There’s more than one way to encourage cow-calf bonding, but hormones and smell are key to creating the bond.
Multiple scenarios, both cow and calf centered, can lead to the need to graft a calf on a different cow:
- Calf dies during birthing process, don’t want to sell the cow
- Cow dies during birthing process, don’t want to sell the calf as a bottle calf
- Cow doesn’t milk or has a bad udder
- Older cow calves, and she’s near the end of her productivity. At the same time a younger cow loses her calf
- Twins
Kansas cow-calf producer Shad Marston summarizes grafting can take time, patience and sometimes money.
“It’s a management decision,” he explains regarding the choice of grafting a calf or letting a cow dry up. “I do think it is beneficial for a cow that loses a calf that you plan to keep to raise a calf, but grafting can be hard.”
Marston and two veterinarians — Dr. Lacey Fahrmeier of Stillwater Veterinary Clinic and Dr. Tony Hawkins of Prairie Valley Vet Clinic — share tips to help producers create the bond and successfully graft a calf onto a different mom.
1. Catch or Confine the Cow
To get a cow to let a calf nurse, Hawkins explains many times it is necessary to catch the cow in a chute or calving pen and help the calf latch on or nurse.
“Properly restraining the cow in a chute on the initial introduction is critical,” Fahrmeier adds. “This allows you to safely administer some pharmaceutical agents that can be extremely helpful in the process and minimizes the risk of the calf getting injured.”
2. Convince the Cow the Calf is Hers
Hawkins says a major hurdle many times for grafting is convincing the cow the calf is hers.
“Our goals are to get the cow licking the calf to create that bond and get the cow to let the calf nurse,” Hawkins summarizes. “There are some commercial products, such as Calf Claim or Orphan-No-More, which are flavored powders to sprinkle down the back of the calf to get the cow to lick. Also, dried distiller grains seem to work well.”
If you are grafting a calf onto a cow whose calf recently died, you can skin the hide from the deceased calf and tie onto the back of the calf you are trying to graft. This works well, especially for cows that had already developed a good bond with their calf that, unfortunately, didn’t make it.
Fahrmeier agrees draping the deceased calf’s hide on the orphan calf can really help trick the cow into accepting the new one.
3. Sedation Can Be a Valuable Tool
Her philosophy is “better living through chemistry” and encourages producers to use the tools available to make the grafting process less stressful for all involved — cattle and people.
“Lightly sedating the cow can be beneficial,” she explains. “My drug of choice for that would be injectable acepromazine. Consult with your veterinarian on appropriate usage of the product and dose. It is important to note that ace takes around 30 minutes to reach peak effect, so giving it in advance of introducing or nursing the calf is crucial.”
Hawkins agrees, adding: “Sedation is a valuable tool when grafting calves and should not be viewed as a last resort, especially if the cow shows any aggression toward the calf or kicks at it when it tries to nurse.”
Along with recommending Ace, he says oxytocin also works well to encourage bonding.
“An injection of the ‘love’ hormone oxytocin can also aid the cow in accepting the calf,” Fahrmeier explains. “Oxytocin is a hormone naturally produced in mammals that stimulates uterine contractions during labor and milk ejection from the mammary glands. In cattle, it is used to promote postpartum uterine involution and aid in the expulsion of retained placenta. It can also facilitate milk let-down. For milk let-down, it only requires a small dose (1 mL IM) and works rapidly after injection.”
One of the newest technologies on the market to assist with reducing stress and increasing maternal bond in cattle is the synthetic analogs of a natural maternal pheromone — Maternal Bovine Appeasing Substance (mBAS).
Fahrmeier says products such as FerAppease or SecureCattle can be applied topically to the nuchal skin (poll) and above the muzzle to help decrease threat perception by desensitizing the hypothalamus and amygdala and lowering cortisol.
“In my experience, treating the cow with a full dose (5 cc in both spots) and the calf with a half dose (2.5 cc) seems to help the process of grafting go smoother and quicker,” she says. “There is also some research showing increased milk let-down and production on dairy cows, so there may be benefit in that area as well.”
4. The Calf Needs to Be Hungry
Fahrmeier says after the medications have been administered, the next most important tip is to have a hungry calf.
Marston says getting a cow’s milk through the calf improves acceptance.
5. Be Patient and Give the Pair Time to Bond
Hawkins says the bonding process can be a multiple-day project until the bond is created.
Marston adds the grafting process tends to be easier with younger cows, while older cows tend to be more suspicious.
Fahrmeier suggests turning the cow and calf together and letting them continue to bond after the calf has nursed with the cow confined in the chute.
“You may need to continue to restrain the cow for a few more feedings, but usually this method results in an almost instant love connection,” she summarizes.
Marston says to know when it is time to quit trying and accept the grafting process failed. He says his rule of thumb is a day or two, but admits he has attempted the process for more than a week.
“I got pretty tired of it, but I’ve done it before,” he says.
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