3 day old calf won't suck

loopyloulilly

I have a pure bred Charolais calf, he hasn't sucked the mother yet.

He has no reflex even when you put an artificial tit is his mouth or even your fingers.

We have been force feeding and stomach tubing him continuously, we have tried brown sugar, white sugar still nothing.

He not sick or doesn't have any scour, just plain ignorant.

If any of ye farmers have come across this, please let me know tis getting very frustrating.

raypallas

Ring your local vets office and they will give ya an injection for him. Worked for us a few times. Hope this helps

Kovu

raypallas wrote: »

Ring your local vets office and they will give ya an injection for him. Worked for us a few times. Hope this helps

Mederantil is the sucking injection. It works exactly 15 mins after you give it so be ready with everything for him. Make sure he's good and hungry too, not sure what you're doing with the sugar but try honey on the tit, whelan gave that tip here before and it seems to work well.

loopyloulilly

Thanks Kovu. I'll try these two remedies.

I was told by another farmer to dip the tit in sugar to start him sucking.

Kovu

loopyloulilly wrote: »

Thanks Kovu. I'll try these two remedies.

I was told by another farmer to dip the tit in sugar to start him sucking.

Ah it's the same as the honey so, wouldbe easier to dip the tit in honey but whatever is sweet and to hand will work.

whelan2

Kovu wrote: »

Ah it's the same as the honey so, wouldbe easier to dip the tit in honey but whatever is sweet and to hand will work.

Honey or chocolate, injection from vet . Think the injection makes something click in the brain, its like a switch being put on- works most of the time

patsy_mccabe

Never tried the injection here, but I know a big bottle of patience always works for me.

orm0nd

our vets don't stock the injection any more

greysides

Other than pure a death wish on his part, two things to consider are:

Was he stressed during the calving? Long time in the barrel with cow not straining, tough calving etc, i.e. consider acidosis as cause of dopiness.

Has he any breathing problems? Sore ribs, fluid on lungs etc. Might need antibiotics or pain-killers.

If sugar doesn't work, try rubbing salt on his tongue.

loopyloulilly

Tried the honey there, still no giving in.

Dad gave the sucking injection a few days ago.
He is a pretty huge calf, he was a tight pull alright. He will go to the cow's udder and bang his head off her tits but won't put his tongue out or try to suck.

EJ88

loopyloulilly wrote: »

Tried the honey there, still no giving in.

Dad gave the sucking injection a few days ago.
He is a pretty huge calf, he was a tight pull alright. He will go to the cow's udder and bang his head off her tits but won't put his tongue out or try to suck.

We'd the same problem with a LM Bull calf. Another big dopey fella. Persistence finally won.

Hunger too probably.

tanko

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Never tried the injection here, but I know a big bottle of patience always works for me.

Very true, he's only three days old, it's early days yet for a big bull calf after a hard calving. He'll come right yet I'd say. I'd hate to have purebred CH cattle from the point of view of how bloody dopey and lazy their calves can be after calving.

Lizard_Moon

Kovu wrote: »

Mederantil is the sucking injection. It works exactly 15 mins after you give it so be ready with everything for him. Make sure he's good and hungry too, not sure what you're doing with the sugar but try honey on the tit, whelan gave that tip here before and it seems to work well.

Medarantil no longer being made according to rep.
Vets are using up last remaining stocks.

whelan2

Any improvement?

dar31

Only learned last year, you can't stomach tube milk after 24 hrs from birth.
After that time it sits in the wrong stomach and ferments.
Stomach tubing water is ok though

jimini0

Had a charolais calf here. Tough calving he was weak and a big dopey calf. His tongue was swollen. He would head butt the udder. I spent 4 days helping him suck 3 times a day. He couldn't manage to hold the teat in his mouth and suck at the same time. So had to keep putting the teat back in over and over again. Anyways after the forth day he was getting the hang of it. Time and patience and alot of cursing.

loopyloulilly

whelan2 wrote: »

Any improvement?

We have him, he sucked one quarter last night.

The honey worked!

Thanks lads.

patsy_mccabe

dar31 wrote: »

Only learned last year, you can't stomach tube milk after 24 hrs from birth.
After that time it sits in the wrong stomach and ferments.
Stomach tubing water is ok though

Is this right? I stomach tubed a calf once, that I resuscitated and was brain damaged for a full week till he came right.

Kovu

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Is this right? I stomach tubed a calf once, that I resuscitated and was brain damaged for a full week till he came right.

No i'm pretty sure it's not. It's not recommended to tube them for long periods as small amounts can go into the rumen (the big stomach for first chew on grass) and ferment a bit there. But it won't kill the calf, can bloat him a bit or leave him feeling a bit off. Wasn't there someone on another thread that tubed a calf til weaning time?

Lizard_Moon

Kovu wrote: »

No i'm pretty sure it's not. It's not recommended to tube them for long periods as small amounts can go into the rumen (the big stomach for first chew on grass) and ferment a bit there. But it won't kill the calf, can bloat him a bit or leave him feeling a bit off. Wasn't there someone on another thread that tubed a calf til weaning time?

Current info is not to tube milk to a calf, apart from the colostrum. Tubed milk can go into the rumen where it sets up an inflammation of the rumen wall. The ruminate acidosis can cause acute problems, up to death or set up chronic ill thrift- big belly, thin, weak, pasty putty faeces.
Link is to a clinical article if anyone any interest. http://www.researchgate.net/publication/242535760_Ruminal_Acidosis_in_Milk-fed_Calves

Sheep breeder

had a calf a couple of years ago that would not suckle at any attempt, problem selenium lacking and got a shot from the vet the calf suckled the next day and never looked back.

Englebert Humperdink

Had a calf a while ago wouldn't suck. Was a Charolais too. I was worried about him so was stomach tubing him. Vet told me I was feeding him too much and he was lazy. Cut back on amount I was feeding him and eventually he got hungry and sucked himself.

Alibaba

Have a divil myself for the last 2 days that won't suck.

And to make matters worse mamma is a stone mad b**ch.

She'd go for you in a second so have to be careful.

Just have to plough on I s'pose

Irish Beef

Can you catch her head in a calving gate or something, make it a lot safer, hard to get a calf sucking when you fear for your life, I had a calf myself a few years ago brought him in the mart, no way would he suck the milk bar or a tit on a bucket, had to slowly dose powder milk into him twice daily for six weeks until he could eat enough meal, nearly drove me wrong, had the vet out to him twice, gave him that injection an all, no way this calf was going to suck.

loopyloulilly

Should of got back sooner. He was away with it, Thanks to all you lovely peeps.