Chapter 7
The Calf
Of the many rewards of cow ownership, not least is the gift each year of a calf. The calf is of great value whether it is a bull or a heifer, albeit for different reasons. Early care is the same irrespective of its sex.
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Colostrum as Soon as Possible
The calf must have colostrum as soon as possible, ideally within thirty to forty-five minutes of its birth. All studies confirm that the sooner it gets colostrum, the better its chances of survival. A calf born in spring will often be on its feet within that time. It will often need help finding the teat, since it is preprogrammed to seek the teat up where it used to be prior to selective breeding, which was a lot higher off the ground. The calf should have a gallon of colostrum within the first twenty-four hours.
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Helping the Calf to Suck
In case the calf proves inefficient in finding the teat, you can help it, though the job will be much easier if a second person is available to assist. Tie the cow or have someone hold her head. Otherwise she will keep circling to lick and nudge the calf and it will keep tipping over. The instant the calf gets the teat in its mouth it begins to pull back and usually falls over, especially if the cow is licking it. Pushing the calf into range of the teat works against its instinct to pull back. You can’t pull it forward either, because it sets its feet. Nudge it forward instead. Once sucking properly, the calf will alternately pull back and bunt with surprising vigor. The word exuberance comes from the Latin word for udder, and its root meaning is “with the enthusiasm of a suckling calf.” You will see.
If the cow is down and will not get up, milk as much colostrum as you can into a bottle from whichever teats you can get at and bottle-feed some colostrum to the calf. (You should have one or more calf bottles on hand even if you plan to have the calf suckle the cow.) A calf should be fed standing on its feet. If you are working alone, back the calf into a corner to prevent it from backing away from you, and straddle it. The calf’s neck should be down but its nose tipped up. Its body should be in line with the neck, and not twisted. There is a structure in the calf’s throat, called the milk groove, that sends the milk past the immature rumen and into the true stomach. The milk groove doesn’t function properly unless the calf is in the correct position.
A weak calf, usually a winter calf, may be hard to get sucking properly. Its tongue will loll out and it will flop over. If it cannot stand, then hold it in a kneeling position, supporting it evenly from both sides, with its front legs folded under and its neck and head positioned as described. Otherwise the milk will go to the wrong place and the calf can even drown. Make every effort to get the calf on its feet before resorting to feeding it lying down. Often it just needs rubbing and warming.
Even if the first colostrum feeding must be from a bottle, once the calf is bouncy and the cow is on her feet it is easy to encourage suckling. Just squirt a little milk on the calf’s nose from point-blank range so it sees where milk comes from and leave them together. The cow will assist.
A word of warning: Don’t assume that because the calf is standing next to the cow nuzzling around that it has actually latched on and sucked. You need to observe it feeding. Even if it seems to have the teat in its mouth, wait until you see its tail wagging and head bobbing and foam accumulating. If you arrived late on the scene and are not sure if the calf has fed, look at the hair around its nose. It should be shiny with dried milk. Often there are puffs of foam on the ground. The flanks of a newborn are so caved in that it almost seems you could shake hands with yourself under its ribs. After feeding, it fills out. If you are really concerned, you can milk out some colostrum and offer a bottle. Keep an eye on the situation. I have known of tragedies where it was incorrectly assumed that the calf was feeding based on the fact that it was lively and was seen to nuzzle the udder. Like most babies, a calf is born with a couple of days’ reserve energy, after which it will collapse if it does not receive nourishment.
If you leave the cow and newborn calf together, make very frequent observations. If there is the least suspicion the cow is developing milk fever, separate them at once. A cow will take excellent care of her calf and never overlay it unless she has milk fever. The resulting paralysis will render her unable to control herself.
If you leave the calf in with the cow to suckle at will, it will often choose one or two teats and neglect the others. This may lead to mastitis. You need to keep the milk moving, and the calf is your best aid. Try to get the calf to suck the neglected teat(s) by pushing it up close and squirting some milk in its mouth. You may need to hold your hand over the other teats to hide them. If the calf refuses, milk out that quarter by hand.
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How Much Milk Does a Calf Need?
Most calf care manuals suggest that one gallon of milk a day divided into two feeds is all that a calf needs or should have. I have not followed this advice, and current recommendations are to feed more. A study reported in Hoard’s Dairyman (August 10, 2003) found superior growth and health on the following regimen developed at Cornell by Michael Van Armburgh:
At birth: 3 to 4 quarts of colostrum
Week 1: 2 quarts two times daily, all fed by nipple bottle
Week 2: 3 quarts two times daily
Week 3: 4 quarts two times daily
Week 4: 5 quarts two times daily
Following each feed, the calves in the Cornell study were offered as much warm water as they wanted, also by nipple bottle.
Calves on this regimen, which also included solid food, gained two to three pounds per day and, compared to controls on the standard one-gallon-per-day feed, had a more vigorous immune system, had fewer respiratory problems, and were livelier. “Occasional runny manure was not due to scours and soon righted itself,” the article stated.
My own practice with a calf separated from its mother is to start off in the early days offering half a gallon three times daily. I increase this one quart at a time as the calf seems to want, often by adding a fourth feed late in the evening. By the end of the second week I drop back to three feeds, for convenience and because I have increased the volume of milk at the other feeds. I have not fed any warm water. Neither do I encourage solid food.
