Bred heifer trying to suck

[talltimber]

Was walking through the cows yesterday and noticed a fracas, an old cow boxing one of my bred heifers around, running her off a couple of steps and stopped. So, I just thought well that old bitty. Didn't pay much more attention than that. Noticed another, same heifer, trying to suck a cow with a calf by side sucking, heifer from back and cow caught her and run her off. Then, I saw her on another later, from the back, guess cow wasn't paying attention and I run her off. Apparently she's not working one cow, but whoever will let her/whoever is not watching. This heifer is 18 mo and should be bred, raised by me, not with cows until my two yr olds calved which was late summer/fall. I have not noticed her trying to suck them while they were together. I turned the bred heifers and dry two olds out with the old pairs to make them lunch up on their own. Well I guess she figured that out pretty quick, just not how I wanted. Any experiences with this, will she quit when she calves you think? I can run her with my calves this spring for a while with no trouble. But if she is going to do it her whole life I may as well ship her before she calves this fall. I will be weaning the old cows in a month from now, cows will dry up, then I can move her back out with them for the summer.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Milk thief just hauled one to the barn a few weeks ago. She is not worth a pinch of dried up monkey shyt in the pasture if she is. She needs to grow wheels.

 

[dun]

I would ship her now

 

[Aaron]

Down the road she goes.

 

[Bigfoot]

Yeah, they don't change their ways. Believe it or not, I had one that would suck herself. Had to sell her.

 

[MRRherefords]

Time to get rid of her.

 

[Nesikep]

She's old enough that if you were ever going to break the habit, it would have happened by now... no use for them kind

 

[Ky hills]

As others have said, she is not likely to stop that behavior and should be sold.

 

[farmerjan]

I agree, she needs to go. Another thing, if you were to run her with your heifers, she could try sucking them and will damage/ruin their udders and some might come in as only having 2 good quarters....Then they would get shipped if they didn't raise a good calf and it wouldn't have been their fault. You might want to check the ones she has been with and see how their udders look when they calve....Just tested a dairy that had a 1st calf heifer come in the barn and has been caught sucking some of the cows. There are 2 or 3 other heifers from that same group that have come in with good 3 teats, and one that has only 2 good teats. I told them it was 99% chance it was that sucking heifer that ruined their udders.....

 

[talltimber]

Probably right. Man that bites. I raised her, she is a calf out of a 9 or 10 yo commercial cow and cc&7 son, bred to a Black Granite son. I have prettier, but her Momma is a stayer and raises dandies every year. I had hopes for her.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Down the road she goes.

What happened to the good old nose ring routine?

 

[talltimber]

I had that presented as a way to train the old cows to wreck her every time she tries. I'm thinking it would work

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Probably right. Man that bites. I raised her, she is a calf out of a 9 or 10 yo commercial cow and cc&7 son, bred to a Black Granite son. I have prettier, but her Momma is a stayer and raises dandies every year. I had hopes for her.

I'd put her with some steers or younger heifers until she calves and then sell her and her calf together. That's assuming you're set up to handle such an arrangement.

 

[Aaron]

Down the road she goes.

What happened to the good old nose ring routine?

Never went that route. Actually the only time I remember having a yearling heifer sucking a cow was in 1996. Split the two apart for the summer and everything was hunky-dory. But in that case, it was a cow's own calf latching back onto mom.

 

[talltimber]

Probably right. Man that bites. I raised her, she is a calf out of a 9 or 10 yo commercial cow and cc&7 son, bred to a Black Granite son. I have prettier, but her Momma is a stayer and raises dandies every year. I had hopes for her.

I'd put her with some steers or younger heifers until she calves and then sell her and her calf together. That's assuming you're set up to handle such an arrangement.

I can. I have some open heifers to breed in early summer for spring calving. I can put her in with bulls til then. Turn the bull and her in with the opens, then pull bull. She will calve in the fall. Or, when it comes time to breed my open replacements turn her out with the dry fall cows. How long does it take a cow to dry out? Or, I can turn her out with my calves after weaning. Run her with them all summer
I am wanting to see if she will still do it after calving. She might change, might not. Might lose the calf, then I'd have a sucking first calf heifer without the first calf lol
I watched them about an hour and a half today, no attempt to suck.

 

[farmerjan]

Wherever you put her, try the anti-suck nose ring. Well, except with the bulls.... If you put her in with the open heifers, and she tries to suck them, then she can ruin their udders. But if she gets a good solid kick a couple of times, she might just give it up. The problem with putting it in her nose, and putting her with the cows that have calves, the mommas might get a little kicky towards any calf, even their own, and if their own calf goes on them and this heifer tries to suck, then everyone gets kicked......
If you have steers, run her with them. Maybe once she calves she will not try. If you like her that much then it is worth it to try a couple of other things. Who knows, maybe she just needed some liquid calcium... :roll: :roll: :bs: :bs:
If she does it again.....hit the road jack... :deadhorse: :deadhorse:
Usually takes 2-4 weeks for a cow to really dry up after pulling a calf. They will pretty much stop producing in about 5-8 days, but if something were to start sucking them they might start again, or worse, get mastitis so at least 2 -3 weeks minimum.

 

[jerry27150]

bred heifer, I would put bull ring in with 6-7 inches of chain

 

[Double R Ranch]

Down the road she goes.

What happened to the good old nose ring routine?

I've used them a time or two.
Bought a show heifer some years ago. Turned her out and later caught her doing that same thing. Put a crown weaning ring in for 6 months. Never had a problem with her again. She had 9 babies for me with no sucking on other cows or herself after the nose ring was removed. Would do it again in a heartbeat after how well it's worked on two different occasions that I can think of off the top of my head.