When you have an otherwise healthy calf that refuses to suck, it can be very worrying and frustrating.   However there are several reason why and methods to manage them.  Before attempting to take any measures finding the causes is of the upmost importance to successfully deal with the problem.  If you are ever unsure it is always worth having a vet take a look.

Common Causes

Congenital abnormalities

Calves which have not formed properly in the womb may have congenital abnormalities such as cleft palate that make sucking very difficult.  These are often easily checked and can be quickly ruled out by opening and checking inside their mouth.

A Cleft palate is where there is a defect in the roof of the mouth in where the soft and hard palate have not closed properly.  You can feel where your own is by pushing the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth.  The hard pallet is towards the front and the soft is at the rear being the part that can be moved about by your tongue.

When these have not closed properly there is essentially a linear gap along the roof of the mouth that goes directly into the nasal canal.  It can be either felt or seen using a torch.  

Any calf with a cleft palate has difficulty drinking milk because a lot of what they drink passes into their nasal passages and either comes out of their nose or is inhaled.  This puts them at risk of aspiration pneumonia.

 

Those calves that are premature can have immature lungs and struggle to get enough oxygen into, and carbon dioxide out their body as a result.  This causes a condition called acidosis which impairs the suck reflex and absorption of antibodies in the colostrum

 

Difficult births

When a birth has not been straight forward (often due to being too larger) can also get acidosis if the umbilical cord is damaged, compressed, or ruptured too early reducing the supply of oxygen prior to them taking their first breath.

Calves that experience a difficult or prolonged birth (typically large calves requiring assisted calving) can also end up with acidosis if the umbilical cord is compressed or ruptured prematurely, resulting in inadequate oxygenation.  

Typically those calves seen as big and dopey will be suffering from this as their sizes makes them more likely to have had a difficult birth and the acidosis causes the dopiness.

This explains why it is often “big, dopey calves” that will not suck – their size predisposes them to having a difficult birth, and they are “dopey” as an effect of the acidosis.

Poor Nutrition in the womb

Those calves with a reduced vigour are usually due to poor nutrition for the cow during pregnancy.

Scours

Scouring calves can end up with a condition called metabolic acidosis due to lactic acid formation.  As seen earlier acidosis reduces the suck reflex.  Sick calves are also more likely to have a reduction in their appetite.

Bonding

Calves that have been allowed to bond with the cow and as a result sucked from the cow only to subsequently be taken off the cow may refuse to drink from a plastic teat or bucket.  It is thought that this is more common in certain breeds such as Brown Swiss.

Solutions

Before taking any action do ensure you have the correct cause.  If there is any doubt call a vet out to get their opinion.

Acidosis

Veterinary treatment is ultimately required for this.  It usually involves the administration of sodium bicarbonate and/or oral or intravenous fluids.

Weakness

For those calves who are showing signs of being weak due to nutrition they will need supplementation with selenium, Vitamin E and anything else they are lacking.  This should help them thrive, but it is important to get the to the root cause of the problem.

Assessing the cows feed ration in the lead up to calving is a good place to start and speaking to your vet about taking samples to check for specific deficiencies.  If you are getting a lot of weak calves (over 3% without other causes) the answer may be extra supplementation or tweaking of the cows diet.

Older scouring calves

For those calves which are over 5 days and scouring, mild cases may be sorted with oral fluids.  However should this not work and the suck reflex does not come back they will need veterinary help.

No clinical issues

Sometimes calves will genuinely have little wrong with them, the only issue being that they do not want to drink from a rubber teat or bucket.  In this instance, perseverance and patience are the answer.  They should drink eventually.  You can try flavouring the teat or trying different shapes and sizes.