A calf has an impressive sucking instinct and will soon be sucking everything in sight if underfed or even following what you might have thought to be an adequate feed. If the calf is with its mother, though, you never see this frantic extra sucking. Nature’s plan always includes sucking beyond satiety; it ensures continued milk production, and as noted above, I don’t find that it leads to overfeeding.
Left running with its mother, a calf gains two to three pounds per day (equal to the calves in the Cornell study) on milk alone plus whatever bit of grazing or hay they manage to eat.
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Advantages to Separating Cow and Calf
There is a great deal to be said for separating the calf from the cow and feeding it entirely by bottle right from the beginning. Many commercial dairies tie the calf in front of the cow, where she can see and lick it but not suckle it. After three days it can be placed entirely out of sight, or sold, and you can proceed with quiet milking.
A calf as young as three weeks old can be a great nuisance to control if your management scheme involves letting it in and out for feeding. Some people report success with milking the cow partially, leaving some behind for the calf. Every cow I have owned has quickly gained control of her letdown reflex and, knowing the calf is waiting, would not let me have any milk. Or I might get half a pail, but there wouldn’t be much cream in it. The cream is in the hind milk and is held back. I’ve also tried letting the calf in first so that the cow lets down, then dragged it away when I think it’s had enough. Soon the calf will be too strong and rebellious to make this a fun part of milking. After you’ve removed it, it will moo and the cow will moo back, and she may even express her resentment toward separation by kicking and certainly by raising her tail and letting drop.
If you decide to bottle-feed the calf, its surroundings must be kept scrupulously clean and dry. The bottles and nipples must be sterilized after each use. They can be put in the dishwasher if you have one. Don’t allow people to amuse themselves by letting the calf suck their fingers. Calves are very susceptible to gut infections of all types.
A calf needs plenty of handling. Rub its back every time you feed it to make it feel loved and to stimulate digestion and elimination. As it learns to take its bottle efficiently, you can stand in front of it when feeding. But don’t brace the bottle against yourself; instead, hold it to one side, and train children not to stand directly facing the calf while it takes its bottle. When it bunts it is surprisingly strong and might alarm or even injure a child. If you don’t want to hold the bottle yourself, agricultural supply stores offer wire racks in which the bottle can be set.
After a few weeks you can switch to bucket feeding. But digestion of the milk will still be optimized if the calf swallows from its natural sucking position: neck lowered, nose tipped up. There are teat buckets available; they are very efficient for feeding the older calf, especially if you wish to feed more than a half gallon, but they are harder to keep sanitary. The teat bucket is preferable to an open bucket because it assures that the calf sucks rather than drinks, so that the milk goes to the abomasum rather than the rumen, where it does not belong.
Whether using a calf bottle or teat bucket, be particular that the milk is heated to within 100°F to 105°F for proper digestion and reduced stress to the calf. And discard any flabby nipples. Hard sucking produces more saliva, which is important to digestion. The calf needs to work for its living!
The advantages to bottle-feeding a calf lie in greatly simplified management later on. Bottle feeding prevents formation of a strong cow-calf bond. But even seeing their calf is sufficient to keep most cows interested for a while, especially if it isn’t their first calf. Total separation for many weeks may be necessary. If grazed together too soon, a cow will stand so as to offer her teat, and it’s a dumb calf that will not soon figure out where milk really comes from.
Reliable weaning of a heifer you wish to keep will sometimes prove impossible, leaving you no alternative but to sell her. Strict bottle feeding avoids this outcome.
The advantages to bottle feeding also include a greater and more consistent milk supply available for the house, which is the reason, after all, for having a cow. If you have uses for all the fresh milk, you can feed the calf a milk replacer formula. For superior growth, integrity of bone, and general appearance use a milk-based replacer, not a soy-based one; despite claims, soy-based replacers are inferior. Buy a high-quality product that is 29 percent protein and 15 percent fat. Commercial dairymen use fermented colostrum or a milk-based formula for feeding their replacement heifers, reserving soy-based formulas for raising steers or calves meant for somebody else.
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Advantages to Keeping Cow and Calf Together
There are a number of advantages to keeping the calf in a small pen where the cow can see and lick it. After you are sure the cow is past the risk of milk fever, she and the calf can spend the night together. If you put them together following the evening milking, when the udder is empty, a young calf will still get plenty of milk and you will still find milk in the morning. A young calf will usually concentrate on one or two teats. An older calf will have it all. For many people, avoiding one milking is a huge advantage. And the cow and calf do look awfully cute and blissfully happy together.
Earlier calf-care manuals warn of the danger of allowing the calf too much milk. I have never actually had this happen. I suspect that it is separation anxiety combined with hunger that causes a calf to overeat. If left with the cow all the time, it appears to eat just what it needs.
A fresh cow produces at least ten times what a baby calf wants. Expect to milk twice a day at first in any case. In a couple of months, or even sooner, you may go to once-a-day milking. Be sure to check the udder even if you skip milking. Unmilked, the full quarters will surely develop mastitis.
Check daily for cuts on the teats. A calf’s lower incisors are razor sharp. Any cut from its teeth is likely to be vertical. A small cut doesn’t seem to bother the cow, but a bad cut will cause her to kick the calf off that quarter; then you will have to milk that quarter by hand.
In case of cut teats, I recommend a tool called a Dremel; it is like a small electric drill or a large dentist’s drill and has a choice of bits. The carborundum bit works like a charm to file down those incisors. If cuts are a chronic problem, note that a calf getting plenty of milk is much less likely to cut the teats. Adjust management so that the calf is not fighting for milk.
