Poor Sucking Reflex In Newborn Calves

It all started with a conversation I had with a farmer who mentioned a friend who had trouble with newborn calves that were unable or unwilling to find the dam’s teats after birth. He referred to these newborns as ‘dummy calves’.

- Izak Hofmeyr

I contacted the farmer, who confirmed that he either had to force-feed the calves by putting the mother in the crush or feed them with a bottle. After about four days, he said, most calves seemed to start finding the dam’s teats on their own.

Apart from the inconvenience of having to feed these calves every few hours, there was the issue of not knowing how many calves might have been lost in the veld. He did some research on the cause and possible solutions and referred me to an article by Alex Ashwood, “Poor suckling reflex”, which appeared on the Australian Brahman Breeders’ Association’s website.

According to the article, studies in the United States (US) suggest that as many as 30% of suckling problems in newborn calves are due to a lack of an instinctive ability to suckle. If not attended to immediately, these calves will succumb (mortalities, the article stated, can be greater than 50%). This condition is often referred to as dummy or silly calf syndrome or, more correctly, poor sucking reflex (PSR) syndrome.

Although other factors may contribute to a calf having poor sucking ability, such as temperature and rainfall, neonatal infections, prolonged and difficult calving, abnormal milk production and rejection by the dam, PSR is very specific and has been known to occur in various breeds including the Angus, Hereford, Chianina, and Brahman.