A cow I really don't want to cull

[regolith]

224 as a heifer in 09:

She was horrible in the milking shed when she first calved, and I'd already put her in calf to $3 semen when she settled down and started flying... she was probably the top production heifer I had that year. Shame about the temperament, but I just don't remember her being a problem after the first couple of months.

She's four now.

I AI'd her to a real nice bull yesterday. But I don't think waiting out next year's calf is sensible - she's been lashing out at random intervals since she came back from lease. Most of the time I don't even see what sets her off. Being nice hasn't worked, hitting her back hasn't worked and as for de-sensitisation... this morning I took a handful of used mastitis syringes and old caps and lobbed them, one at a time, at her legs. She didn't move. De-sensitising isn't going to work because she's already as placid as can be. We're at the point that she's doing this two or three times a week, could easily kill someone with one of those lightning kicks and I'd have to really hate any relief milker to let them milk the herd without warning them about her.

She did this some weeks ago when I was rushing to get into town and wasn't paying attention. That's the fifth hand/wrist injury in the last ten years & I'd really like to still be milking cows and doing AI when I'm seventy.

Here's another two cows I'd prefer not to have to cull:

292 did the highest production on the September herd test when she was a week calved, and 275 would probably have done similar production if the herd test staff hadn't spilled her morning sample. I pulled them both out of the herd yesterday morning because of mastitis.
Getting frustrated at the high and bouncing cell count, I pulled a small group of cows into a second herd for calf milk a couple of weeks ago and the SCC has been between 100,000 and 130,000 since (down from 240,000). There's still nine cows out of the herd and they're giving more milk than the calves can drink in a day. Some will probably need to be culled, just there's so many cows more worthy of culling than these.

 

[Anonymous]

There isn't a cow out there worth getting hurt over

 

[Isomade]

There isn't a cow out there worth getting hurt over

:nod: ship her

 

[hillbillycwo]

We always tied ours to the stantions behind the bag and that seemed to help the kicking. But I agree no cow is worth getting hurt over and I am sure you have already tried that.

 

[Sir Loin]

regolith

There is only one way to condition an unruly cow ( a kicker ) that I know of and that is by using “kickers”.
Put them on for 4 - 6 milkings and your problem is solved. If she kicks after that, do it all over again.
No dairy farm should be without them.
SL

http://www.manufacturer.com/product/m63 ... icker.html


http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/e ... ow-kickers

 

[dun]

regolith

There is only one way to condition an unruly cow ( a kicker ) that I know of and that is by using “kickers”.
Put them on for 4 - 6 milkings and your problem is solved. If she kicks after that, do it all over again.
No dairy farm should be without them.
SL

http://www.manufacturer.com/product/m63 ... icker.html


http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/e ... ow-kickers

My old mentor had a policy of using a kicker for one week, if she still kicked after thta she went down the road. In the 10 years I knew him he only got rid of one because of kicking. They were milking 300 head in a flat barn and he just wouldn;t stand for that kind of nonsense. He was also milking a lot of cows that were in their low double digits for age.

 

[TexasBred]

I'd sell both of those without hesitation.

 

[regolith]

Both those bottom two cows have collapsed bags TB - apparently doesn't stop them being good :bday: producers. They were only a week calved at the test though, next one in ten days time. 2003-born and one was collapsed when I bought her in 09, the other must've dropped either last year during lease or at calving.

I've used kickers in Britain, or a string in front of the udder, not in this country. It only really stopped the heifers, a hard core kicker would kick anyway.
Tied this one up as a heifer. That's what gets me - she *was* fine after her first few weeks as a heifer. Seems like she could be fine again, but common sense says she's an older cow with an entrenched habit now - she's been calved over three months and doing this at random intervals the whole time. Its genetic btw, I should know better than to breed from her and I'm having a heck of a lot of trouble from some of the heifers that were inside cows bought from the same farm as these three. 275's daughter being one of them.
Out of my own cows the Frostman daughters are 'high' but manageable. I've got a few straws left and will be careful where I use them.

 

[TexasBred]

Blown out udders and kickers are candidates for culling. Makes you wonder what happened to the cow while she was leased out. May have been some abuse going on. Anyway, seems she's ruined now. I'd still replace them.