Advantages of Feeding Fresh Raw Milk
The supreme advantage to keeping cow and calf together is that the calf will be healthy. Of calves that receive no colostrum, virtually none survive. Of those that are bottle-fed with no cow-calf contact, you can expect about 80 to 90 percent survival with good care. Losses are almost entirely due to enteritis and pneumonia. Even when these illnesses do not prove fatal, treatment is expensive and time consuming, and the ultimate growth, thriftiness, and, in the case of a heifer, future milk production are prejudiced by illness in calfhood.
Obviously it sometimes happens, but I have not known a suckled calf to be ill. I don’t even recall ever hearing of a bottle-fed calf that was penned where the cow could lick it and touch noses becoming ill. Milk contains macrophages, leukocytes, and an array of other immune factors that are specific to the environment of your own cow and calf. Together with the powerful life-supporting nature of milk itself, this is a formula for success.
Two factors are absent in the life of a separated calf even if you take it warm milk straightaway from the cow. One is the happiness factor. As with all babies, the calf needs lots of interaction to thrive. If there is somebody in the family with time to provide it, well and good. But the mother cow showers her calf with enthusiastic attention and teaches it a lot of cow things. The calf develops a huge will to live.
The second factor is that the cow generates specific antibodies tailored to the occasion if she is in contact with the calf. There is a feedback mechanism dependent on personal contact that enables the cow to produce antibodies to pathogens present in the calf. These antibodies appear in her milk within a few hours after contact. This is like getting a personalized flu shot for whatever strain is going around and getting it before you even know you were exposed. This effect was demonstrated in research more than fifty years ago, but the fact was of no use to the dairy industry, where calves must always be separated, and so it was not widely reported. The same thing occurs in other species.
Because of these benefits, weather permitting, I usually allow the calf to follow the cow as soon as it is a few days old. As mentioned, it appears to eat an amount appropriate to its age and does not get a bellyache. All calf manuals emphasize the importance of early feeding of solids to encourage proper rumen development. Some suggest that an appropriate calf feed be pushed into the calf’s mouth to get it used to eating solid food. Maybe there are circumstances where this is worth doing. Or if desired, you could try one of the feed dispensers resembling a bottle, which is designed to encourage the consumption of dry feed. If you do choose to offer grain, avoid corn and soy. The young calf does not produce the digestive enzyme amylase, which is needed to digest corn. Soy contains estrogen analogs that invite a constellation of undesirable outcomes.
A bottle-fed calf, untrained to eat grass, hay, or grain, may go weeks before it ventures on its own to eat solid food or even drink water. A calf at its mother’s side imitates everything she does. I have seen a calf trying to eat hay or grass when only a few hours old with no advice from anything but its mother’s example. Milk replacers and calf feeds are expensive because they contain high-quality ingredients. Many contain prophylactic antibiotics. You may prefer to avoid antibiotics, and most veterinarians are reluctant to use them without a very good reason. However, a bottle-fed calf is susceptible to scours and pneumonia. Having the calf follow the cow can yield a considerable saving in feed costs and veterinary bills.
Allowing the calf to follow the cow may not make sense unless you have several acres of pasture with plenty of shade and water. Otherwise the calf will get too hot, too cold, and too dirty. On a spacious acreage, be alert for the following problems. The cow, like a deer, knows how to tell her calf to lie silently until she comes back from grazing. If you want to get the calf into the barn for the night, this can be a problem. Only the nudge of the cow’s nose will move it. It can hide in plain sight so well that you often don’t see it until you literally trip over it. You will need to think about water hazards where a young calf could fall in and drown. Dogs or other predators may attack a calf. And fencing adequate for a cow will often not hold a calf. A calf is apt to lie down next to the fence, then find itself on the wrong side as it gets to its feet.
Management Problems
The management problems associated with keeping cow and calf together include the following:
• The cow, at least at first, may kick during milking because you are not her calf.
• She will bellow when she doesn’t know where her calf is and refuse to go out and graze.
• She may try to jump or break down fences to get to her calf and could damage her udder.
• If you have woods, the cow will probably take her calf into them and refuse to come out.
• If you decide to solve all problems by selling the calf after the cow has become attached, she will bellow really loudly for a day and a half, including all night.
• You may have to fight for your share of the milk, or be quite clever, tactful, or gifted at subterfuge to get it.
It is encouraging to remember that for the first ten thousand years or more since the domestication of the cow, people did manage to sort this out successfully. Partial separation with bucket feeding of the calf’s share of fresh milk has long been common. Also, the practice of putting several calves on a nurse cow kept for this purpose has a long history and is still done by many. Artificial feeding of calves with total separation from their mothers became a practical possibility only with the advent of modern veterinary practice and the introduction of antibiotics. Without these, the death rate of calves eclipses the advantages of separation.
In general, the cow owner’s management task is made easier by a basic attribute of the cow: she is extremely easy to train. Cows really want to do the same thing every day. Once you decide on your plan, after only two or three days your cow will cooperate. The cow belongs to a hierarchical species. Just be sure she knows you are boss, and be quietly consistent. A nudge with your thumb is something she understands, presumably because it resembles the jab of a horn, the method of choice by the boss cow from time immemorial. Nonetheless, the maternal instinct is extremely powerful when given the opportunity to develop and will override just about anything.
