The Madigan Squeeze.
“She doesn’t want to nurse and I had to tube her to get milk down her.”
The words were uttered casually as he lifted the tiny heifer calf into the back of my pickup. Had it been mentioned earlier I probably wouldn’t have been there at all. A calf who wont nurse is as good as dead. Not something I would normally be willing to spend money on then go through the heartbreak of losing. But here she was, already in the pickup and I had already driven clear over here. Might as well take her home.
That night and over the next day we struggled to get feed into her. Bottles were allowed to drip slowing into her mouth. A syringe worked rather well to squirt the milk in. We couldn’t keep this up. Feeding took forever and she wasn’t getting enough to keep her alive.
People recommended the Madigan squeeze. I had been seeing the technique for ages to help save dummy foals. Lately it has come into popularity for calves. But this calf was up and moving, she just lacked any suckle reflex. Surely it wouldn’t help her?
As a last resort I gave it a try.
With an old leadrope in hand I caught her. One loop around the neck and a shoulder to hold it in place, as instructed by my vet, then half hitches around the ribs. My rope was barely long enough even on this tiny calf. I pulled each circle as tight as I could get it by hand before moving on to the next loop. She started to struggle a little against it. I tucked the end of the rope in, it was just long enough to reach for the last wrap.
Now she was supposed to lay down and go comatose. I watched as I got the milk cows fed and other calves taken care of. She fought and struggled against the rope. Finally she stood up and was walking towards me. That obviously hadn’t worked, so I went to take the rope off.
As soon as she was free from the restraint of the rope she chased after the other bottle calf, nosed the fence like she was looking for a teat and dove into the side of the cow when I guided her that direction. Now instead of her not wanting to nurse the problem was too much nursing enthusiasm. She kept pushing too hard and losing the teat then sucking in the wrong place. What had happened to my calf?! This was a whole new animal. She was starving and determined to find her food. Gone was the calf who fought against every drop we tried to get down her. Instead we had a hungry enthusiastic calf who really really wanted to eat.
The Madigan squeeze gone wrong was apparently right after all. The calf it didn’t apply to and wasn’t going to work on had undergone a miracle change. Never again am I going to dismiss this technique. From now on it is going to be the first go to with any calf problems. Who knew.
