Are all bottle calves social idiots?

[Alan]

I have a heifer, now at 15 months old, who was my first and so far only bottle baby, a twin with a heifer sister. When I weaned her and put her in with the other replacement heifers I expected her to be pushed around for a few days. Flash forward to the present she is so socially unskilled that she doesn't even stay with the herd, cow with calves and yearling heifers are together now. She will go to a lonely corner of the pasture and stay by herself, when I was haying she would hang back and hope for left overs, with the the heifers it was okay they had free choice all the time. With the cows they don't. Cow are fed two to three times a day, small square bales, keeping their bcs in good condition. She may have a long hard winter with the other cows or grow wheels.

Are most bottle babies this way? With age will they adapt? I should mention she was fed well growing to this point, so she is as big as the other heifers, weight is not the issue.

Thanks,
Alan

 

[dun]

Has less to do with being a bottle calf as it does being shy type. But if she was older when she went in with the others that may have something to do with it. Did she have anybody/thing to associate with while she was on the bottle?

 

[Alan]

Has less to do with being a bottle calf as it does being shy type. But if she was older when she went in with the others that may have something to do with it. Did she have anybody/thing to associate with while she was on the bottle?

That's a good point Dun, one of those the light just turned on things. She was alone in a stall in a barn while she was on a bottle. She did have a pair of goats in the next stall, but no contact. We did also take the time to halter train her, so lots of contact with us.

Thanks,
Alan

 

[Taurus]

I had some bottle calves are like that. It seems that most of bottle calves prefers hang out with themselves or with horses/dogs than the herd. But they always grew out that stage.

 

[xxbrand]

I had a bottle calf three years ago who fit in with the herd with no problem when she was turned out, but I have one this year who just wants to be around my two horses. Both were raised in a barn by themselves.

 

[Nite Hawk]

It seems this heifer thinks she is a human. Have seen other bottle animals do the same thing. She may get over it, or maybe not, only time will tell.
She was "imprinted" on humans as a calf as you were her "mamma" and doesn't seem to know she is a cow.
In the future if you have more bottle animals, if possible after feeding, turn them out to run with other calves near their age, or gentle cattle that won't smash them into the ground, that way they learn to be cows not people.
Most of the bottle calves we have had usually will leave their buddies behind and come running at feeding time, by either calling them, or banging on the feed bucket. At night they are put in the barn as they don't have a mamma to keep stray dogs and critters from chewing on them, and in the morning turned back out with their friends after feeding time.
That way they learn how to be cows and not freak out when humans disappear.
It quite annoying when bottle babies scream and cry and fret for hours on end when their human "mamma" disappears. Better to teach them they belong with other animals when they are young.
Nite Hawk

 

[alisonb]

Not being socialized with other animals plays a big role, this combined with the animal pecking order could make a once confident animal into a cowering misery that is scared of itself. I reckon the introduction to other cattle (especially with older cattle) should be done gradually.

I had to at a stage lock the matriarch cow away from the other animals for a couple of days as she had injured her foot, when she was eventually opened up quite a few cows took her on and she had to reestablish her position in the herd. Pecking order, as you know, is important to them.

 

[Dave]

I have a bottle calf right now that is certaily an idiot. I am not sure about the social part. I had a cow lose a calf so I bought this one to graft on to the cow. It would suck the bottom out of a bottle but wouldn't nurse the cow without considerable effort to put a teat in its mouth. After two weeks of into the chute twice a day I gave up. It wandered around the barnyard for several weeks with the GF bottle feeding it. Then it decided to move out into the pasture with some cows. Now the GF walks out there with a bottle and yells "come here stupid" (nieghbors all think she is yelling at me). The calf runs across the field for a bottle about half the time. The other half it ignores her and she has to walk up to it.

 

[Nite Hawk]

Maybe the calf has been "bumming" and isn't desperate for its supper why it isn't coming in when called. Take a check on the size of its sides, especially the left side, if it looks full, thats probably whats happening..
Nite Hawk

 

[Nesikep]

So far I've been lucky, I've always had a cow who'd accept any orphaned calves I've had, sometimes even if they already had one of their own. We have had a bottle calf a long time ago who was born to a mother who had broken her pelvis on ice and was a couple weeks early... I know he certainly chased us all around the yard, but I don't remember him not hanging out and getting along with the herd. I've had a few cows who needed a lot of special care after calving and weren't with the herd, so their calves were very used to me, and they didn't have a problem becoming social, though they still had their real mother.

 

[Keren]

previously when I've raised a calf it was around other bovines, so it learned the herd behaviour right from the start.

I feel really sorry for the little guy I'm rearing now, "Hercules". He has grown up only seeing my goats. Could be interesting when he goes back to the farm!

 

[Huntet02]

I realize this is an older post but so glad for some of these topics. I have similar situation and not sure what is going on. 1.5 mos orphaned heifer bought her from a kid who had been bottle feeding her in a horse trailer....anywayvgot her home she got super sick I been throwing everything at her and finallyvatarying to come out of it nicely but she won't come out of her calf hut even after I feed her her 4pm bottle, and it's a mild sunny day she stumbles back into her hut. I have a nice Charolais I bought at same time with her to help lil calf adjust and cow calls to her and tries to mother heifer but little stinker just goes back into hut and stands there. Shevwill stand and eqt grass with mama cow a tiny bit but maybe 10 min later shes back in her hut. I only have a 4h hobby Farm and am raising 4 h babies for our last kiddo to show.

 

[Huntet02]

Maybe the calf has been "bumming" and isn't desperate for its supper why it isn't coming in when called. Take a check on the size of its sides, especially the left side, if it looks full, thats probably whats happening..
Nite Hawk

Can cows make more milk for an orphan if their baby has been weaned say 4 mos ago?

 

[crossbredcalves]

I have a 2 year old heifer, Charolais x dairy, that I raised on the bottle. Her main socialization was with goats for her first couple months. It took her a little while to settle in with the cow herd. She still likes me more than them, but she seems to have finally accepted that she is a cow.

 

[Hoser]

My dad had a bottle fed that only seemed interested in hanging out with humans and horses, even at the end of her life at 16.

There were others that eventually fit in with the herd though.

 

[Huntet02]

Thanks for your reply Crossbredcalves, How long did you bottle feed her? I just keep thinking there has to be something else wrong w/this calf, it still looks pinched in face, wont move/walk around unless I lead her w/bottle or pull on halter, hunched up back, but has been eating 2 bottles a day but wont' touch grain. Eats a little hay with big cow but only when I drag her out of her hutt. Also exhibits a light labored breathing w/light grunts. Could her gut hurt all this time? I thought she would be fine and give her a little more time since she just got over something similar to pnemonia, vet kept overnight, gave her IV, Draxxin, and Banamine(at that time she had quit eating &high temp) no more temp, eats twice a day now but soon as she walks me to the gate when I leave she goes straight back into her hut. The cow I have her with wants to mother her, tries to lick and comfort her but ....my goodness she stands & stares at a dark wall all day....the kid I bought her from kept her in a livestock trailer, he said it was only for 3 1/2 days but I have my doubts considering her current state.
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[Huntet02]

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[aprille218]

Could there be something wrong with her eyes so that she prefers the dark? Having a white face does make them more sensitive to light but not usually that extreme.

 

[dun]

We had a calf once that was born during a week of pouring rain and dark skys. When the sun came out he was always hiding in a dark spot. Took him a while to get over his fear of the bright thing in the sky