dumb calf?

[limi chick fitter]

my show heifer had a calf last friday and ever since then, when she runs and plays around or just runs the fence line, she'll run into it. is she dumb or something? today i let them out in the yard (never mow the lawn.. the cows/sheep do) and she tried to jump through the fence again. she then tried to jump through a gate also after that. i know she's not blind.. but is she just dumb? will she grow out of it?

 

[jnowack]

It sounds like she just hasn't figured out she's supposed to stop at the fences. A lot of my calves get shocked by the electric fence and even slip back and forth through it until they are a week or 2 old. Probably nothing to worry about.

 

[Bama]

I once had a cow that hid her calf in my tomato's in the garden. At the time it was only a electric fence and the calf would go under the wire. The cow couldn't get to within 50 feet of where the calf would be. I don't know how the cow told the calf, " go lay down in them thar maters and don't move". If the cow was near when I went into the garden the calf would get up and run back through the fence to the cow. If the cow wasn't around the calf would just lay there. I know it was thinking. "that big ole thing on two legs can't see my black body in these green tomato vines, Mamma said so" this lasted about a week then it stopped, I don't know if it got tired of getting zapped by the fence or tired of us picking tomatos in its bed.

 

[msscamp]

my show heifer had a calf last friday and ever since then, when she runs and plays around or just runs the fence line, she'll run into it. is she dumb or something? today i let them out in the yard (never mow the lawn.. the cows/sheep do) and she tried to jump through the fence again. she then tried to jump through a gate also after that. i know she's not blind.. but is she just dumb? will she grow out of it?

Sounds like she's just being a calf, exploring her world, and learning about boundaries. It doesn't take much to spook a new calf and they will run into the fence (and anything else in their chosen path) on a regular basis once spooked. Be happy that she hasn't gone through the fence - chasing calves without their momma tends to be an all day job, trust me on this! :shock:

 

[Beefy]

thats what limousins are born to do.

 

[milesvb]

will she grow out of it?

From my experience with limi's she'll grow out of it by learning to jump OVER the fence. Or else you better keep the splicing tools handy.

 

[Aero]

the cow told the calf, " go lay down in them thar maters and don't move".

funny stuff :lol:

 

[Bama]

the cow told the calf, " go lay down in them thar maters and don't move".

funny stuff :lol:

Yeah, even our cows have a strong accent.

 

[*Cowgirl*]

ALL (ex) show heifers are stupid. The last one that I had calf LOST her calf. We just saw her standing there bawling and thought it was dead. So, we went lookin n low n behold we found the calf couple hundred yds away. After we ran it down to her, she still was confused about the nursing process. She figured it out eventually...

 

[msscamp]

ALL (ex) show heifers are stupid. The last one that I had calf LOST her calf. We just saw her standing there bawling and thought it was dead. So, we went lookin n low n behold we found the calf couple hundred yds away. After we ran it down to her, she still was confused about the nursing process. She figured it out eventually...

Ok, let me ask you a question - imagine for one moment that you are an animal that has no way of communicating, you're stuck with instinct and instinct alone. One day, out of a clear blue sky, you're grazing along, minding your own business and you start experiencing labor pains - except you don't know they are labor pains, all you know is you're hurting. Don't you think that might cause a little confusion, as well as the tendency to reject the little creature that was ejected from your backside unless you have a good strong maternal instinct? Having done some showing with our animals, it sounds to me like you might be farther ahead to select your animals based on different criteria. Just for the record, all show heifers are NOT stupid (if they are selected correctly) and it generally helps if the owner is smarter than the heifer and puts a little effort into understanding the heifer.

 

[Aero]

Just for the record, all show heifers are NOT stupid (if they are selected correctly) and it generally helps if the owner is smarter than the heifer and puts a little effort into understanding the heifer.

ouch!

 

[Beefy]

thats what limousins are born to do.

sorry, this was not a very helpful answer. She will likely stop being a spazz when she grows up a little. as she gets bigger she will find it harder to get thru the fence (lets hope) and once she figures out how to use her brakes she wont be such a doofus. unless shes just a nutcase.

