Sounds like you have run into one of the problems with twin calves – one always seems to have some sort of problem or multiple problems. I have never had much luck in treating baby calves and getting them over their problems, especially a “bad” leg. In my experience, you just have to try to let them get over it on their own. It may take awhile, but, if the calf is taking food and continuing to get stronger, eventually, the limp may go away and hopefully she will get over whatever is causing the fever.

I once had one of the twins which was blind at birth. I bottle fed her and for about 60 days her blindness continued, but one day I saw her avoid one of my dogs and figured out she now had some sight. As she got older, it seemed her blindness had completely gone away.

So, my theory is, sometimes it’s best to let babies (calves) heal on their own.

Thanks for your comments on Twin calves. Your observation is very good. I don’t know that I have ever noticed that about cows with twins. I’ll be more observant from here on out to see if they have the “day calf” and “night calf.”

Sounds like you’ve got a real milk cow there! If she’s accepted the jersey calf, along with her own, they should begin to drain that milk from the cow and reduce the size of her bag and teats.

If the teats are so big the calves can’t nurse them, then you might attempt to milk the cow a little. If you’ve had no experience at milking, that might be a difficult task, especially if she’s not a trained milk cow. In my long-time beef cattle experience, I’ve only had to milk a couple of cows right after the birth of their calves. I’ve put them into the chute, secured them in the head gate, let down the right side of the bottom of the chute to give access to the teats (growing up, we milked cows and you always milked from the right side).

Carefully reach in to one of the front teats (watch for a kick) and first, just touch and stroke a little to get her used to your touching her. When she calms down enough, you may want to put some warm water on the teats, then begin trying to squeeze the milk out. If the teat hasn’t been sucked, it might take a little while to get milk to come out.

Hope this helps you out.

Thanks for your information concerning your twin heifer calves and the two cows sharing the nursing duties. I had an interesting experience with my last set of twins (a bull and heifer calf-Brangus) recently. They were up to about 500 lbs and still nursing their mother. The mother initially had a hard time accepting the heifer calf, but I finally was able to get her to accept the heifer baby within a week of the time they were born. I noticed a couple of weeks ago one of my first-calf heifers with about a month old calf and she had a big calf and a small calf nursing her. Took a closer look, and the big calf nursing was the twin heifer. The first-calf heifer had apparently accepted her and was letting her nurse alongside the new baby! Needless to say, I sold the twin calves the next week to keep the heifer from stealing the new baby’s milk!

Thanks for your comment on the “Twins” article on CattleManagement.com

I have been unable to find anything which says a high protein supplement contributes to a high twinning rate. The only thing found in the research was that there is increased twinning in cows bred between August and October.

Nathan