Persuading a Heifer to Mother Her Calf
If a first-time mother is confused or aggressively attacking her calf, a trick that often works is to lightly tranquilize her and give her a painkiller the first day. Ron Skinner, veterinarian and cattle breeder near Hall, Mont., has found this very effective with non-motherly heifers or cows he is trying to graft an orphan onto.
“I tranquilize her with acepromazine (ace) and add a little Rompum (a pain-killer). I sometimes use a menthol product on the calf and the cow’s nose to mask the smell of the calf,”he says.
“Rompum in a heifer will take the feeling out of her udder if it’s swollen and tender and she doesn’t want the calf to nurse,”he explains. “It only takes 1.5 cc of ace. The Rompum can be diluted 1-to-10 with water, and you give 1 cc of this diluted drug,”he explains. This is an extra-label drug use and should be coordinated through your veterinarian.
Skinner first tried this strategy in February 1989 when subzero weather with strong winds made the wind chill about 90° below zero. A purebred cow he’d purchased for $4,000 calved during that cold weather. Another cow urinated on the newborn calf and the moisture froze. Even though Skinner warmed the calf and saved it, the mother didn’t accept the calf because it smelled different.
“I worked with her for two days and finally gave her a shot of tranquilizer, and within 15 minutes she accepted the calf. This changed something in her attitude, and from then on they were a bonded pair,”Skinner says. Since then, he’s used the trick numerous times, and has dispensed his “sweetheart”medicine to clients who need help with cows or heifers that won’t accept a calf.