Tri-State Neighbor: South Dakota Farm Newspaper

When a calf dies or is stillborn, any available orphaned or rejected calf is likely to get grafted as a replacement. Grafting always makes me think of the twin brothers, Esau and Jacob.

Although there are commercial topical products available to encourage fostering - such as Calf Claim - we've always had better luck grafting the old-fashioned way: taking the hide off the dead calf and using the skin to cover the orphan, and tricking the cow into claiming the orphan instead.

Even if the grafted calf doesn't look like hers, she's likely to show maternal instincts toward it if she recognizes her own scent on the calf via her dead calf's hide, and licks off the afterbirth. Our success of a cow claiming an orphaned calf is sometimes a toss-up, depending on timing of the graft and the age of the orphan.

In years past, we've had black calves running around wearing a Hereford hide jacket (which is a comical sight) until the cow officially adopted the graft-calf as her own.

This deception is similar to the Bible story about the twin brothers Jacob and Esau.

Esau was very hairy, the eldest twin, and the favorite of their father, Isaac.

As an old man Isaac became blind. When he was nearing death, he told Esau to go out and harvest an animal, cook it, and bring it to him to eat and then he would give his final blessing.

While Esau was out hunting, the twins' eavesdropping-mother Rebecca, overheard this and instructed Jacob to kill two goats for her to cook so that Jacob could present the meal in place of Esau and receive Isaac's blessing instead.

Because of Esau's hairiness, Jacob used the skins from the goats he had killed to cover his arms and neck in order to trick their blind father into believing he was Esau.

The ploy worked and Jacob ended up with the blessing intended for his twin brother.

This story is what I think of anytime we graft a calf. We'll try grafting if a cow rejects her baby, has twin calves and claims only one, and if she's lame or too old to produce enough milk; provided another cow that lost her calf is available to mother it.

Once the cow claims the calf, we disrobe the orphan of his furry jacket.

Grafting makes a good cow/calf pair because the cow has something to mother, the calf generally does better on a cow versus getting bottle fed, and it saves us time, money and energy.

Most of the time, using the “faking Esau” trick works and solves many problems during busy calving time.

When it's successful, everyone involved is happier. If there's a calf wearing one of my husband's custom furry jackets, I know he saw an opportunity to bless a calf with a momma cow's milk and a cow with baby to mother.

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