twin calves

[snowshoe]

I have a 9 year old herford cross beef cow that just had twin calves on Saturday how can I know that she is producing enough milk for both calves I have them penned in barn but let cow out some during day on pasture but it seems that the calves are not getting enough milk they seem to suckle her forever when they feed and they just don't seem to get the rounded belly like a calf normally does but they seem to be getting more active each day but not overly active like bouncing all around there pen. I have another calf that was born Sunday and he just bounces all around his pen.
I try and keep all my calves penned up for the first week because of all the coyotes and bears that we have around where I live.
Thanks for any advice.

 

[Imissmygirls]

Twins may take a little longer to get bouncy because they often are a week or so early. Mama should adjust milk flow to accommodate twins, especially an older cow.

 

[haviris]

If it was me and things don't pick up I'd pull one and either bottle feed it or put it on another cow. Sometimes it works out ok, and sometimes they need help.

 

[herfrds]

Pull one of the calves off of her and like it was said start bottle feeding it or graft it to another cow.

We never leave twins on a cow, they never get enough to eat and have had cows just abandoned one later on.

 

[jhm47]

We routinely get several (3 - 8) sets of twins each year. The secret is to make sure that the cow gets plenty of energy in her diet. We separate these cows and their calves, and feed them a high energy diet in a separate small pasture. By doing this, and also creep feeding the calves, we are able to get the calves to be very nearly as large as the "single" calves. The biggest problem is to get enough energy into the cow so she will breed back on time. It has helped a lot to use CIDR's to bring them into heat when the rest of the cows are bred.

If she were my cow, I'd get her on a high grain ration (10 - 12 lbs per day of corn), and in about a month or so, get the calves on a creep ration. This should solve your problem, and eliminate the chore of having a bottle calf. Good luck!