Now here is Ann B.’s training method for getting cooperation with letdown. I have used it successfully.
Fancy sharemilks quite well—with a foster calf. She holds up for her own calf. I worked out a “reward program” for her with these last two heifer calves (her own and a foster).
I left the calf with her for three days, milking twice a day, putting a gallon of first colostrum in the freezer, and then only taking enough to relieve the pressure in the udder. (Note: Partial milking helps forestall milk fever.) On the morning of the fourth day, the calf was separated. After that the cow was milked twice a day, and if she didn’t give a full letdown, the calf got a bottle and stayed in her little pen (where mama could reach through, but the calf couldn’t nurse). If she gave a full letdown, she got the calf. Only took a week, and she got it through her head that if she wanted the calf, she had to give me the milk first.
After six to eight weeks, I gave her a foster calf and went to separating at night, milking in the morning, and leaving the calves with her all day.
Ann brought her foster calf in together with Fancy’s own calf, thus enabling him to learn to nurse. Fancy could not kick him away without kicking off her own calf, so the foster calf got his share.
Training to Lead, Stand, and Back
If you will be keeping the calf, teach it to be led. Put a collar or little halter on your calf. Whereas it is unquestionably true that the calf wearing a collar or halter is at risk of accidental choking, it is also true that without a collar or halter, by about the end of the third day a healthy calf will slip through your fingers and may be impossible to catch. Weigh your personal pros and cons on this one.
The easiest time to train a calf to lead is as soon as it becomes vigorous. This will be by about the third day. Put a lead rope or hay string on its collar to guide its direction, and nudge it on its rump to keep it moving. If it gets confused it will go limp and throw itself down. Rub its back and help it get its legs back under itself. A couple of minutes of this is plenty for the first few times. A line run from the collar around its rump and back through the collar is a useful teaching aid. Then a tug on the lead rope will exert pressure on the calf’s rear end and keep it moving. If you bring the calf in at milking time it will want to follow its mother anyway, which makes it easier. Create a little tie-up for it and say, “Stand,” while you snap the rope in place. I always teach every calf of either sex to understand the command “Back.” This is an important safety measure later on, when the animal has grown large.
Repeat these lessons as frequently as possible, always using the same words. This early training is never forgotten.
While your calf is tied up, accustom her to being stroked all over and having her feet picked up.
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Introducing the Heifer Calf to the Milking Routine
Getting your heifer calf accustomed to the milking routine right from the start will pay great dividends later. You can do this whether the calf is bottle-fed or spends its day with the cow, or even if it is a foster calf. Fasten a lead rope and clip near where you milk. Bring the calf along at every milking, tie her in place, and give her a little treat or a bit of brushing. She will soon walk straight to the same spot every time and stand waiting. The little heifer will learn from the start to accept the routine of milking in its entirety. This will serve to ground her mind in the life of a cow. When my cow Fern was milked for the first time, she accepted every aspect of milking as though she had been doing it all her life.
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Staking Out the Calf
If it is not spending all its time with the cow, it is easy to stake a calf out on the lawn where it can make good use of your grass. A ground screw with a ring and a rope with a clip at each end is all you need. You can find such things in pet stores; they’re made for large dogs. Just be sure to use a swivel clip at the collar connection to forestall choking. Safer, but more work to move, is a stake over which you drop a ring for the rope attachment. For the calf, a halter costs more but is safer than a collar because there is less danger of choking. A halter also offers superior control in leading.
Because of the choking hazard, there is a sound argument to be made for not turning an animal out wearing a collar or halter. On the other hand, there are some good reasons for an animal to wear a collar or halter. For instance, I like my cow to wear a bell. And an animal with a collar is always easier to catch; the collar seems to have a civilizing effect.
An important reason for training the calf to be easily handled is that as it grows you will need to let out the collar. You would be surprised how easy it is to forget to loosen the collar until suddenly you notice the animal looks about to choke. A tight collar invariably makes an animal head-shy and irritable. You don’t want a calf roping contest every time it outgrows its collar.
Although a proper cow halter is in many ways preferable to a collar, it is just as susceptible to being outgrown. In either case, leather is a much better choice than nylon; nylon collars and halters tend to cut and rub.
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The Calf Pen or Hutch
It is a great convenience to have a little pen for the calf. Five by seven feet is usually about the right size. Simply penning off an area already in use by the cow may be most convenient. Panels made of 2x4s backed by non-climbable wire (closely spaced welded wire) can form a pen that is easily dismantled later. Or just buy “cattle panels.” These are versatile, tough, flexible, freestanding fence segments.
There are a few factors to bear in mind when planning the pen: The pen needs good air circulation but no chronic drafts. Both stale air and drafts are invitations to pneumonia. Good drainage is essential. Six inches of sand on a slightly sloping surface is ideal.
You will want easy access to the pen for removal of soiled bedding and manure. If drainage is adequate, the deep bedding method works fine; you can just keep piling in more bedding to keep the calf clean and dry. But you will still need to be able to get at it eventually for cleaning. If you’re using deep bedding on a base of sand, make the sides of the pen at least four and a half feet high to accommodate for the rising floor level. And whatever method you use, be sure there are no nail ends or anything else sharp in the pen. I once had a calf tear off her eyelashes on a nail, stripping them right off like they were false eyelashes.
