Heifer Calved This Morning - Need Advice

Ok my 2 year old heifer finally had her first calf this Morning, so technically my cow. Anyway we are having a hard time. She first thing after having him tried to kill him grrrr so it has been a long morning I have been up before 6 dealing with this dumb cow <deadhorse>. anyway we got her in the clipping chute and tied her leg up,cause she was kicking, so the calf could eat. He ate walked around bucked a bit and went to sleep, got up walked ate and then is sleeping again in his little pen. and mom is in her pen sleeping. Mom is PHF Macerena "June" and dad is JSF Gauge. The Bull Calf's name is TUFF ENOUGH!!  (clapping) He is a beautiful flashy Red and White!!

Any advice on what to do to get this cow to accept her calf?

Just keep doing what ur doing,it may take a day or two for a heifer to accept him as her calf.

We just had this same issue last week.  Apparently if a cow has a hard labor the "maternal" hormone Isn't released but the more you milk/ feed the calf the sooner the hormone kicks in.  We let the calf eat 3 times the first day and that night we penned the cow and put the calf in the next pen.  The cow could smell and lick her through the bars but couldn't hit the calf.  We put the mom in the squeeze chute the next morning and let the calf eat.  Then we put them outside and the cow was fine.  She went right to licking on the calf and now one week later she is one of the best moms we have.  Patience is key.

Thanks guys the Cow is laying over close to the cow pen. we moved fences so the calf could reach the other side of the udder. so hopefully everything will start to calm down. after the wild horse race we had with her this morning and and her wrenching my arm around a post earlier I have had enough. Its a lucky thing I love this heifer to death. 

Will she do this with her next calf?

You might try tying a dog up outside of the pen.  It might kick her maternal insticts in! <cowboy>

If she doesn't cave pdq,  give her enough ace/ rompom to knock her other knees,  put calf in and usually when they wake up we have a new outlook on life.

Dogs wont work the dogs are right outside the corrals all the time. I might have to try that ace/rompom if she doesnt cave.

HAd this issue with a cow this year. We put her in the chute and the the calf nurse then she was fine after about an hour. I would suggest putting them together and watching them closely for awhile.

Shes doing much better this morning. We didnt have to tie her legs down there was no kicking we have them in seperate pens right next to each otherbut she can reaach the calf to lick or smell him.

I know it can be a fine line, but sometimes after a cow/heifer calves they can act somewhat mean, but it is sometimes Mother nature for them to knock the calf down for awhile to make them strong quickly. I also think that once the labor pains subside that their attitude can change. Sometimes if you take them away it can hinder the connection process and then sometimes the calf can be injured. I guess it's a personal decision what is the best. Not super uncommon for a first calf heifer to kick at her calf the first few attempts at nursing her. Sounds like her heifer is coming around for you. Good luck.

CAB-The cow wasa rolling him and pushing him into the ground real hard, luckily she didnt break anything, she would have killed him if we didnt seperate them.

ok UPDATE: The Calf is doing really well. Mom is letting him eat and not kicking at him except for when he butts the udder hard and she taps him which she is immediately gotten onto for I do not want her kicking again. But she is being much better, she is wanting to be babied, I gave her some grain in a bucket while the calf was eating she made me hold it while she ate I put it down and she mooed at me. lol She is also is wanting petted and kissed and loved

Little Heifer  (angel)

Sounds like you did what was best. I have seen times though that in the long run if the calf is away too long it can hinder acceptance. It's a personal call that has to be made. If the cow was going to hurt the calf, that doesn't really leave much to the long term. Glad to hear things are getting much better.

UPDATE!! They are out in the pen together laying side by side. Last night and today we have let him feed in they pen while mom is eating she was pushing on his back some last night and I didnt understand but she is doing really well today he went and layed down after eating and she went over smelled him went back to eating, I put up a shade are cause he decided to lay in the sun and he was getting hot, well while I was putting it up mom came over and layed down.  (clapping) I am soooo happy. Thank You everyone for the advice  ;D
Little Heifer  (angel)