New calf problem ?

Had my first calf of the season born about 3 30 am in the middle of this blizzard . Got her dryed off right , up and going fast but will not eat off the cow . Ended up giving the calf the bottle , drank well. I have yet to see the calf eat from the cow , but the calf is warm , dry , and seems perfectly content . I've attempted to get her to drink off the cow many times but no interest ? When should a person draw the line and just bottle the calf ?

I wouldn't have let it go this long in this type of weather, around here especially if the weather is bad and it's cold out I get some colostrum in the calf wether thats through a bottle of using a feeding tube with in an hour if i haven't seen the calf up and nursing.  They need it to get going especially when its cold out they need something warm in their stomach.

Oh I stated in my post that I gave her the bottle not even an hour after birth , part of which I milked out of the cow , and some colostrum mix. I'm talking since then I haven't seen her eat but yet she seems content . First calf heifer so its real tough to tell if she's been sucked .

are the nipples clean and shinny? Or dull and dirty? If they are clean and shinny, chances are she is nursing. If they are dirty chances are she is not nursing. That is how I tell..

Good point I'm well aware of that its just so hard for me to be out there all the the time and I just can't say for sure . What makes me wonder is how content the calf seems . Real small but vigorous bc lookout calf .

I had a newborn yesterday that wouldn't suck. I just fed her 2 wine bottles full of colostrum (neighbours Holstein) and then put the cow out to eat and walk around for 3 hours to see if the calf would drink.. When i put the cow back in the calf jumped up and drank for 15mins.

Really simple stick a clean finger in its mouth.  Cold and sticky not sucking.  Warm and wet sucking.

Maybe I should clarify my question a little bit . The calf ate well from the bottle around 4 30 am and its now 8 pm . Real small calf but looks and acts perfectly fine . If that is the only time she has eaten could she still be looking and acting fine ? I'm probably worrying too much but like I previously stated , I've never seen her eat off the cow ? I would think she would be going down hill by now if the one bottle is the only thing she's had ? 

If she is happy and content, I would say she is fine. If you can catch her laying down, I would make her get up and observe her to see if she goes to the udder. Just my opinion, but I think I agree with you that you are worrying too much!

Well I thank you for the words of encouragement ! Thanks for all the replys from everyone . But until I personally see her latched on , tail wagging , I'm gonna continue to worry ! Its just the way I am lol !

Like someone above stated, kick the heifer out and away from the calf for 4/5 hours then stand back and observe when you let the heifer back in. You may want to get the calf up ahead of turning the dam back in to speed up the process some. It's way to early to even think about having a bottle fed calf. Good luck.

Will do , I appreciate the good advice. Everytime I get a chance to sneak out there the calf has moved so I'm thinkin somethings goin on , sneakiest calf I've ever seen if it is eating right !

If she likes the bottle... Move the bottle under the heifer. Get her up under the heifer. Do a lil sneaky move of your own.... We had three bottle calves last year, not something I really want to have this year.

I have done the bottle under mama trick, 3 bottle calves would have equalled 3 cull cows on our place though...did those heifers not milk or the calves just not interested rocknm?

Well, how is the calf? seen anything yet?

Well I still have yet to see this little bugger eat , but she's still content , looks filled out , and finally I'm almost a hundred percent sure , we have one shiny nipple on the heifers front quarter ! I'm used to the 80 to 90 pound simmy calves that drink like a horse , my guess is this sneaky little angus is not a real big eater being a whopping 60 pounds !

On a different note this is a 3C Macho sired first calf heifer , the calf is by BC Lookout . Gonna have to give it to Lookout , very vigorous calf that popped right out like nothing ! I've heard some talk of questioning his calving ease but in this instance I couldn't ask for anything more .

ALTSIMMY 79 said:

On a different note this is a 3C Macho sired first calf heifer , the calf is by BC Lookout . Gonna have to give it to Lookout , very vigorous calf that popped right out like nothing ! I've heard some talk of questioning his calving ease but in this instance I couldn't ask for anything more .

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How does her udder look? Our macho (half blood, 1/4 Angus, 1/4 Maine) has the tiniest udder I have ever seen! If you did not know it, you would say she is dry, or just a fat heifer! About the size of a 1/3 of a basket ball! We wondered if she was milking enough, but her heifer calf is not skinny! Not overly large and fat, but doing good for being on mama's milk for 90 days now.  She laid down and just spit this thing out also, woke up in the morning and there she was! Heifer calf is a half blood also (black dice half blood bull), nothing special to look at but she is alive and the Macho heifer is doing a good job watching her and just being a mom (after a great show career). She is the one in my avitar photo..., got her bred back to Mo Better for a October baby.
I put a pic up of her and her calf; see her little udder?

Two down cows that we kept alive long enough to c-section, and one twin char hiefer.

Oh yes that is pretty small . I would say mine has just a tad more udder to her , but not much ! I'm thinking that's a good sign she will hold up great and be around for many years ! Mine also has that great maternal instinct yet very gentle with me right in there with them . Macho sure can make a momma cow ! This one came from right here off steer planet so the credit goes to an outfit called Krosch Cattle Co. Or KCC 73 on here . I even received a call from them to see if she had calved and how things were going ! Now that's customer service with a smile !