Calf won't suck

[wurzell1976]

Last Saturday my young daughter went to market with her mother and bought me a pen of cracking calves for my birthday,however one of them will not take milk and only drinks water.We have tried all sorts ,it is now Wednesday and my patience is wearing thin.Has any one got any bright ideas,apart from shooting it ?

 

[milkloss]

Don't give him water. How old?

 

[HarryB97]

Will it drink water from a bottle with a teat on the end? What colour teats are you using as the pink teats are firmer and harder to suck than the white ones. Buy yourelf a trusti tuber it makes life so much easier for calves like this, you may have to tube it daily till weaning definitley don't shoot it. A couple of squares of plain milk chocolate at feeding time can work well as it coats their mouth and helps them suck.

trusti tuber - Google Search

 

[wurzell1976]

Don't give him water. How old?

2 weeks old and off it's mother

 

[wurzell1976]

Will it drink water from a bottle with a teat on the end? Buy yourelf a trusti tuber it makes life so much easier for calves like this, you may have to tube it daily till weaning definitley don't shoot it. A couple of squares of plain milk chocolate at feeding time can work well as it coats their mouth and helps them suck.

trusti tuber - Google Search

The only thing it will do is drink water from a drinker it will not take any thing from a teat,we have tried fingers and honey,talking to it in a civil manner,head in bucket.I have also tried not to get cross.The annoying thing is that it is the size of a baby elephant and has great potential.

 

[HarryB97]

The only thing it will do is drink water from a drinker it will not take any thing from a teat,we have tried fingers and honey,talking to it in a civil manner,head in bucket.I have also tried not to get cross.The annoying thing is that it is the size of a baby elephant and has great potential.

Anyone who has reared calves has bean there and there are fewer things more annoying! You could add some milk to a bucket and see if it will drink it diluted with water and if it will slowly increase the amount of milk till it will drink pure milk from a bucket?

 

[steveR]

Will it drink water from a bottle with a teat on the end? What colour teats are you using as the pink teats are firmer and harder to suck than the white ones. Buy yourelf a trusti tuber it makes life so much easier for calves like this, you may have to tube it daily till weaning definitley don't shoot it. A couple of squares of plain milk chocolate at feeding time can work well as it coats their mouth and helps them suck.

trusti tuber - Google Search

Had one a few years back that I tubed daily for what seemed like a month or more to supplement a weak suck.... Then suddenly, the lights came on one morning. Hope teh OP wins out in teh end.

 

[devonbrion1998]

patience and more patience ,should pay off if you got the time to sit there watching the milk dribble out the sides of his mouth whilst bottle feeding, then all of a sudden off they go, could take days though

 

[wurzell1976]

Anyone who has reared calves has bean there and there are fewer things more annoying! You could add some milk to the drinker or a bucket and see if it will drink it diluted and if it will slowly increase the amount of milk till it will drink pure milk from a bucket?

I am new to this ,having sold a arable farm in the North and wanted a mixed farm in the SW.If is still larking about in the morning i will separate it and do as you suggest ,thank you.

 

[Yorkshire lad]

We had a calf that lost lost its mother. Mrs YL fed it and struggled to get it to suck , she presevered for 10 days before it would suck . She found it would only suck if she wore here water proofs she milks in. Obviously it was the cow smell of the water proofs that triggered some thing to make it suck . Until the day it was weaned it wouldnt drink unless mrs wore her water proofs
Be wary of some market calves that are reared on cows they can be difficult to get sucking

 

[willie waver]

had a twin this year that I had to take off its mother. refused point blank to suck the bottle for a fortnight, every feed tried with teat, nope, tube fed it. then after fortnight it just decided to suck, never looked back

 

[jed]

Last Saturday my young daughter went to market with her mother and bought me a pen of cracking calves for my birthday,however one of them will not take milk and only drinks water.We have tried all sorts ,it is now Wednesday and my patience is wearing thin.Has any one got any bright ideas,apart from shooting it ?

Take it back to market let someone else try
If not give it a good handful of salt a couple of hours apart then try it next morning.
Works sometimes bit like when you’ve had a Chinese and wake at three wanting a pint of water.