If the calf does not have its mother’s companionship, situate the pen where people walk by so that it can receives frequent observation and attention.
Arrange for the calf’s feeding containers to hang well inside the pen where the cow cannot reach them.
If the pen is outdoors, the calf must have a hutch. This should face south or southeast in cold weather. Make at least one wall of the accompanying pen of solid boards as protection against wind. In hot weather, the hutch should face whichever direction allows shade and breeze. If the hutch is big enough to be fairly dark inside, the calf can retreat into it from flies. Flies avoid dark places.
A calf needs exercise. It should not spend all its time in a pen.
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Vaccinations
Certain vaccinations should be considered. It would be best to confer with your veterinarian as to which are important in your area. The only one I give is against brucellosis for my heifers, which has to be given before six months of age to avoid a false positive if a heifer is later tested for the disease. The chances of a heifer getting the disease are negligible, but if you should want to sell her it’s good to be able to say, “Yes, she’s vaccinated.” She will receive an ear tag with the vaccination, which is useful as a permanent ID number.
If there is a possibility of rabies in your area, cows are susceptible and can be immunized.
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The Weak Calf
Some calves are slow to get going. I give vitamins A, D, and E and selenium to any young animals that appear weak. One common cause of weakness is white muscle disease. The treatment is vitamin E and selenium; the two must be given together.
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The Sick Calf
No matter how conscientious you are, eventually you’ll have a sick calf to treat. The most common illness is scours (diarrhea); see the discussion below. Normal stool is at first yellow and pasty and becomes darker as the days pass. Any diarrhea is a sure sign of scours.
If you suspect a calf is sick, take its temperature. The normal rectal temperature is 100.5°F to 102.5°F. If it is lower than 100°F or higher than 102.5°F, you’ll need to start treatment.
“White” or Bacterial Scours
Scours in the very young calf is usually caused by the bacterium Escherichia coli, commonly called E. coli. Scours are an almost inevitable result of inadequate colostrum in the early hours of life. Colostrum contains antibodies to the bacterial infections the cow has encountered. These antibodies can be absorbed through a calf’s intestinal wall only in its first day (or less) of life. Scours cause a whitish, mucousy diarrhea with a nasty pungent smell. The calf becomes dull and listless. Its coat is dull, its eyes sunken. The calf appears to have a bellyache; if it is standing, its back appears hunched. Infection requires prompt action. Typically more than 60 percent of calves with scours die.
If a pharmacy is more convenient than a feed store, get some Kaopectate to help in tightening up the calf’s bowels. Similar preparations (mixtures of kaolin and pectin) are available more cheaply from feed stores. With a copious watery stool, the calf will probably be dehydrated, and an electrolyte solution is needed (see below for a homemade version). Test for dehydration by picking up a pinch of skin on the calf’s neck or shoulder. It should snap right back when you let go. If it “tents” rather than snapping back, this is a sign of dehydration. Dehydration is the chief killer with scours.
According to a statement by the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, scours in the first few days of life results from colostrum that is inadequate in volume and/or quality; a large volume of E. coli that has been ingested, usually a result of dirty teats or bedding; or stress from bad weather or crowding.
It should be noted that E. coli is a normal bacteria in the hindgut. Even when ingested, most strains are not problematic if the number ingested is small and other stress factors are not present.
See that the sick calf’s bed is clean and dry and that there are no drafts. You’ll want to keep it warm, so put hay bales around the calf to contain its warmth, and set up a heat lamp, if you can find a way to do it safely. If the calf is prostrated, consider veterinary help. Glucose and an electrolyte solution are both helpful but may need to be given by drench (tube feeding). If the calf will take its bottle, keep on with its milk but do not mix milk with the electrolyte, as this prevents curd formation, without which the calf cannot digest milk, since it is unlikely yet to have sufficient rennin. Instead, alternate milk and electrolyte feeds. It can be helpful to add rennet to the milk to assist the calf with curd formation. A couple of drops per quart of the liquid is sufficient, or you can get vegetable rennet from a health food store. There is bovine derived rennet and plant derived rennet. Animal derived rennet is somewhat more effective.
It used to be believed that milk should not be fed to a calf with scours, but it is now recognized that withholding food further weakens a weak animal. Probiotics are important. Specially formulated bovine probiotics are available but in a pinch yogurt can be fed.
Antibiotics are of limited value in scours, as most are ineffective against organisms within the gut. However, if the calf suffers from a leaky gut as a result of very severe scours, bacteria may enter the bloodstream and cause septicemia, in which case an antibiotic may be useful.
Electrolyte Solution Made at Home
Electrolyte solution is used for oral rehydration of the calf. You can buy it commercially, but if you have not stocked up or prefer homemade, use the recipe below.
½ teaspoon sodium chloride (table salt)
½ teaspoon potassium chloride (a salt substitute) or 1½ teaspoons cream of tartar
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar or molasses
1 liter (1 quart plus 2 tablespoons) water
Combine all the ingredients and mix well. Do not increase the amount of sugar in the solution, as doing so not only will change the osmotic pressure, inhibiting rehydration, but will support undesirable fermentation. To administer the electrolyte solution, it is essential to first warm it to between 100°F and 105°F. A cold liquid will shock the calf’s system, forcing the solution into the rumen rather than the abomasum. Give a full quart at least twice a day, separated from milk feeds by two hours.
This formula is suitable for humans.
