Jingling!!
We’ve only had to deal with that once and that heifer was fairly uncivilized so she ended up standing in the sorting chute so junior could nurse until they both figured things out.
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Thankyouthankyouthankyou for the jingles!
Since the calf (our son insisted on Norman as his name) was born two night ago, I’ve had to tube feed him colostrum and then milk replacer twice per day. His sucking reflex, well, sucked (or didn’t). Tube feeding is a temporary solution so we had a strong plan this morning to fix this.
On top of this, as you guys know, Panda the bottle calf has been out with Fiona (his udderless mom) and Violet, Norman’s mom. Two weeks ago, while Violet was still pregnant with Norman, Panda was caught nursing from Violet. That couldn’t be allowed because he would deplete her of colostrum needed for her own calf. So, Panda had to once again be separated. He was locked up in a pen in the pasture so his mom could still be next to him but he couldn’t nurse from Violet. Fast forward two weeks. Violet’s udder is swollen because Panda had increased milk production due to nursing. Now, she’s painful, but no mastitis. She calves. Udder is painful and calf too weak to nurse.
Yesterday morning, we penned her up with panels, but she was too big and strong to let me milk her out a little. She collapsed the panels and walked away, lol.
So, I called the vet and plotted last night. It was a difficult delivery with a big calf. Violet may still be painful from that as well as having a swollen udder. We had a very extensive plan this morning which involved me penning up both mothers and both calves in the cow corral (another part of the farm) and trapping Violet in the small area we use as a chute to give her pain control, steroids for swelling, a sedative, and oxytocin. First, we penned them up. The corral has been vacant since spring because we had a leaky hydrant which made it into soup. it’s pretty dry now, but the heavy cows still bogged down a bit in the mud….
….which gave Norman an opportunity. For the first time this morning his suckle reflex was improved. We got him to latch onto the bottle a little. He got bored with us and moved toward Violet. She tried to turn away in the boggy mud, but he caught her. Slurp, slurp, gulp, gulp! The sweet sounds of success! It didn’t take picking up lots of drugs from the vet office and lots of uncomfortable pokes for Violet. It just took an old boggy pen.
We’ll take them back to their pasture this evening.
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Yipppeeee!!
Go boggy pen for the win.
Does that mean Panda can now drink from her too?
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Yes, if she lets him. Luckily, Panda is still getting his two bottles from us and he eats hay, grain, and grass next to his mom. If he does get a snack from Violet, it shouldn’t reduce her milk too much.
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Great update for little Norman!
And a bit of a fiscal win for you! Usually they wait until you actually pay for the high-dollar meds before healing themselves right before your eyes… 
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Very true! He scores points for saving us a bit.
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Can you not rig up the igloo cooler bottle feeder like you can do with foals? I would think it would be easier with cows and you would not have to bottle feed yourself. And he could drink smaller amounts more frequently.
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That’s a neat idea. I have to get the creep feeder set back up. Might try that.
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Panda is a solid bottle calf. He hangs out all day with Fiona and they come in twice per day for his bottle. He’s eating feed, alfalfa, and grass well. Violet and Norman stayed at the back of the pasture today. He’s also doing quite well, but his mom is probably aggravated with us.
We went to the hay auction today. Not much to choose from. We watched the cattle auction, as we often do, to check prices. They are quite high. Bottle dairy calves are going for between $250 and $400. These are mostly bulls. Three little Jersey bottle calves, about the same age as Norman, came in the ring. The first one went high. The next lower, and the last was quite low. Nothing wrong with her. Just not interested. There were a lot of dairy calve today. So, what’s more bottle calf?
Meet Penelope. Our future family milk cow.
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Oh my, Penelope is very cute!
What is she?
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Baby Jersey calf.
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Thanks. I do not know my cow breeds very well so I was not going to guess.
Now I see you said it above, sorry I did not put two and two together.
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No worries. I get Brown Swiss and Jersey cows mixed up. Jerseys are smaller.
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I have always drooled over the cuteness of a brown swiss, but I really do not know them well enough to know what I am looking at. Every time I go to the fair I see the brown swiss and want one.
Can Penelope go out with the other calves or does she have to stay separate?
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Once she’s good about coming in for her bottle, absolutely. She needs the cows to reach her manners and the other calves to play with. I started handling her already. We want her used to being touched all over and picking her feet up. Halter training when she’s a little older.
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Little Jersey calves remind me of fawns.
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I love her 
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Jersey calves always have the biggest Disney-esque eyes!
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Those 
. She is super cute.
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We lost Penelope. Our vet thinks she was a twin and premature. She became sick the day after the auction. I picked up meds from our vet and fought hard to save her all weekend, but she succumbed this morning. Our vet was out for horse vaccines and looked her over. She said that Jerseys in our area are very fragile but a premie one is just not going to make it.
On the bright side, Panda and Norman (in another part of the farm) are playing together. We’ve decided to keep Fiona and Panda but we’ll sell Violet and Norman. Cattle prices are ridiculously high right now and Violet’s udder is misshapen enough to make it difficult for her to nurse future calves.
Next summer, we’re planning on buying a few registered White Park heifers to halter train and raise for our new hobby herd. Milking might still be in our future, but we’ll have to be more careful and select an older animal.
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