 

[Anymulewilldo]

We get them. Big strong calves, taken straight off the cow and bounced into market.
I still run calves in singles or pairs. Tried group rearing, hated it. If one won't drink, decent teaspoon of salt at back of throut. Take water away. Nothing gets water until it drinks milk. Next feed it should be thirsty. Persevere with the teat. As mentioned above, use stomach tube to ensure some fluids if you can't get a litre down it. Repeat salt and go too next feed.
I do use those life aid rehydration powders in the milk for on coming calves too settle them and make sure they have plenty of electrolytes in there.
Worst one I've had lasted 9 days being tuned 1 litre each end of the day. No water for 5 days then I allowed 1/2 litre each end of day. but had calf mix too eat. On the evening of the 9th day I was getting myself revved up for the wrestling match when it came too the barrier shouting for milk like the others! Put the bucket in the bracket and it drank the full 3.5 litre!! I didn't know wether too laugh or cry!!!!

 

[Cowgirl]

Last Saturday my young daughter went to market with her mother and bought me a pen of cracking calves for my birthday,however one of them will not take milk and only drinks water.We have tried all sorts ,it is now Wednesday and my patience is wearing thin.Has any one got any bright ideas,apart from shooting it ?

Just a thought - have you taken it’s temperature?

 

[wurzell1976]

Just a thought - have you taken it’s temperature?

Yes and all is normal

 

[wurzell1976]

We get them. Big strong calves, taken straight off the cow and bounced into market.
I still run calves in singles or pairs. Tried group rearing, hated it. If one won't drink, decent teaspoon of salt at back of throut. Take water away. Nothing gets water until it drinks milk. Next feed it should be thirsty. Persevere with the teat. As mentioned above, use stomach tube to ensure some fluids if you can't get a litre down it. Repeat salt and go too next feed.
I do use those life aid rehydration powders in the milk for on coming calves too settle them and make sure they have plenty of electrolytes in there.
Worst one I've had lasted 9 days being tuned 1 litre each end of the day. No water for 5 days then I allowed 1/2 litre each end of day. but had calf mix too eat. On the evening of the 9th day I was getting myself revved up for the wrestling match when it came too the barrier shouting for milk like the others! Put the bucket in the bracket and it drank the full 3.5 litre!! I didn't know wether too laugh or cry!!!!

Thank you,

 

[wurzell1976]

Just a thought - have you taken it’s temperature?

Yes temp all ok

 

[wurzell1976]

Take it back to market let someone else try
If not give it a good handful of salt a couple of hours apart then try it next morning.
Works sometimes bit like when you’ve had a Chinese and wake at three wanting a pint of water.

A few months ago i moved my whole farm 250 miles,a calf won,t beat me for want of trying.

 

[Colliepup123]

I feel your pain it really is a nightmare, what a cracking birthday present though lucky you. Few tips that I’ve learnt along the way and have been effective.

1. Try a bit of squeezey honey or cube of chocolate on the teat, it tends to encourage their suck reflex as it sticks in mouth.
2. Don’t tube it, leave it hungry for a morning and try again in the afternoon (unless it’s dehydrated of course)
3. Depends what feeders you keep but if you have one with them feeding beside each other, this really helps. They tend to copy each other especially if you have a very keen calf who competes for same test.
4. Persevere nothing better than finally getting them sucking.

Good luck [emoji5]

 

[wurzell1976]

I feel your pain it really is a nightmare, what a cracking birthday present though lucky you. Few tips that I’ve learnt along the way and have been effective.

1. Try a bit of squeezey honey or cube of chocolate on the teat, it tends to encourage their suck reflex as it sticks in mouth.
2. Don’t tube it, leave it hungry for a morning and try again in the afternoon (unless it’s dehydrated of course)
3. Depends what feeders you keep but if you have one with them feeding beside each other, this really helps. They tend to copy each other especially if you have a very keen calf who competes for same test.
4. Persevere nothing better than finally getting them sucking.

Good luck [emoji5]

Thank you for your advice,we have tried all manner of tricks but after 5 days and it getting weaker we started to tube it.