How do you calm spooked cows?

[AmandaQ]

It could have been a coyote or a cat, I'm in rural Georgia. We had snow in the winter when my calf was a couple weeks old. I slept in the stall with them and heard the yipping of a coyote pack at 4:00 in the morning! Here is the first time she rolled over for me, it was two weeks before she calved. Of course I had no idea what was about to happen, just thought she was fat and happy!

 

[farmerjan]

Both dairy and beef farmers play radios for the very reason @Jeanne - Simme Valley said... it accustoms them to the very different sounds, voices, pitch and cadence of different people speaking... loud noises, laughter... music... there have been numerous studies done on cows and the amount of milk they give in places that play radios or not... usually believed to "help them " to give more... but it is that they become accustomed to all the different sounds that they tend to ignore them and become somewhat immune to various sounds and such.

If only used to one persons' voice or one simple way of calling them, anything else is suspect... and scary... like taking a 4 wheeler in a field for the first time... as opposed to a truck...or a person on foot.... the sound and actual physical thing is "strange"... then after a few times, they get to where they barely notice it unless they get used to getting a "treat" or some feed... then they will practically knock you over wanting to come right to you when they hear it. Our cows know my voice and my son's voice... one group the GF feeds some bread to them..... all of them know a bucket means treats... and we do not call them unless we have something to reward them with... even if it is only a new salt block... but usually a bucket or 2 of feed for a treat... and a reward for coming...

Yep, seen them balk at a simple thing like a new pile of dirt, or a new gate, or a pile of lumber like mentioned...

 

[Mark Reynolds]

If they start doing the twist you might have a problem!

I want to see the video if they do!

 

[MurraysMutts]

It could have been a coyote or a cat, I'm in rural Georgia. We had snow in the winter when my calf was a couple weeks old. I slept in the stall with them and heard the yipping of a coyote pack at 4:00 in the morning! Here is the first time she rolled over for me, it was two weeks before she calved. Of course I had no idea what was about to happen, just thought she was fat and happy!

just might be a little bitty bit rotten!

 

[Hpacres440p]

@AmandaQ -we live 2 miles from the SpaceX rocket engine test facilities. They get used to sudden loud noises pretty quickly (the video is a test from inside the house)

 

[Dave]

We get fighter jets from an AF base in Idaho playing tag up the canyon. They are plenty loud. Never noticed the cows paying any attention to them. A neighbor was riding a young horse once on top of the ridge. A couple of those jets went screaming by down lower than he was. He said his horse wasn't impressed.

 

[farmerjan]

We are also in a "training flight" area... along the blue ridge mtns... and the cattle pay no attention to the planes down low and loud.... but they cone unglued when the hot air balloons are put up during the festivals just south of here. Mostly they don't come this far north, but people down closer there have had cattle just panic over the balloons. Don't have many drones here often... Mostly they get worried if there are too many people all of a sudden out at the pasture instead of the 1 or 2 that they are used to seeing.
Got a neighbor that does quite a bit of shooting and that doesn't seem to bother them.

 

[AmandaQ]

We are also in a "training flight" area... along the blue ridge mtns... and the cattle pay no attention to the planes down low and loud.... but they cone unglued when the hot air balloons are put up during the festivals just south of here. Mostly they don't come this far north, but people down closer there have had cattle just panic over the balloons. Don't have many drones here often... Mostly they get worried if there are too many people all of a sudden out at the pasture instead of the 1 or 2 that they are used to seeing.
Got a neighbor that does quite a bit of shooting and that doesn't seem to bother them.

I'm getting a next door neighbor and my cows are totally used to the construction work next door. The neighbor might have a heli-pad but the cows will get used to it, I assume.

