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Odor Recognition
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According to Animal Behavior Online, evolutionary theory predicts that mother cows will only take care of their own young; however, Animal Behavior Online also recorded two separate incidents when farmers were able to trick a mother cow into believing that an orphan calf was her own, which lead to the odor recognition theory. According to this theory, if you can make sure that the orphan calf smells like the mother cow's offspring, the mother cow will willingly adopt the orphan.
This trick only works when the mother cow's calf has died and another calf has lost its mother cow. Farmers take some of the deceased calf's bloodless hide and put it on the orphan calf, like a jacket. According to farmers who have tried this trick, this makes the orphan calf smell just like the deceased calf, so the mother cow adopts it.
Twin Calves
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According to Bruce Highlanders, cows that have just calved will sometimes willingly accept another calf as their own, so you can "trick" her into thinking she has had twins; however, you should be very careful when using this trick, and probably only use it for a short-term adoption, because a cow that only gives birth to one calf may run out of milk if it feeds two.
Forcing
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If a cow simply will not willingly adopt an orphan calf and it is absolutely necessary for the calf to nurse, you may need to force the cow to nurse a calf. Farmers who force a cow to nurse a calf simply tie the cow up so that the calf can nurse. According to Highlanders, some farmers who force cows to nurse orphan calves find that after several weeks the cow may eventually take to the calf and nurse it willingly.
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Tips to Make a Cow Adopt an Orphaned Calf
Calves need colostrum (the natural form of milk that comes from the mother cow) for the first six to 12 hours of life. After that, whole milk or milk replacers will do; however, sometimes you will need to make a cow adopt an orphan calf. Cows are not always willing to do this, but there are several tricks you can try.