Other Types of Scours
Salmonella scours are caused by many of the same conditions that cause white scours. Bloody diarrhea is the usual symptom, along with the symptoms listed above for scouring calf. Salmonella is not often seen in the very young calf. Antibiotics are used in treatment, along with the other aids used in white scours. The organism causing salmonella scours can be found in contaminated drinking water and soil.
Parasitic scours are caused by coccidiosis worms or other parasites in the gut, usually picked up by grazing on land that has been heavily and continuously grazed. Calves will develop resistance to coccidiosis, given time. Tablets are available in feed stores that can be put down the throat of a calf to control this type of scours. It may be helpful to feed yogurt or other cultured milk products.
Pneumonia
Pneumonia can easily be caused by the same conditions that bring on scours. This is probably why the results of a recent study of calf mortality show that a dry bed is the single most vital factor in calf health after colostrum feeding. But being chilled, particularly on an empty stomach, will also predispose a calf to pneumonia.
At least initially, pneumonia causes a high temperature, reaching as high as 107°F. If not treated, the calf will not last long. The conditions that brought on the disease must be promptly changed. Pneumonia will sweep through a group of young animals if they are confined in close quarters with dampness and poor ventilation.
Lungworm
Infection with lungworm (Dictyocaulus viviparus) can occur at birth in dirty surroundings or by suckling from dirty teats. The larvae mature in twenty-eight days. The most common symptom is a persistent cough, in England called husk. The infection can be treated with Ivermectin. Garlic in its many forms is used as an organic treatment.
Lungworm larvae can persist for more than a year on pasture. They are found primarily on the lower two inches of grass stems. Therefore avoidance of overgrazed pasture, especially when wet, is a preventive measure. As calves mature they develop an immunity to lungworm.
Nursing Care
A sick calf must be kept warm and dry. Make it a jacket from an old wool sweater. Set up a heat lamp, if you can do so safely. Prevent drafts. A small sick calf can be kept in the kitchen in a child’s plastic wading pool. A bull calf must be set on its feet to pee. And you can make a big difference to a calf’s survival simply by keeping it company and petting it. A lonely, discouraged calf usually dies.
Immunity
Another word about immunity: We have already mentioned the special immunity a calf receives from colostrum and the assist provided by extra vitamin A. However, a number of immune factors continue to be present in mature milk and make it an important factor in disease prevention. Milk contains lactoferrin, which binds dietary iron, causing it to be excreted. Iron is necessary for the growth of E. coli, salmonella, and staph organisms. By binding iron, lactoferrin prevents the growth of these organisms. Warm raw milk also contains macrophages, immune cells that attack and destroy disease organisms. Furthermore, as long as the calf is actually suckling directly from its mother and in contact with her, another system operates for its protection. The presence of disease organisms in the calf (possibly due to backdraft of saliva into the teat) is detected within the udder. Within five hours, the cow will be producing specific antibodies for the calf and passing them along in her milk. Milk is a biologically active (living) substance.
• • • •
Daily Monitoring
Photograph courtesy of Joann S. Grohman
• • • •
Perhaps the most useful management tool in raising a calf is just to stop and watch it for ten minutes a day. You will thereby be aware of its state of health, its growth, and its changing needs. See that the calf always has clean fresh water, a salt lick (the trace mineral type is best—it’s usually red in color), and a bit of mixed dairy feed or calf feed containing a balanced mineral ration and extra vitamins. You can take the calf off milk when it is well established on other feed. There are management plans that will get a calf off milk in as little as five weeks, but I do not recommend them. If you are short of milk, just feed milk once a day and make an extra effort to get the calf eating other things. But keep up the milk for at least three months, and preferably longer. The calf weaned too young to inadequate rations soon gets a potbelly and a rough coat.
When a calf stands up from resting, it often gives a big stretch, lowering its back into a U shape. This is a sign that it is feeling fine.
• • • •
Grain Feeding—or Not
As the calf grows, don’t overfeed concentrates (grain). A calf is so cute and appealing there may be a tendency to baby it with feed. It must develop a big rumen capacity, though, and this comes from eating plenty of high-quality hay or grass. Milk does not compete with rumen development. But studies show that heifers that were fed excessive amounts of concentrates produce less milk due to inferior rumen development. Two to four pounds a day of concentrates is the range after weaning. As the calf gets larger, feed more hay but not more grain until it reaches breeding age.
What about total abstinence from grain? This is easily possible if the calf is running with its mother and both have access to quality grazing. Close attention must be paid to the condition of both cow and calf. Merely asserting that grazing is nature’s plan does not always translate to sturdy growth. I have seen cows and calves pay a heavy price for idealism in the matter of feeding. That said, there are some sound reasons for skipping grain. These include avoidance of soy and genetically modified feed. Savings in feed costs are a consideration, although this can be tricky; the calf and its mother have to eat something. Finding other adequate nutrition can be a daily challenge and not necessarily cheap. This is the point at which my own regimen falters. I am able to buy a nonsoy mixture called COB (corn-oats-barley) and another that is oats and barley alone. In the fall there are apples and pumpkins. There is further discussion of alternative feeds in chapter 9, “Feeding Your Cow.”
Because of the chronic challenge of meeting caloric and protein needs on grass and hay alone and of finding other feeds, I always end up feeding some grain. I am not persuaded that this is a harmful practice.
