2nd calf heifer not milking?

[SWMO]

We have a second calf heifer that calved 15 days ago that has almost no milk.  Her udder looks flat all the time.  We have been tubing the calf with electrolytes for the past several days.  The calf was just looking drawed into.

This heifer last year milked like a freight train.  She calved unassisted and unobserved this year.  Good sized bull calf.  We have treated her with Oxytocin and penicillan first and then two days ago we treated her with LA-200, Mu-Se and another shot of Oxytocin.  She did look like she still had a little trash in her uterus.  However, she had appeared to clean OK.  Running on good grass.  Fescue and clover.

Any other ideas?  Sure had to bottle feed a calf and cull a good cow but we sure are looking like we are heading that way. (she's only good if she raises a calf.)

 

[chambero]

We have more trouble with cows with their second calf than we ever do heifers with their first.  A lot of them will pull down hard and look horrible the winter with that second calf.  Some don't milk worth a darn.  How old is she actually?  If she had her first calf young  and this second one came right on time, I wouldn't get too down on her.  Don't pull the calf off of her, but supplement it if you need to till she gets going. 

The way its been explained to me is the demands of growing herself to mature size plus trying to raise those calves is just hard on some of the.  I'd put more stock on the fact that she did breed right back after that first calf (assuming she did).  A lot of them are hard to get bred for their second and we still give those another shot and we usually never have another problem.

I bet she gives more milk than she looks like.

 

[SWMO]

Chambero,  I am glad to hear someone else has more trouble rebreeding the second calf heifers than the first calf heifers.  Even the one's that are in good shape will sometimes surprise us when they don't settle.  Age wise she will not be three until November.  So she did calve early last year based on her age.

 

[kanshow]

I agree .  Our 2nd calf heifers are often the toughest looking of the group.  Alot of them dont' get rebred right back & slip to the end of the calving season.  We've taken to managing them a little different...  we run the first & second calvers together so we can make sure they get fed a little better, maybe pull calves earlier, etc. 

 

[chambero]

Chambero,  I am glad to hear someone else has more trouble rebreeding the second calf heifers than the first calf heifers.  Even the one's that are in good shape will sometimes surprise us when they don't settle.  Age wise she will not be three until November.  So she did calve early last year based on her age.

Until last year, we had terrible difficulties, particularly on our later calvers.  Ones that calved in late Aug thru early Oct. were no problem getting bred back.  But ones that calved in late Oct thru Nov we'd only get maybe half or so rebred to hit our Sep-early Nov calving window.  Last year we probably doubled the amount of 22% corn cake (from maybe 4 lbs per cow per day to 6-8) we fed that group and they all bred back for the first time ever.

If that heifer had her second calf  before three I'd sure give her another chance, especially since she milked fine the first time.