Post by ahnimals on Oct 17, 2016 22:02:57 GMT -5
So it's been 8 days now, my girlfriend and I bought our first cow we got a fresh Holstein Heifer from a local livestock auction. Now we have raised many of animals from babies and bottle fed anything from dogs and cats to goats and bunnies and even nursed a baby bird to health. But this cow business is a whole different ballgame. When we got our heifer her papers said she was 40Lbs and as of today she's 57.5Lbs so over 8 days that's a little over 2Lbs a day gain.. but since yesterday she has been very difficult, she isn't super interested in suckling on the bottle anymore. She ate last night, it was a fight but she ate and this morning she ate but I've tried three more times today and she'll get down a 1/4 to a 1/2 of a pint and want nothing more to do with it. She is still super energetic and hopping around, but it is still starting to worry me because in the past 2 days she has actually lost .1 pounds I mean a tenth of a pound isn't much but at a 2 pound a day gain and then all of a sudden to lose that tiny bit is kind of worrisome to us. Her poop is still like a thick sticky yellow color and coming out in clumps, it's not straight diarrhea. But she did poop 3 times over the period of 2 or so hours today. But her pee is still clear so I'm under the impression that she is still plenty hydrated. The only thing I can think of is that maybe she has an upset stomach due to the fact that we did force feed a few handfuls of calf starter grain to try and get her used to it but maybe something new in her system is just bothering her?? Any input would be greatly appreciated! Oh, and on day 6 her umbilical cord fell off and we were dipping it in iodine daily sometimes multiple times a day up to that point. And when we noticed that it fell off we put iodine in a syringe and sprayed some in and around the opening once to twice daily in the past 2 days and as of the last time we looked (a few hours ago) it looked to be completely closed and it doesn't seem to be tender to her upon touching it. Again any input would be greatly appreciated on how to keep her alive and keep her eating. Sorry for the long post, just trying to get you guys the most background that I could.