In 17 years of cattle breeding I’d never been called on to bottle feed a baby, because mum had no milk, but in August 2019 I found myself mixing formula and doing the dreaded night feeds.
Matilda , a 14 year old cow, who has birthed many calves without problems, gave birth to a healthy silver bull who I called Baby Q. I watched him frolicking and sucking from mum and I assumed all was going well.
That was my first mistake. He was sucking but nothing was coming out. I should have watched for the swallowing action and listened for the slurp.
On day three I saw him sucking rainwater from the ground and thought this was strange. I kept an eye on him and noticed he was standing all the time, rather than sleeping. Heavy rain came down and he started shivering.
This was my call to action. A friend and I carried him into the shed. I towel dried him, gave him a hot water bottle and called the vet. In the meantime, I got a syringe and started forcing water with electrolytes in through the side of his mouth.
By the time the vet arrived I had mum in the crush. The vet squeezed on her teats and bloodied water came out, but no milk. The vet said there was no sign of mastitis (which I was also unfamiliar with) The vet gave her an injection to bring on her milk and an antibiotic to be safe. He told me to stimulate the teats every day to encourage milk supply. He gave baby an antibiotic and gave me a tin of baby formula.
I mixed it up and sterilized a plastic bottle and teat that someone had once given me as a “just in case”.
Baby wouldn’t/couldn’t tolerate this thing in his mouth, so I had to feed him formula with a tiny syringe. It was painstakingly slow, but I knew that it was my only chance of saving him.
The next day I went to the stock feed shop and bought a softer teat for the milk bottle. Baby liked this and after a few attempts started sucking from the bottle.
Then we got into a six hourly feeding routine. All was going well until I needed more formula and instead of buying the expensive powder from the vet, I bought a cheaper one at the stock feed. Baby immediately started scouring and became dehydrated again. It was one step forward and two steps back.
I got the vet again. He gave baby an antibiotic injection, anti- scour medication, an electrolyte drink and persuaded me to use the expensive formula. He also examined mum again, but no milk was forthcoming and as it was day five he said I would have to be the supplier of all feed for several months.
Throughout this whole process, I let mum be involved. When baby was in the shed, I let mum stand outside where she could see and hear him. When he was strong enough to walk I let him into a small yard with mum and erected a tarp for them to shelter under. I also dressed him in waterproof coats. Sometimes at night mum, baby and I would all be sheltering together as I tried to give him his overnight bottle.
Mum can be cranky sometimes, but during this whole process she knew I was helping and let me be part of their lives. When I gave baby his bottle she would lick my hand or lick baby while he was drinking. The bond between them was as strong as if she was feeding him.
Then on day 25 a miracle occurred. I looked out the window and saw baby drinking from mum. He’s just playing, I thought, but when he was still there 15 minutes later I went out and stood near them. I heard the slurping and I saw the milk dripping. From that day onwards he no longer needed a bottle from me. He is now five months old, still feeding from mum and developing well, but without colostrum he’ll never be a chunky show stopper, so he’s going to be a pet steer.
I shared this story with the vet he said he’d never heard of milk coming in at day 25. As I said it was a miracle. If anyone else has had an experience like this please share it.