 

[*Cowgirl*]

msscamp wrote:
Just for the record, all show heifers are NOT stupid (if they are selected correctly) and it generally helps if the owner is smarter than the heifer and puts a little effort into understanding the heifer.


ouch!

No kidding!

She "lost" the calf when it was already a couple days old.

Show heifers are a species all their own. All they have to do is sit there and drain people's pocket books (on purchase price, feed etc..), eat, poop (and have it imediately scooped up by someone), and walk around a show ring for a 10 minutes every couple of wks. They are generally spoiled brats. It's a rude awakening when they're turned out w/ the herd. We had one stand by the gate for at least 4 days waiting to be let in. She was pretty and did well at shows (grand champ) but she was just plain STUPID.

 

[msscamp]

Just for the record, all show heifers are NOT stupid (if they are selected correctly) and it generally helps if the owner is smarter than the heifer and puts a little effort into understanding the heifer.

ouch!

Do you disagree? Heifers tend to be a whole different ballgame than experienced cows, would it not help if the owner had some experience and was smarter than the heifer in question and able to understand her take on things? That also extends to maternal instinct being an inherited quality, thus doing a little homework on a particular heifers mother would go a long ways towards helping (keyword here being helping as there is always the dingbat that just isn't going to accept/take care of/raise her calf, regardless of heritablity) to ensure a trouble free calving. Am I wrong?

 

[Aero]

Do you disagree? ... Am I wrong?

it's not a matter of being right. i just prefer a more polite tone (most days).

i dont know *Cowgirl* and havent seen any of her posts before so maybe i have missed a trend.

i could be out of line here.

 

[Beefy]

Just for the record, all show heifers are NOT stupid (if they are selected correctly) and it generally helps if the owner is smarter than the heifer and puts a little effort into understanding the heifer.

ouch!

msscamp, some could miscontrue this as being snitty directly toward Cowgirl. i suspect it was more of a generalization though?

 

[Bama]

Probally stepping on a few toes here, so ya'll feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. A animal that has been in the show ring a lot will be a little more under achieving ( dumber ) than one that has been on the range. One that has been housed in a barn, pampered, never had to look for food, and lead around on a halter all its life will not have the life lessons learned by one on the range. Most of what cattle do is by instinct but a show animal will have differant reactions to differant situations. I wouldn't call them stupid, but it seems to me they would not have all the smarts about being a cow on the range. I'm sure show heifers have made great mommas and show bulls have made great herd bulls. It just looks to me like they are deprived of some of their normal cattle trial and errors. I ain't saying this is a bad thing, its just a thought. This provolks another thought " reckon what my bulls would do ifin I went after em with a vacumn cleaner and hair dryer". That just might be a rednecks last words.

 

[msscamp]

msscamp wrote:
Just for the record, all show heifers are NOT stupid (if they are selected correctly) and it generally helps if the owner is smarter than the heifer and puts a little effort into understanding the heifer.


ouch!

No kidding!

She "lost" the calf when it was already a couple days old.

Show heifers are a species all their own. All they have to do is sit there and drain people's pocket books (on purchase price, feed etc..), eat, poop (and have it imediately scooped up by someone), and walk around a show ring for a 10 minutes every couple of wks. They are generally spoiled brats. It's a rude awakening when they're turned out w/ the herd. We had one stand by the gate for at least 4 days waiting to be let in. She was pretty and did well at shows (grand champ) but she was just plain STUPID.

That's your fault for allowing that to happen. We've done our share of showing, but our ranch was a working ranch (keyword here being working), first and foremost - and the show animals were not treated any differently than any of the others with the exception of getting bath's, brushing, being halter-broke, and worked with. They did not have stalls, special trailers, special feed, etc, they were breed on time and expected to raise an acceptable calf - if they did not they were shipped. Once their 'show' careers were over, they took their place in the regular herd and did every bit as well as the non-show animals. Your rational simply reinforces my refusal to buy a standard 'show' animal, because - 7 times out of 10 - it cannot perform in the herd and I don't want it.

 

[Bama]

sorry , I didn't realize I was posting in the middle of a cat fight.

 

[Beefy]

sorry , I didn't realize I was posting in the middle of a cat fight.

ruh roh, but great points.