VMD 512: Zoo/Wild Animal Breeding, Management, Nutrition and Health Care (1+1)

FEEDING OF NEONATAL CALF

Identify the signs of hungry status

• Frequent making of sound
• When hungry, the calf often attempts to suckle the tip of the finger kept near the mouth.
• When stomach is full, the calf tends to go for sleep with snoring sounds that are well audible.

Mode of feeding

• Large sized enema or a big-sized bottle like container with tube  may be used and approximately ten per cent of the body weight may be taken as a rough estimate of feed requirement.
• Regular calf nipples attached to bottles of adequate volume or buckets have worked well for the successful feeding of orphaned elephant calf.
• Elephant calf may be taught to drink on own. This may require a tub with milk. Dip the trunk in the milk of tub and it may thus get accustomed to suck the milk through the trunk and place it in mouth.

Time of feeding

• Increase the frequencies of feeding in case of calf unlike the adult elephant and in the beginning feeding is to be done in day and night.
• When the calf reaches 2 or 3 months of age, night feedings may be gradually stopped.
• When the calf is 9 months old, 4 feedings is enough per day.

Amount of feeding

• The elephant calf consumes 1.5 to 2 litres of diluted milk at a time in one to two hours and 12 to 16 liters may be needed in a day, in general.
• Try to remember that always leave them little hungry.
• Over feeding is always more harmful than slight under feeding of calf