Zaphod is Mama's bull calf. He is not flourishing.
We suspected he was a month preterm, but as our cattle co mingle we were not definite. He is just now at the weight he should have been at birth, 35lbs. He has grown taller, but is far too thin and still wobbly.
He laches on to the teat just fine. I believe it lays with production from Mama. She's never had this problem before, but the summer and winter was brutal on us.
We pulled him last night, and he is sleeping in the porch/bunker. He fights the bottle feelings, but is eating the fescue, one piece at a time. No sores in his mouth, and no signs of dehydration. But I think he is malnourished. I put him on a replacer, just to be cautious.
We will watch him over the next couple of days. If no improvement we will have to take the long drive to see the closest large animal vet.
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When they won't take the bottle, I tube-feed them.
We discussed tube feeding this morning. He is taking about a half pint at each feeding, so will let it be for the moment. I know doesn't sound like much. I did catch him nosing the water, if I catch him sucking that up, then I MIT just bucket him.
We have decided to go ahead with the tube feeding. This is not something we have done before, and the vet is two hours away. Hopefully Husdband's medical training will help.
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