• • • •
Height and Weight
To help you evaluate your calf’s progress, here are typical weight, height, and chest girth measurements for Jersey heifers of various ages. If you do not have a weight tape, available at most feed stores for minimal cost, you can get a close approximation of the weight of your heifer by measuring around the chest, just behind the front legs, with a cloth tape measure. If your calf is running with its mother it is likely to exceed these weights.
Table 7.1: Calf Growth Chart
|
Age |
Weight (pounds) |
Height at the Withers (inches) |
Chest Girth (inches) |
|
Birth |
54 |
25.5 |
26 |
|
3 months |
130 |
31.0 |
35 |
|
6 months |
275 |
36.5 |
44 |
|
1 year |
515 |
43.0 |
56 |
|
15 months |
615 |
44.5 |
60 |
|
2 years |
800 |
48.5 |
66 |
• • • •
Breeding Age
The standard breeding age for a Jersey heifer is about fifteen months. But if your heifer doesn’t measure sixty inches around the chest or weigh more than six hundred pounds, it is better to wait until she reaches the breeding size as well as the breeding age. I usually wait until a heifer is eighteen months to breed her.
• • • •
Raising a Heifer
It can be profitable to rear a heifer to breeding age or until she is springing (close to calving) and then sell her. You can get an idea of what such a heifer would sell for from what you paid for your own cow. A heifer is usually raised to fifteen months, bred by artificial insemination, and sold to its new owner in the last two months before calving. Alternatively, you could make arrangements for your heifer to go to her new home soon after she calves, in which case you get to keep her calf. By the time you sell a heifer you’ve raised yourself, she will have eaten at least a ton of hay. If you are in a mild climate she will cost you less to feed because she will spend more time on grass. But she will require milk for three or more months to get a good start and a mixed concentrate feed of some kind (for the extra calories) while on milk and through her first winter. Unless you have unusually good pasture and hay, you should continue at least low-level grain feeding indefinitely.
If you are raising the heifer for yourself, you may find it will cost nearly as much as buying another one ready to calve. But you will have the considerable advantage of knowing her background and how she was reared, and also of having the mother-daughter relationship. A heifer will learn a lot from her mother. You also avoid the risk of bringing disease from another farm.
If the heifer is the result of crossbreeding to a beef bull, she can be raised for beef. For that matter, one of the best beef animals I ever had was a Jersey heifer that I could not get in calf. Sometimes a crossbred heifer is just what people want. The lower milk production is preferred by some, and the incidence of milk fever is reduced.
Note: Heifers are often born with supernumerary (extra) teats. Four is the correct number and others must be removed. While the calf is very young you can snip off the extras using sharp scissors held close to the udder. Or you can call a vet and he or she will do the same thing. Puff an antiseptic powder onto the wound.
• • • •
The Bull Calf or Unwanted Heifer
Compared to a heifer, a Jersey bull calf starts out weighing a few more pounds on average at birth and by age one should weigh about 125 pounds more. A heifer usually sells for more than a bull calf, especially if it is Jersey or Guernsey. If you want to sell, you will need to explore the local market. A Jersey or Guernsey bull calf goes very cheaply and at times can only be given away.
If you decide to sell the calf, give it a couple of days of colostrum feeding before sending it off and be sure the navel is dried up or the calf doesn’t have a chance. If you are able to find a local buyer, so much the better. A cattle dealer may know of someone who wants a calf, but the chances are overwhelming that no matter what story the dealer tells you, he or she will take your bull calf, and probably also any unwanted heifer, to auction. Depending upon the current market, it will go from there to a veal operation, to somebody raising grade beef cattle, or to a slaughterhouse, where it will be turned directly into processed meat or pet food.
There is only one fate in store for the bull calf of any breed; the sole question is when and where. Yet home-reared beef animals have much the best life. If the family knows from the beginning that the calf is being raised for beef, emotional attachments are minimized.
The presence of beta-carotene gives a yellow tint to the fat of the so-called colored cattle (Jersey and Guernsey), which causes them to be rejected in the beef trade. (Other dairy breeds or dairy-beef crosses can be raised with confidence of a fair profit.) Because Jersey and Guernsey beef is not commercially interesting, these bull calves won’t be worth any more than the slaughterhouse price. Yet this beef is excellent, and if you have the space and inclination, consider raising the calf for your own table. The calf didn’t cost you much (only whatever you would have gotten for it had you sold it), and as the months go by you’ll see some good beef shaping up. You might be put off by eating what you raise on your own place, but it is the natural way for things to be. Why should you live off the product of some cattle operation miles away? Better that he should have a good life with you and then give back all you have put into him by supplying your table.
When it is time to butcher your animal, there are at least three ways to approach the job. You can butcher it yourself; you can call someone who will do home butchering at your place on a contract basis; or you can have the animal hauled to a local slaughterhouse, which will also cut and wrap the meat for your freezer. If there is such a local abattoir and you choose this approach, visit and find out exactly what they require concerning the hour of delivery and how long they will allow the carcass to hang in their cooler before cutting. Meat is greatly improved by being aged at 40°F for a week before cutting. You will also wish to make arrangements for the liver, heart, and tongue, as these require immediate processing. The butcher (who is usually also the owner) may be able to offer suggestions as to who will truck your animal. You must also be prepared to tell the butcher exactly how you want the meat cut. You may be given a small sum for the hide if you don’t want it. You will not be paid for the organ meats if you don’t want them.