 

[bigbull338]

regolith

There is only one way to condition an unruly cow ( a kicker ) that I know of and that is by using “kickers”.
Put them on for 4 - 6 milkings and your problem is solved. If she kicks after that, do it all over again.
No dairy farm should be without them.
SL

http://www.manufacturer.com/product/m63 ... icker.html


http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/e ... ow-kickers

sad to say your way will not break a chronic kicking cow.been there done that an it dont work.weve had cows that could never be broke from kicking.that had to always have the kickers put on them.the only sure cure is a free ride to the sale barn.

 

[Massey135]

I'd sell both of those without hesitation.

The top one for her inability to maintain body condition and the bottom one for the blown udder. The holsteins at the dairy across the rd are all bcs6+ and fatter than nearly any of my beef cows. Then again these hosteins look like a different breed than yours all together.

 

[HOSS]

Regolith, I don't have any advice on the cows but I can say that is some pretty countryside in the pics. New Zealand has some of the most beautiful country that I have seen in pictures. Post some more pictures of the landscape if you have any.

 

[hillsdown]

I'd sell both of those without hesitation.

The top one for her inability to maintain body condition and the bottom one for the blown udder. The holsteins at the dairy across the rd are all bcs6+ and fatter than nearly any of my beef cows. Then again these hosteins look like a different breed than yours all together.

Would love to see their DHI records ..

 

[dun]

I'd sell both of those without hesitation.

The top one for her inability to maintain body condition and the bottom one for the blown udder. The holsteins at the dairy across the rd are all bcs6+ and fatter than nearly any of my beef cows. Then again these hosteins look like a different breed than yours all together.

Would love to see their DHI records ..

AND their grain bill

 

[Massey135]

I'd sell both of those without hesitation.

The top one for her inability to maintain body condition and the bottom one for the blown udder. The holsteins at the dairy across the rd are all bcs6+ and fatter than nearly any of my beef cows. Then again these hosteins look like a different breed than yours all together.

Would love to see their DHI records ..

I don't know the exacts but last time I talked to them over at "little mexico", as they call it, he told me they had several cows milkin over 100lbs/day. They are exceptional looking. Every cow is almost identical in type.

 

[regolith]

224's body condition is exactly what you'd expect for what she's been through. The other two cows aren't recent photos (my camera is dead) but are slightly better conditioned now only because both were late calvers.
The whole herd is that bad. I'm not discussing it, thank you.

 

[alisonb]

Ouch Rego!
I think TB may have hit the nail on the head, I wonder if her temperament is genetic?

Makes you wonder what happened to the cow while she was leased out. May have been some abuse going on there.

 

[regolith]

Massey: I'd like to see photos if you could get some.
You're right that the NZ Holstein-Frieisan is a different type of animal altogether. We like them small, capacious and efficient - neither 292 nor 275 are good examples. Best straight Holsteins I've got in my herd now would be 244 and 61 - but the breed isn't really competitive against my Jerseys and crossbreds, they tend to get culled.

Hoss, I must have hundreds of good photos, even though at present I can't take any owing to dead camera :roll: . Just give me a minute and I'll pull up some old threads with photos.

 

[regolith]

Bad dial-up connection is eating my posts

http://ranchers.net/photopost/member.ph ... &protype=1
ranchers gallery
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=62161 bulls
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=61958 NZ bush
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=59017 2009 calving thread

there's a 2011 calving thread too, and some good April 2010 paddock shots (called '3 days late but here goes') if you've got a better connection and want to try search. Gotta go milk them cows now.

 

[djinwa]

It's safest to assume the underlying problem is genetic.

Even in the human world, they are discovering that behavior is more genetic than once thought. Including studies on identical twins separated at birth, raised in different environments, but end up acting the same and many even ending up in the same careers without any knowledge of their sibling.

In the old days any bad behavior was attributed to abuse or neglect by daddy, but then you find that many go through abuse and are fine, and many not abused are a wreck. Some feel abused just about anywhere.

You probably want a cow that isn't so genetically sensitive to any perceived abuse that they have to react and become a killer.

In my limited experience with house cows, I've found it interesting that the kicking gene (if there is one) seems unrelated to docility.

I've had a very gentle heifer kick like crazy, and my current heifer that isn't gentle by nature, has never kicked after months of milking.