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central ND/SD border | Had a heifer calve last week Wednesday, March 27th, in barn with 3 other pairs. She started following another calf and forgot about her own. We separated off the others and it was just her and her calf in barn, but she wanted nothing to do with her calf, kept looking for the other one. Put her in headgate and she stood alright for calf to drink. I also gave calf a half bag of colostrum the first evening and the other half next morning. We pulled the afterbirth out of heifer and wrapped it around calf, she still didn't want him.
So, I put her in headgate twice a day and let calf drink 20 to 30 minutes. He seems energetic and fine. Just those 2 in barn and she doesn't care about calf.
Now I can just put her in the quarter circle calving pen, give her feed and she stands ok for calf to drink, but in open she kicks and headbutts. I watch on cameras and calf isn't getting anything other then the 2 times a day.
Tried the orphan-no-more and PB Blaster but doesn't make a difference. Been over a week now, will have next group of heifers needing the barn soon, so probably don't want to keep messing with her much longer.
Anyone think she will really figure out that is her calf? Really isn't much more work than bottle feeding, but can't go on like this for much longer.
Edited by Go farm 4/4/2024 13:26
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how long to keep messing with heifer to take calf
