cow not bonding with calf

topgeas

uncle had a suckler heifer calved today. out the side he had to come. all ok. problem is cow not taking to calf. any suggestions.

Kovu

Going to quote Mad4S for this as I think it's worked a couple of times for others here since he mentioned it!

Mad4simmental wrote: »

Cover the calf in salt, a good bit of it. She will lick it off and start to form a bond. Had a few heifers this year that wasn't too keen to take to the calf and this worked for us.

Bullocks

Kovu wrote: »

Going to quote Mad4S for this as I think it's worked a couple of times for others here since he mentioned it!

Plus if she had a section she might be off form after it so I would give her another day or so to come around . Just make sure the calf is well fed until he can manage her

Genghis Cant

Saw this several times.
The first thing I do now with a sectioned calf is hang him upside down and then straight up to the cows head to bond.
At this stage you need to keep the calf in contact with the cow, once the heifer ain't harming the calf, if the calf is keen to suck, I'd catch the cow and offer up the calf. The act of suckling can help them bond.
An oxytocin inj might do no harm to the heifer either.
The heifer is sick as a small hospital after being sectioned, she's sore, she's confused, she's no clue she's had a calf.
Is there any interaction between them at all?

onyerbikepat

You could try brining in a dog. That usually kicks in the protective instinct.

I saw it myself only yesterday. I was checking a cow after calving and our young jack Russell followed me into the field. Panick with all the cows. I saw one cow huddle around a calf near her. She didn't realise it wasn't hers until everything calmed down and she took a sniff of it. Funny to see.

Genghis Cant

onyerbikepat wrote: »

You could try brining in a dog. That usually kicks in the protective instinct.

I saw it myself only yesterday. I was checking a cow after calving and our young jack Russell followed me into the field. Panick with all the cows. I saw one cow huddle around a calf near her. She didn't realise it wasn't hers until everything calmed down and she took a sniff of it. Funny to see.

I wouldn't be a fan of this with a sectioned heifer.

Limestone Cowboy

Bullocks wrote: »

Plus if she had a section she might be off form after it so I would give her another day or so to come around . Just make sure the calf is well fed until he can manage her

Plus one on this. It's happened here a good bit with springers and the penny never drops until the sickness is gone off them if they don't take straight away. I normally leave the cow and calf in the shed together for a day and then bring in the dog. Normally does the trick. Have tried the salt trick and while some of them licked off the salt they never actually took to mothering the calf because of it for me anyway.

atlantic mist

we always use the salt def helps but will always hav one a year that is not a bit maternal she'll attack the calf, only thing we can do is take calf away straight away