Need help with cow with no milk!!

Our brahman show heifer had her first calf about 10 days ago.  She is taking good care of the calf, but the problem is - she has VERY little milk.  The calf appears to always be hungry and looking for milk.  We have the pair in a large pen and have put the momma back on feed - she had been in the pasture.  We have also supplemented the calf by tubing it - little fart refuses a bottle.  Is there anything to feed the cow to increase her milk production or is it just genetics or nature?

Find a dairy cow to put the calf on .

how fat did the heifer get when you showed her?

She never got as fat as I would have liked.  Here is a picture of her just after calving and a pic of her bag.

  From the looks of things in the pictures, I would probably leave them alone. Do you have a picture of the calf that is current and does the calf ball much?

Tubing the calf is self-defeating because frequent sucking by the calf will help stimulate more milk production by the cow.  If you satisfy the calf's appetite,  it won't provide that stimulus.  Secondly,  if you want and can,  find a local dairy or dairy veterinarian who can get you some Posilac (Elanco).  This is bovine somatotrophin in a single dose syringe which is used to enhance milk production in dairy cows.    Give this heifer one syringe under the skin every 4 to 5 days for three or four treatments.  This will stimulate more milk.  However,  when it is all said and done, from the looks of the heifer's udder,  I will bet she has more milk than you think and the pair will probably be fine without any additional interventions. 

The calf is quiet and appears to have energy - running and bucking.  She just seems to be sucking all the time, going from one teat to the other like there is nothing coming out.  I have attached a pic taken yesterday - she is drawn.  (sorry for the trash in the pic - due to all the rain had to use a pen that is under renovation)

A couple of my sons shorthorns get their milk late.  If the calf is hungry and in a group often there are cows that will let this one rob... 
Do you have any that would let it rob?  then creep the group..

idalee said:

from the looks of the heifer's udder,  I will bet she has more milk than you think and the pair will probably be fine without any additional interventions. 

Click to expand...

I agree. 

She may not have as much milk as you or the calf would like, but at least from the way it appears in the picture, she's got enough to raise the calf. 

I had an ex show heifer calve this year. she had colostrum and never produced milk. Vet evaluated her, said at some point if she was too fat or nursed on as a heifer she could have acquired heifer mastitis. It was good she had colostrum but didn't continue to produce milk. he said that the next pregancy could be completely different, since she had colostrum.  :-\
We were blessed that we have a neighbor that has a large dairy herd of goats. He raises bottle calves on goat milk all the time. This has been one of our best calves to date. The goats milk seem to agree with him and you would never know he was a bottle calf.

I didn't know about the dairy injections? Is that something large animal vet would be aware of?