Cows are bunched together in herd

[TexasRancher]

I stopped using Permethrin two years ago I've been spraying them with my own brew (less expensive)...water 75%, vinager 20%, Dawn dish soap enough to taint it blue and the secret ...drum roll , peppermint oil. 1/4oz Peppermint oil for a gallon. Flies hate peppermint and evacuate the entire animal pretty fast. Works 70% better than Permethrin at 1/2 the cost and is more natural for the enviroment and animals. Spray them again every third day. Spring is the worst for flies in Texas...they'll be gone soon when the heat arrives.

 

[M.Magis]

Better sharpen that pencil. It doesn't work "70% better" if you have to reapply every three days.

 

[Bob Kinford]

The regenerative people think when they graze like that they've resorted back to grazing like the Buffalo did and get super excited. Most of the time it's just Flys bothering them though.

Actually there's a big difference in how they bunch between flies, predators, or getting relaxed enough to act as a herd. If they're bunched from flies or predator stress cattle will never all be facing in the same direction, as they are in this picture. Occasionally the conditions are just right so that cattle will turn into the breeze and graze together as a herd for a short time.

Rebooting herd instinct in ruminant animals isn't that hard. It requires synchronizing the drinking and rumination schedules while using specific stockmanship methods. Generally it can be done in five days.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Rebooting herd instinct in ruminant animals isn't that hard. It requires synchronizing the drinking .......

Say what. Synchronizing drinking? Must be a Texas thing. Ha

 

[Brute 23]

Say what. Synchronizing drinking? Must be a Texas thing. Ha

Nooo sir.

 

[Brute 23]

Brahman cattle naturally do all that stuff, you don't have to train them.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

Cows bunching up like this with the calves in the middle is really an indication of a stress at its core. There are other animals that do the same thing and include bison and elephants. There are undoubtedly other species.

Cattle will bunch like this with flies, a predator, weather, earthquakes, and probably some other 'causes' that are 'mobile' (a predator) or are general or are 'everywhere' (earthquake, flies, weather). If the stressor is in a particular direction or not 'everywhere', the animals will move away from it.

 

[WFfarm]

Earthquakes lately? They showed video from the Zoo in San Diego and the elephants circled the calves, heads facing out when the earthquake hit las week.

 

[Bob Kinford]

Say what. Synchronizing drinking? Must be a Texas thing. Ha

Odd you didn't make a remark about synchronizing rumination times as well. A big percentage of cattle (60-70%) will head to water at roughly the same time. Generally, they drink and then ruminate. Not sure of the reason, but 30-40% will ruminate away from water before drinking. Doesn't matter if you're in Texas, Kansas, Mississippi, Mexico, Canada or Australia the numbers remain fairly consistent. First thing we do in rebooting herd instinct is drifting the whole herd to one waterpoint when the majority are wanting to drink. Generally by the fifth morning (if the stockmanship stays consistent) everything is grazing together and heading to water together as a herd.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I'm so glad I don't need to "reboot herd instinct". My cattle seem to figure out how to eat and drink all on their own. Hahaha

 

[Mark Reynolds]

Earthquakes lately? They showed video from the Zoo in San Diego and the elephants circled the calves, heads facing out when the earthquake hit las week.

Yup, that is where my comment came from. About elephants anyway. I have read in the past though that cattle do the same thing with earthquakes.

 

[crossbreed]

Brahman cattle naturally do all that stuff, you don't have to train them.

I would agree with this. My three Brahman are always together and if you split up the herd you better have those 3 together or you'll be fixing fence. Keep them together and you can put them anywhere.

 

[Brute 23]

I would agree with this. My three Brahman are always together and if you split up the herd you better have those 3 together or you'll be fixing fence. Keep them together and you can put them anywhere.

That leads to was going to be my question for @Bob Kinford ...

What causes them to stop moving like that? Why do certain cattle, like Brahmans, stay like that.

 

[Lucky]

I've noticed that cattle have a pecking order and will hang out in groups. Some breeds do this more than others. Any bred heifers we buy with ear seem to stick together for several years, cattle we raise do the same. If we buy singles or salebarn cattle they just find their spot in the herd. When feeding in troughs everyday we know which cows will be first and which will be at the end. They also come to the hay in the same way when we unroll it. I thought this was just the natural way of herd animals. As Bob said they generally come to water around the same time. Heck we usually know we're the cattle will be at any given time during the day. None of this is rocket science. Did the OP ever say if his cattle had flies or not?

 

[TCRanch]

I've noticed that cattle have a pecking order and will hang out in groups.

And in lineages, at least in my world. Bebe, my oldest cow, is still Head Cow. All her daughters I've retained hang with Bebe as a general rule but will take on Head Cow status if/when they break into smaller groups. Same goes for other lineages, but with different personality traits.

 

[bird dog]

A cows best friend for life will often be the one it rode home with from the sale barn.

 

[Lucky]

We have all black cows with a few baldies mixed in. If I'm looking for a certain cow I can generally spot her with a few guesses but other than a few standouts they all pretty much look the same to me. My wife notices that they have "friends" so to speak though. If we're looking for #22 she might say there's #65 so #22 is close by. Most of the time she's right. She also notices any orphan calves will pick a calf or a cow to hang out with all the time. Maybe I need to slow down and try to notice more of this stuff instead of only looking for problems or issues that need attention.

 

[Lucky]

Wrong thread

 

[Bob Kinford]

That leads to was going to be my question for @Bob Kinford ...

What causes them to stop moving like that? Why do certain cattle, like Brahmans, stay like that.

I'd need to know more about the contexts where you're observing it. My second trip to Australia was because after 30 years of using motorcycles to move, and a combination of bikes and helicopters to gather, they were only finding roughly a third of their cattle, so they definitely weren't staying together as a herd. After 6 weeks of changing to horses and good stockmanship, we ran just over 3,000 head through the yards.

 

[crossbreed]

I've noticed that cattle have a pecking order and will hang out in groups. Some breeds do this more than others. Any bred heifers we buy with ear seem to stick together for several years, cattle we raise do the same. If we buy singles or salebarn cattle they just find their spot in the herd. When feeding in troughs everyday we know which cows will be first and which will be at the end. They also come to the hay in the same way when we unroll it. I thought this was just the natural way of herd animals. As Bob said they generally come to water around the same time. Heck we usually know we're the cattle will be at any given time during the day. None of this is rocket science. Did the OP ever say if his cattle had flies or not?

cattle are definitely creatures of habit, a lot like humans. Growing up in a dairy, we knew what cow was going to be first in the barn, what cow would be last. We had a flat bottom barn with our second dairy and each cow had a manger they would go in and if it wasn't available get out of the way she's going back out. Now when I roll out hay, same 2 cows are first ones at the bale to help me get wrap off, same ones are last at the hay.