Small slaughterhouses or abattoirs rarely have overnight facilities for animals, or if they do, these will only be holding pens with no provision for feed or water. These family-operated slaughterhouses often do excellent work—clean, fast, and efficient—but if I am using one, I arrange to bring my animal at an appointed time to minimize trauma to the animal. To really minimize stress, home killing is the only answer. The abattoir should be willing to take an animal that has been killed and field-dressed (eviscerated) and bled, as this is the way a deer or moose will arrive.
In some areas marvelously outfitted little trucks will come to your place and kill and halve or quarter your animal, remove the offal, and wash everything down in about half an hour. Some will even take away the carcass for hanging and cutting. If custom home slaughter is not available where you live, perhaps there is a hunter in the family who will shoot, skin, and eviscerate your animal. In rural areas it is nearly always possible to find someone willing to help with this, given some advance research. It is a perfectly feasible approach, one that has been done for countless centuries. By watching slaughtering I have learned how to do it and have numerous times done all but the actual shot in the head. It is a big job; a block and tackle or tractor with a front-end loader is needed for hoisting the carcass for skinning and eviscerating. You will also need to borrow or contrive a spreader bar for hanging the carcass up by the hind legs. Without this, not only is it difficult to neatly split the carcass, but it is sure to get dirty. A chain saw or reciprocating saw (like a Sawzall) can be used for splitting it into halves after skinning and gutting. Unless the animal is very small or you have strong helpers and adequate space, you will also need to cut it into fore and hind quarters. You can then haul it to somebody’s walk-in cooler to hang or, weather permitting, hang it in your garage or cellar. As a last resort you can cut it immediately.
It is important to have a real meat saw, so beg, borrow, or buy one. A chain saw will not do for anything but splitting the carcass: it is too dangerous for close work and too messy and wasteful. Despite these qualifying remarks, cutting your own meat is perfectly possible. You cannot go wrong, in the sense that all the meat is perfectly useful and tasty whether or not it resembles known market cuts. Jersey beef is somewhat leaner than that of the other dairy breeds, and much leaner than Hereford. You may consider this an advantage. The texture is similar and the flavor excellent.
Raising your own beef is well worth doing. You always save money and you know what your animal ate. Kill at eighteen months to two years depending on your personal convenience and hay supply. In an animal younger than that, the beef flavor has not fully developed. But note that immature beef is excellent in its own right.
I don’t wish to leave this topic without a warning about slaughterhouses large or small, and this includes ones that are USDA licensed. I have heard a depressingly large number of accounts of cheating by butchers. Possibilities include swapping out your meat for that of somebody else or skimming off your steaks. Against this common theft you have virtually no recourse.
• • • •
Castration
Because of the possibility of the young bull breeding your cow, you will probably find it best to castrate the calf early, using either the rubber ring or bloodless emasculator method. Castration will be easiest and least painful if done in the first two months. You can purchase a rubber ring tool (elastrator) or the emasculator for less than the price of a veterinarian’s call and do it yourself. Follow the instructions given with the tool. Castrating with the rubber ring device could not be easier. Just be sure both testes are in the scrotum when you do it. I once had to call the vet months later to operate on two telltale bulges under the skin. The rubber band operation does not appear to cause the young calf more than fleeting discomfort.
You do not need to castrate a bull to secure good meat. In fact, up to a certain point the animal will grow faster and make more efficient use of its feed if not castrated. There is, however, besides the problem of unwanted matings, an aggressiveness you may find difficult or at least annoying. You may need to carry a stick when in the field even with a steer. A bull is dangerous.
• • • •
Dehorning
At one time I did not dehorn calves, but now I do. The arguments in favor of keeping the horns—the classic appearance, the cow’s self-defense, and the possibility that horns contribute in some way to the cow’s well-being—finally gave way to the serious disadvantages. If a cow has horns she will use them, and in the narrow circumstances of domestic life it will most likely be against other cattle (or even against me, in case I have to do something to which she takes serious exception). It is difficult to sell a cow with horns. They can be removed in adulthood, but the job is shockingly bloody and painful and in summer draws flies. I prefer a vet to disbud the calf at an early age. I find this to be the surest and least traumatic for all of us. The elastrator method (just described for castration) can also be used to dehorn, and agricultural supply stores sell a caustic dehorning paste. Additional dehorning devices are available (see the resources at the end of this book).
• • • •
Weaning
A few more words on weaning are in order. Switching from bottle to bucket feeding is one thing. Weaning of a great big four-hundred pound (or more) calf is quite another. I have tried every method in common use, and while I don’t doubt the veracity of my advisors and will admit the possibility that my management skills may be deficient, the truth is that all methods have failed more often than not. The plastic mustaches fall off the calf. The devices designed to jab the udder and cause the cow to kick off her calf are stoically endured by its long-suffering mother; if you reverse the appliance to jab the calf, it quickly learns to flip the thing out of the way. Separation into separate paddocks sometimes works, yet I have known a calf to go straight for the teat after a four-month separation. The only 100 percent effective weaning ploy I know of is to sell the calf. This said, if you are prepared to navigate the weaning issues, there is no question but that a heifer that gets milk and good pasture until weaned at around five to seven months of age will have the well-developed bone structure and excellent health that sets her up for a long productive life, breeding success, and calving ease. Her rumen development and grazing efficiency will reflect the fact that she is living the life for which she was evolved.