this breed the credit they deserve as far as mothering ability.  They DO know how to raise a calf and your heifer will not lose any ground by not having raised a calf this year.

Having said that, if you like the challenge and enjoy the sense of accomplishment of putting your female to work doing what she was designed to do--raise a calf--then by all means give it a go.  Bottle feeding one is not all that hard if she simply won't take the calf and you do get stuck with a baby you have to hand raise.  Around here, we think it's kind of fun.

Good luck and keep us posted on how it goes.  I've made the mistake of listening to some crusty, grumbly old farts who can really be discouraging and deflating when you are enthusiastic about learning a new thing because they think they know it all.  Everyone's work ethic is different and what some may have found to be too difficult may be easy for others.  Know what you have in your barn and what you are capable of personally doing, and give everything your best effort and you will surely succeed and learn things along the way.  Sometimes even when it doesn't work out, the lesson learned is invaluable.

How's  your heifer doing? I'm hoping it worked out good for everyone.