calf that won't suck

I've got a calf here that was born Easter evening. The next morning,the cow didn't look like she'd been sucked,so I mixed up some powdered colostrum and bottle fed him. He sucked it right down. The rest of that week,I went out and TRIED to bottle feed him,but he wouldn't take it. The cow still didn't look like he'd sucked,but I figured he must be,so I left him alone the next weekend. I had seen him sucking up water out of puddles and eating grass that first week,leading me to believe even more that he wasn't sucking the cow.
Anyway,after that first weekend that I left him alone,he REALLY went down hill and we had to have the vet out to rehydrate him with an IV.We put him in a pen in the barn with another calf that had been abandoned. By Friday morning that week,the wife FINALLY had him sucking a bottle,so we went up to the cabin for Mothers Day weekend. My son said he sucked that night,then wouldn't the next morning,so he tubed him all weekend. All the next week,she just held the bottle up and let it run in his mouth and he swallowed it,but he was aspirating it and went down hill again. I started tubing him twice a day and brought him around. He'll drink water out of the tub,eats hay and grain,acts pretty frisky,but he won't even drink milk replacer out of a bucket! We keep trying twice a day,but no luck.
He's getting old enough and is in good enough health that I'm not too scared of him dying on me,but he's gonna end up being the only calf in history to ever be weaned without ever having sucked enough to keep a bird alive.

The little buggers can be trying at times.get some good calf mix grain for him to nibble on. We use Calf Manna and hand feed the stubborn one's. We bottle feed all of our calves. Keep plenty of good clean water, grain, hay and grass. available. Once you start tubing on a regular basis they will not suck. They can try your patients. Some time changing the size of the nipple make a difference,some of them are just to big for calf to be comfortable nursing on.
gitrib

He's eating a mix of about a third oats and two thirds ear corn,eats good second cutting hay,loves green grass if I pull it for him. The vet said that's a sign of stomach problems. For a while there,he had quite an appetite for a piece off of a trace mineral salt block. Something was definitely out of balance. I was at the fertilizer plant/farm store the other day and the owner gave me a tube of some kind of miracle mineral paste stuff that had enzymes to help their gut and God knows what all. I gave him a dose of that and it REALLY brought him around. You have to chase him down to get his head in the bucket,then again to tube feed him when he refuses the bucket. In a lifetime of feeding cattle,I've never seen anything like this one.

I"ve had them do that, usually due to difficulty at birth that causes their tongue to swell and they can't nurse. On the other hand, I've never had one that wouldn't eventually nurse after about a week. Gitrib is right, tube feeding usually hinders their nursing abilities long term. If he was born Easter Sunday, he's at least 4+ weeks old. If he's eating grain good, he's getting nutrients and nutrients are nutrients, whether it's from milk or grain. If I remember, Calf Manna contains milk products. You've kept him alive this long, I wouldn't worry about the milk deal. He'll probably end up being a pot-gutted calf, but he'll still be a live one. Good job on your efforts.

That calf is gonna give you problems as long as it lives.
At best it'll turn into a runt.
My advice!,get the .22 out now while you're still ahead.

It's not like he's the only one around here. I'll put him back out on pasture when I wean him,then bring him back in when I wean the rest in the fall. He'll finish out eventually.

I've got one across the road that had a swollen tongue,plus the old cows udder was about on the ground. It took a little bit to even get that liver tongued devil to suck the bottle,but he did it. I bottle fed that one for 5 WEEKS and 2 DAYS! He finally got ahold of the cow and I quit feeding him Monday of this week.
The one that I'm tubing had the sack over it's face,but we were right there by the gate watching her have it and I got the sack off in probably 45 seconds or so. The tongue wasn't swollen on that one,but I'd swear he's brain damaged. Seems normal in every way though,except for the "won't suck" thing. I just went in the barn and checked things,he's standing there eating hay,flapping his ears and wagging his tail.

Well maybe you'll get lucky.
My experience with these kind of calves have been pretty dismal,they perk up for a few days and get sickly again time and again.In the end they start bloating cause their stomach ain't the way it should be
By the time they hit the stockyard no body wants them and you get dick all.

If a calf has IBR or BVD, I don't remember which virus, they act like what you describe with this calf. Won't want to suck, act stupid, don't know what a nipple is, but if you work with them they live. Also they are a carrier of the disease. Has your herd been nnalert, or possibly did the mother get missed at vaccination? Wayne

Hadn't heard that. The vet that rehydrated him is pretty darned good with calves and she was here for quite a while that day. She never said anything about it. The only nnalert that we talked about was the ecoli nnalert that I'm using.

I had a little red bull calf here one time,born late in the season to a heifer. I weaned him right along with the rest. He weighed all of 180 pounds at weaning. Was so small and immature,he never even bawled when I weaned him,in fact I never did hear him make a sound all his life. He got a cut on his hip at about a year old,got an infection in it,swelled up like a basketball. He was almost two and a half years old before I got him finished. When I sold him,he was the high dollar steer on the load! I couldn't believe it. Sometimes you just get lucky.

Can't have turned a profit on that one!

With anywhere from 80-120 in the feedlot all the time,what's one more. They're in there til they're finished,simple as that.

tlak could teach him, that is his area of expertise!

He only shows up when you DON'T want his advice though.

He has survived and is doing well, seems to be a good time to shoot it.

did you try giving it flowers first lol just kidding

have you tried just putting the milk in a bucket and not a bottle, we raise a ton of calves that way..

I had to pull a big calf this last winter from a heifer. Darn thing took about two gasps of air and quit breathing. I worked with him for five minutes pumping his rib cage, even blew into his nostrils (which isn't very pleasant). He might have taken a half dozen breaths during that five minutes. But, he finally came to life.......or sorta. He didn't know how to nurse.......didn't have the foggiest idea of what he was supposed to do. 'Took me about a week, but he finally learned that if he stuck his head under there, he'd find a titty. Luckily, his momma let me work with him and her while he learned. He's the happiest little bugger you ever saw these days...........but he just ain't quite all there. I see no need to tell him either.

Every few years seems like I have one that acts like that. Just seems like they are born look'n for a reason to die. For some reason I always spend a few bucks on powdered colosturim and a bag of milk and most of the time it goes to the coyoties.

What kind of shape is the momma in?