Calf not thriving

millertime78

Hi All, I've a small suckler set up (part-time). One heifer that calved died soon after the calf was born and hence the calf was bucket fed for about 8 weeks. I then put him out to grass with the rest and am creep feeding him with calf crunch almost every evening .The thing is, he's thriving very poorly, his coat is bad, he's not growing nearly as fast as when he was on the maverick. Should I put him back on milk replacer or what should i do?

Min

Maybe a treatment for lice and a mineral supplement like growvite would help.

kfk

Make sure he is not sucking other calves urine!

Figerty

Could be a mineral deficiency, you might need to get a mineral supplement from the vet. If the calf didn't get enough beastings you could be paying for it now.

Your other option would be to get milk from a Dairy farmer and bucket feed the calf for a few weeks to see if that would bring him on. If if you have to pay for it, it's still cheap feeding.

My neighbour has a calf like you desicribe, but in his case the heifer didn't take to the calf and refused to let it suck out in the field. They caught it in time and half to bring the calf in for injections and sucking for a while.

kfk wrote: »

Make sure he is not sucking other calves urine!

Bitten & Hisses

I would say get milk or milk replacer into him. How much creep are you giving him?

whelan1

and a nice bit of calf crunch.... maybe a shot of multivitamin too

wiggy123

what age the calf...
if under 10 weeks--start giving him either whole cows milk or replacer for a few more weeks..strengthen him up!also give him either a shot of multivitamins or some of that growvite stuff..i'd feed him calf nuts also-small amount!
he out on grass!

i had somthing similar heifer wouldn't take to her calf-for first week,had her in crush and feed him from there!
he got that colostrumn stuff after birth..powdered stuff!
heifer would let her drink now and again on her own-but the calf got clever would go to another quiet heifer-drink from her-from behind-was smart of her!
she did ok--weaned there a month ago..u'd know the difference! prob with heifer-she was havin trouble calf-we took calf,and she never thought she calved..ie with trought the calving process--if u get me drift!
sold cow on since!

ladylouise

millertime78 wrote: »

Hi All, I've a small suckler set up (part-time). One heifer that calved died soon after the calf was born and hence the calf was bucket fed for about 8 weeks. I then put him out to grass with the rest and am creep feeding him with calf crunch almost every evening .The thing is, he's thriving very poorly, his coat is bad, he's not growing nearly as fast as when he was on the maverick. Should I put him back on milk replacer or what should i do?

did you get the vet ?
did you check calf teeth.
mineral deficiency,
worms
like they guy said below lice may be.
where the mother?used cows milk from another mothering cow who bring up another calf who have plenty of milk to spare,in this weather you should keep calf in.and hand feed or bucked feed and check on progress during the day.

the calf might have newamona might not eat,we had cow that would not eat just after calving had newamonia was not thriving at all

millertime78

I gave the calf two treatments of pour on and calf crunch every day and he hasn't looked back, he's doing great. Thanks for the suggestions all.

ladylouise

millertime78 wrote: »

I gave the calf two treatments of pour on and calf crunch every day and he hasn't looked back, he's doing great. Thanks for the suggestions all.

that's brilliants.i glad you calf is back in form