# Help Please!  Cow and Calf Problem!



## TheZooKeepsMe (Jun 1, 2014)

We just recently partnered with a gentleman who has had cattle for about 5-6 years on 3 head of cattle, two cows and a heifer.  They are all red angus.  The two cows are 5 and 7 years old, heifer is 2.  The heifer is small compared to the cows, and we are told she is the daughter to one of them.  

Our partner keeps the cattle on his farm since our 3 acres is much too small.  He was gone Saturday night and returned this afternoon, discovering two calves, one cow (the 7 year old) still VERY pregnant and one cow (the 5 year old) delivered and nursing one bull calf, and another bull calf following the heifer.  Since the heifer had no visible bagging, they assumed that the momma of both calves was the cow, not the heifer and they took the heifer and other cattle out.  The momma cow refuses to nurse the little bull calf.  (I think it is the heifer's calf but the men wont listen to a crazy converted city girl turned country gal, aka ME.)  I think that the little bull calf is going to die and his mama wont have any milk if he does not keep trying to nurse on her.

PLEASE I need an expert whom the men will listen to!

Can a heifer in her second year deliver a calf?

Can said heifer not look pregnant at all, and calve without making a lot of milk right away.  (Goats can, I know that for sure, especially on first pregnancies.)

Could a pregnancy that young cause her to be smaller than genetically similar cows?  Her mom and sister that we also own are much larger than the heifer.

I am going to get on my phone in a minute here and add pictures in case it helps.


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## TheZooKeepsMe (Jun 1, 2014)

The heifer is the all red one, walking away in this picture, which was taken 3 weeks ago.  The two red and white cows are the 5 and 7 year old cows.  On the far left is an unrelated bull who belongs to our partner.


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## bonbean01 (Jun 1, 2014)

I have no clue...but would bottle feed that baby calf and not lose it to starvation. 

Welcome to BYH!!!  Hope some cattle people can give you some help on here!


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## M.L. McKnight (Jun 1, 2014)

Try milking the heifer and see if she has any milk. Get a sack of milk replacer and start feeding that bull calf after you give him some colostrum. IF the heifer has milk and you think she's the momma of the bull, she should be bellowing. IF she doesn't take it, then wipe he nose with a little lysol on a towel. This sounds cruel but she won't be able to smell if the calf is hers or not and after he has nursed for awhile he'll smell like her.
I'll always give one of my cows a few minutes of discomfort if it means saving a calf.

Good luck.


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## TheZooKeepsMe (Jun 1, 2014)

I can't get close to her; I don't rope, we don't have a chute and she is wild.  We are going to take the rejected calf home tomorrow if nothing changes and bottle feed it.  I would hate that because it is a bull and getting close to a critter we will later eat is hard on me.  I don't make friends with my quail or friars...


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## TheZooKeepsMe (Jun 1, 2014)

Should I try to make a chute out of horse round pen panels?  I have 6 of them.


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## M.L. McKnight (Jun 2, 2014)

That'd work. Just have it leading to a small catch pen with a gate. You can move cattle easily by making a "Huh-whist!" sound. Just pretend that you are a hiccuping snake.  It sounds silly but it works. I herd cattle like that even on foot.


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## WildRoseBeef (Jun 2, 2014)

It's quite normal for a heifer in her second year to calve, so I wouldn't be surprised if that bull calf is her's, despite her size. And yes, sometimes a heifer can look like she's not too big and still calve out, because if one doesn't know what to look for, a heifer with a big belly can just look she's got a massive rumen on her, and not a gestating fetus. Genetics have a funny way of working, but no. She would be small due to genetics from her dam and sire or from not being fed properly--in other words, not having nutritional requirements met at a crucial part of her life. She's going to be small for the rest of her life, but don't let this age of calving ever be seen as being "quite young." Heifers have calved out much younger than this, like at one year of age or even 6 months of age. Heifers that are started into the breeding herd are bred so that they are supposed to calf at 24 months of age (i.e., 2 years of age). IMHO, this is not "too young" at all. Though she could be a bit bigger, but as I said, I think she's going to be an itty bitty girl through her life. 

And I concur with McKnight's suggestion to catch her and milk her out to see if she's producing anything. Also see if you can put the calf with her to see how he mothers up to her and her reaction to the introduction to the calf before you try the lysol trick.


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## Azriel (Jun 8, 2014)

Many times a mother cow will not accept one twin, they get busy having the 2nd calf and just sort of forget they had the first one. The calf is going to try to suck and bond to any cow he can, if the heifer sniffed or licked him at all the calf will not know she is not his mom. My guess is the cow had twins and you will need to bottle feed the rejected baby unless you can get the mom in a pen/ chute and force her to take him, but many times a beef cow will not have enough milk to raise 2 calves and most ranchers remove one anyway.


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## greybeard (Jun 9, 2014)

WildRoseBeef said:


> It's quite normal for a heifer in her second year to calve, so I wouldn't be surprised if that bull calf is her's, despite her size. And yes, sometimes a heifer can look like she's not too big and still calve out, because if one doesn't know what to look for, a heifer with a big belly can just look she's got a massive rumen on her, and not a gestating fetus. Genetics have a funny way of working, but no. She would be small due to genetics from her dam and sire or from not being fed properly--in other words, not having nutritional requirements met at a crucial part of her life. She's going to be small for the rest of her life, but don't let this age of calving ever be seen as being "quite young." Heifers have calved out much younger than this, like at one year of age or even 6 months of age. Heifers that are started into the breeding herd are bred so that they are supposed to calf at 24 months of age (i.e., 2 years of age). IMHO, this is not "too young" at all. Though she could be a bit bigger, but as I said, I think she's going to be an itty bitty girl through her life.
> 
> And I concur with McKnight's suggestion to catch her and milk her out to see if she's producing anything. Also see if you can put the calf with her to see how he mothers up to her and her reaction to the introduction to the calf before you try the lysol trick.


I pretty much agree with all that, tho I prefer to have heifers calve at 26 months--just becuz. 

Any cattle on pasture can also develop grassbelly, and with a heifer, it's sometimes harder to tell if they are carrying a calf, especially in younger smaller cattle.


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## TheZooKeepsMe (Jun 9, 2014)

Actually, it turned out I was right.  The heiffer is now a cow  she came into milk and the little bull calf is doing quite well, the men came to their senses in time and turned the cattle all out together.


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## WildRoseBeef (Jun 9, 2014)

Awesome! I figured the same as you, from the way you were describing it all, and glad to hear she finally got back with her young'un!


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## TheZooKeepsMe (Jun 9, 2014)

I am glad too!  I know the boys would have said I'm crazy but I think they look alike in the face.  She is a really good mother.


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## bnttyra (Jul 16, 2014)

Great news!!!  And I concur with the others that confirmed that heifers can and should be calving out around the age of 2.  My 2 yr old heifer just had her first bull calf last week and while I did think she looked pregnant, she didn't look nearly as pregnant as the older cow and she even now doesn't have a huge bag, but definitely enough to feed her little calf.


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## Sara Ranch (Oct 29, 2017)

A happy ending!  Yeah!!


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