A calf can be orphaned based on many reasons. Its mother can get sick and due before it reaches an age which it can easily survive. Furthermore, the mother can also die during its birth. When this tragedy strikes, you need to have thr knowledge on hoe to care for the orphaned calf till it becomes of age. Here are the tips for saving and caring for an orphaned calf.
- It is important for the calf to receive Colostrum within the first few hours of birth. It’s chances for survival increase drastically. If there is another heifer who has just given birth in the same pasture, corral her and her offspring and place her in the shoot where she can be milked or be still so the orphan can drink.
2. Place the orphaned newborn on her udder and see if it will begin sucking. Be patient, this could take several attempts. Be sure the surrogate heifer is restrained because her instinct will not be to allow this orphaned calf to suck. Meanwhile, collect enough colostrum in a large baby calf bottle for back up and to scent the calf .
3. If you do not have a surrogate heifer available, you should keep an emergency kit on hand that includes a bag of instant colostrum, use this if no other colostrum is available. Even better, fresh colostrum freezes very well and can keep in your freezer for up to a year. Harvest fresh colostrum from one of your cows every year and place it in a gallon freezer bag. If you end up with an orphaned newborn or some other situation, just gently unfreeze the colostrum in some warm water and feed it via baby bottle or large oral syringe.
4. Once the newborn is fed, the next step is to get the surrogate to except it as her own along with her other calf. You can also “scent” the calf and fool the surrogate to avoid any kind of resistance. Rub down the real calf real well with your hands and then rub the orphan down with the real calf’s scent. Furthermore,dowse the orphan with a lot of the surrogate’s colostrum/milk and the trick will work. The heifer will have no trouble accepting the orphan.
With these steps,your orphaned calf will easily beat its the survival threshold without any difficulty.