 

[Ky hills]

My cowherd has always been fairly calm, we live in a heavily traveled state road, with around a mile road frontage. They are used to a lot of different sights and sounds. We 2 different neighbors across the road that evidently do quite a bit of shooting particularly around hunting seasons, and another situation towards the back of the property on another road that sporadically will shoot like they are target practicing too.
There are often helicopters be it medical transport, utility companies checking power lines, or military helicopters flying over. Generally speaking they don't bother the cattle. At times there may be some unease like if the utility ones are coming in low to the ground and kind of hovering around low and making odd movements instead of just going straight over like a normal flight path and height.
We have a lot of folks living around us so around 4th of July it sounds like a war zone around. That can cause the cattle sone unease at times too. Once I noticed it really scaring the neighbor's horses they were running frantically from one side of that property to the other.
I've found that my cattle don't take to strangers around. I can walk through them and have anywhere from 10 foot to arms length flight zone, and at that they slowly walk away keeping a feet between, but if somebody else other than my wife is around that flight zone might be 50 feet and they move pretty fast.
Younger cattle in my experience seem to be more easily spooked than cows.
Ive had a group of probably 4-6 month old Holstein calves spook and about run over me because a couple coyotes were trailing them.
Sometimes something as simple as a barn door having ice on it and making a cracking sound when the ice breaks when trying to get the door to open, that has spooked a many a bunch of feeder calves (stocker calves, for folks outside of KY), both Holstein and beef calves.
I think a lot of different sights and sounds bother them at first, but they get used to most things except the weather/ice related, or something that happens infrequently and catches them off guard.
Over the years I've noticed one thing that startles any cattle of any age that I've had, and that is if a truck or trailer has a loose tarpaulin that is flapping around, that noise will at them off and cause them to run over the hill ever time.

 

[Travlr]

Over the years I've noticed one thing that startles any cattle of any age that I've had, and that is if a truck or trailer has a loose tarpaulin that is flapping around, that noise will at them off and cause them to run over the hill ever time.

That's one of the reasons I like a sorting stick with a plastic grocery bag tied to the end. You can shake it to rattle the plastic... or you can make it POP by hitting it hard and filling it with air.

 

[AmandaQ]

My cowherd has always been fairly calm, we live in a heavily traveled state road, with around a mile road frontage. They are used to a lot of different sights and sounds. We 2 different neighbors across the road that evidently do quite a bit of shooting particularly around hunting seasons, and another situation towards the back of the property on another road that sporadically will shoot like they are target practicing too.
There are often helicopters be it medical transport, utility companies checking power lines, or military helicopters flying over. Generally speaking they don't bother the cattle. At times there may be some unease like if the utility ones are coming in low to the ground and kind of hovering around low and making odd movements instead of just going straight over like a normal flight path and height.
We have a lot of folks living around us so around 4th of July it sounds like a war zone around. That can cause the cattle sone unease at times too. Once I noticed it really scaring the neighbor's horses they were running frantically from one side of that property to the other.
I've found that my cattle don't take to strangers around. I can walk through them and have anywhere from 10 foot to arms length flight zone, and at that they slowly walk away keeping a feet between, but if somebody else other than my wife is around that flight zone might be 50 feet and they move pretty fast.
Younger cattle in my experience seem to be more easily spooked than cows.
Ive had a group of probably 4-6 month old Holstein calves spook and about run over me because a couple coyotes were trailing them.
Sometimes something as simple as a barn door having ice on it and making a cracking sound when the ice breaks when trying to get the door to open, that has spooked a many a bunch of feeder calves (stocker calves, for folks outside of KY), both Holstein and beef calves.
I think a lot of different sights and sounds bother them at first, but they get used to most things except the weather/ice related, or something that happens infrequently and catches them off guard.
Over the years I've noticed one thing that startles any cattle of any age that I've had, and that is if a truck or trailer has a loose tarpaulin that is flapping around, that noise will at them off and cause them to run over the hill ever time.

The tarp?! That's funny!

 

[Ky hills]

The tarp?! That's funny!

Yes, tarp, older people here call them tarpaulins pronounced tarpolian