hi julie, what a good idea, we keep saddleback pigs, texel sheep and dexters of course. hope it goes well i keep practicing my computer skills.jean jordeth
we had a calf last week,named April. Then maria yesterday her teats touch the floor nearlly! But due to the above topic we were on close standby. its another girl jordeth collette.
Congratulations on your new girls! I think we still need to work on where the teats are. Tonight I walked in and the calf walked straight over and started sucking my knees :laugh: She is so sweet though. Still no pics as it started to rain and like a mother hen I rushed them in. I'm interested to know what will happen if she does not suckle the back 2 teats. They looked very dry so I put vaseline on. The steer which came with her at foot never bothered with them either, will they be ok
The other thing I do (just remembered) is when bottle feeding, although I may start quite high, when the calf is suckling I lower the bottle as far as I can to get the calf used to putting it's head down. Then eventually start with the bottle low so it has to find it down there. Haven't got a clue whether it works.
Brilliant idea, thank you. She is doing really well now and has been out all day charging around. We have heavy rain forecast tonight so she is now in the stable with her mum
