Get colostrum in the calf within four hours of birth and again at 12 hours. If you have a calf warming box, use it. If the calf is really chilled you could use a warm-water bath to warm the stressed calf. Recently, a rancher indicated he had success in using a warm water bath to revive newborn calves that had been severely cold stressed. A quick check of the scientific data on that subject bears out his observation. Canadian animal scientists compared methods of reviving hypothermic or cold-stressed calves. Heat production and rectal temperature were measured in 19 newborn calves during hypothermia (cold stress) and recovery when four different means of assistance were provided. Hypothermia of 86°F rectal temperature was induced by immersion in cold water. Calves were rewarmed in a 68° to 77°F air environment where thermal assistance was provided by added thermal insulation or by supplemental heat from infrared lamps. Other calves were rewarmed by immersion in warm water (100°F), with or without a 40 cc drench of 20% ethanol in water. Normal rectal temperatures before cold stress were 103°F. The time required to regain normal body temperature from a rectal temperature of 86°F was longer for calves with added insulation and those exposed to heat lamps than for the calves in the warm water and warm water plus ethanol treatments. During recovery, the calves rewarmed with the added insulation and heat lamps produced more heat metabolically than the calves rewarmed in warm water. Total heat production during recovery was nearly twice as great for the calves with added insulation, exposed to the heat lamps than for calves in warm water and in warm water plus an oral drench of ethanol, respectively. By immersion of hypothermic calves in warm (100°F) water, normal body temperature was regained most rapidly and with minimal metabolic effort; no advantage was evident from oral administration of ethanol. When immersing these baby calves, do not forget to support the head above the water to avoid drowning the calf you are trying to save.

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