Raising an Orphan Calf By: Heather Smith Thomas
any ranchers have raised calves on bottles. It can be because of the momma having twins, a calf not being accepted by it mother, or a mother dying, and in these instances, it is necessary for a newborn or young calf. The main thing is to make sure the young calf has had some colostrum within the first hours of life, whether from its own mother or from another cow, to ensure a good start in life. The antibodies from the colostrum provide temporary immunity to many of the diseases the calf might encounter. After a bottle or two of colostrum, the calf can be switched to regular milk or milk replacer. Since the rancher becomes the food source, the calf will look to the rancher for its food and become its substitute mom.
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More challenging is the one or two-month- old calf that has been out with the herd all its life and suddenly loses mom. Freak things happen, such as a cow getting on her back in a ditch, or dying from larkspur poisoning or bloat, killed by predators, or some other misfortune. This leaves an orphan that might be semi-wild (not ready to accept the rancher as mom), but too young to go without milk or high-quality feed.
Dr. Ray Randall, a veterinarian near Bridger, Montana, says some of these calves are good enough robbers to survive out with the herd - sneaking up to suck alongside the calf of another cow. It is comfortable out there with its herd mates and seem to manage, though it might be a little smaller than the other calves at weaning time.
“If they are only a couple months old when they lose their mom, and you can find a way to get them home from the range or in from the pasture, they can probably do alright even without milk - if you can put them on some good quality hay and a concentrate
feed like grain or calf pellets. You don’t need to put them on milk replacer. Milk replacer is expensive, and it can also be a hassle to get a calf that age sucking a bottle if he’s afraid of people,” says Randall. Instead, consider putting the orphan with an older animal in a small pen, so the calf has a buddy, for security, and give them quality feed. Once the calf learns to eat it by following its buddy’s example, a creep situation can be utilized.
“If you have some good pasture and a little herd of cows on pasture, sometimes another cow will adopt the orphan. If that happens, the motherless calf will do fine. But if the orphan is very young and you need to bring it into a pen to try to bottle-feed it, you just have to find a way to get a rope on it without chasing it. Or, you can bring that calf home with a little group of cattle, and get your hands on that calf in the corral after you’ve brought those cattle in. The last thing you want to do is stress the calf too much by trying to catch it, or it might get pneumonia and you’ll lose the calf.”
If the orphan does not have good pasture and a cow to rob from, find a way to feed it milk or milk replacer, or a high-quality, concentrate diet. The rumen is not developed enough yet in a young calf to handle enough forage, but the calf can digest grain or a more concentrated feed like calf pellets.
“Depending on when the calf lost its mother, it may have already been vaccinated (at branding time). In that case, it will be ok, but if there is any doubt about immune status, you could give that calf another vaccination with one of the 7-way clostridial vaccines, for adequate protection,” Randall says. Keep that calf in a clean environment, because it will be vulnerable to diseases like coccidiosis
or calf scours. If a clean place for the calf is (cont’d)
2017 APRIL i TEXAS LONGHORN JOURNAL 53
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