No Suck

[Jac]

Had a tiny heifer calf born this morning but cannot get it to suck. Tried everything - put it to the cow no go, milked the cow put colostrum into calf bottle - teat too big no go, tried lamb bottle still won't suck. Called vet was unable to tube feed as the calf tube was too big and the lamb one too small???? Gave it a vit E injection and left me with pen and strep. Think I'm going to lose this one.

[Duncan MacIntyre]

Perhaps a small foal stomach tube would fit the bill, vet may have one and just not thought of using it, or may be scared it gets chewed - but a calf is worth more than a tube so offer to pay for a new one if it gets damaged. If you cannot get that, and there is no swallow from dribbling stuff in from a teat with opening enlarged almost to incontinent state, try the lamb tube even though it is too short - just be careful not to allow too much down at a time which may come back up and choke. Just let it in ever so slowly and it should go to stomach. Be careful it does not get hypothermic, it may be needing an intraperitoneal or (not quite so good) subcutaneous injection of glucose if it is more than just a few hours old now and has not fed.

Duncan

[Jac]

Wish you were my vet Duncan - you would know what to do. Sadly, the on call vet is newly qualified so not much chance of help in that direction. I will keep her warm and carry on dribbling colostrum in the poor wee thing every 3 hours and hope that she pulls round as I don't have much experience with tube feeding and am likely to cause more harm than good. Really did not expect this as she had a easy birth and was quickly up and tearing round the field after the other youngsters. Fetched them all in due to bad rainstorm. Do not usually calve outside and wishing I hadn't this time.

[Jac]

Hurray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's started to feed.

[Jac]

Thank you so much Duncan for your concern. This little calf is really special to me as she is out of my Knotting cow who is now getting on a bit and every heifer she gives me is a bonus.

[Duncan MacIntyre]

So glad to hear she has started to sook. I was brought up on farm, by time I could do very much my father was not so well and had stopped keeping cattle, so my early learning was with sheep,feeding pet lambs and lambing sheep from when I was 9. You really learn patience getting some of them to suck. And since keeping Dexters I have learned that although standard size calves do not easily get hypothermic Dexters can, to do with the body weight to surface area ratio.

I try to calve all mine outside, but I do take them in if I think the calf has not suckled in time. This year was dreadful because of the wet and cold. Out of the first five born I had to take 4 in, even if it was just for a few hours, but some were in for days before it was dry enough and warm enough to risk them back out.

Hope all goes well.

Duncan

[Tim Watson]

As a slight aside, if you are relatively inexperienced as we still are , I can't recommend doing a lambing course enough. The vets usually put them on at certain times of the year.
Nobody seems to do calving courses but having the confidence to lube up and very gently get in there I found a huge help. Our vets used dummy ewes and dead lambs and started us off with correctly presented singles and went on to cover all the other possibilities through to triples.
They also showed us how to stomach tube and what to feel for on the outside of the throat.
So far I have only had to go in once but I was hugely relieved to be able to work out what was where, how to correctly attach ropes and deal with it. Likewise have only tubed once and the same applied.
Well worth the money.

[Jac]

Did the lambing courses at agricultural college 30 years ago now Tim and I agree with you, they were very good. Plenty of action - difficult presentations, learning to deal with prolapses, fostering, castrating, hypothermic lambs (tubing, intra-peritoneal glucose) - you name it all happened. However, unless you have a large farming enterprise and have to deal with these issues on a frequent basis any skills learned quickly diminish over time.

Of all the types of livestock I have kept I have found the Dexter to be the least of all troublesome. However, it goes to show that there is always the odd occasion that catches you out and a very irate mother in the pen next door doesn't help. We have three more to calve (all due today) and one thing is certain, whatever misfortune I encounter now I know which vet is on duty this weekend I will be dealing with it myself (with the exception of a caesarean).

That aside, mother and baby are now doing just fine so am keeping my fingers crossed for them.

Practical Calving Course advertised here http://www.sheptonvet.com/new-training- ... available/