Menu
Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New media
New media comments
New profile posts
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles and first posts only
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Forums
Cattle Boards
Breeding / Calving Issues
A walk away mom
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Help Support CattleToday:
Message
<blockquote data-quote="ClinchMountainBoy" data-source="post: 637055" data-attributes="member: 10017"><p>Never appraoch a calf, unless you had to assist in birthing it for at least an hour after it is born. Let the mom bond with it. If you have to assist in the birth, do it and walk away, let the mom bond with it. I have never had a problem if I followed this, I really like to wait till she's licked it pretty much dry, and then you can approach and tag it or band it if you like, otherwise, don't mess with it. That behavior, accepting a calf and nurturing it, is instinctive and the best of them will do it automatically every time. You might have a first timer who is confused a little while at first, but it really shouldn't take her long to come around to the idea. Sometimes when the birth is especially hard, a hard pull, or long drawn out delivery, she will associate the calf with the pain and shun it for a while, but you can usually get her to take it with a little encouragement. If a heifer doesn't show mothering tendencies, I cull her, every time. I can't put up with it, when so many cattle are excellent mothers, why would I want to keep a defective one? If you only have a couple cows maybe you don't mind, but you can't run a herd that way. Don't blame her if you think you interferred with the all important bonding process though, a heifer is going on instinct, so its quite possible to mess that up.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ClinchMountainBoy, post: 637055, member: 10017"] Never appraoch a calf, unless you had to assist in birthing it for at least an hour after it is born. Let the mom bond with it. If you have to assist in the birth, do it and walk away, let the mom bond with it. I have never had a problem if I followed this, I really like to wait till she's licked it pretty much dry, and then you can approach and tag it or band it if you like, otherwise, don't mess with it. That behavior, accepting a calf and nurturing it, is instinctive and the best of them will do it automatically every time. You might have a first timer who is confused a little while at first, but it really shouldn't take her long to come around to the idea. Sometimes when the birth is especially hard, a hard pull, or long drawn out delivery, she will associate the calf with the pain and shun it for a while, but you can usually get her to take it with a little encouragement. If a heifer doesn't show mothering tendencies, I cull her, every time. I can't put up with it, when so many cattle are excellent mothers, why would I want to keep a defective one? If you only have a couple cows maybe you don't mind, but you can't run a herd that way. Don't blame her if you think you interferred with the all important bonding process though, a heifer is going on instinct, so its quite possible to mess that up. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Cattle Boards
Breeding / Calving Issues
A walk away mom
Top