I don't know how to deal with this!

[Katpau]

I have a calf that is about a month old that wants to follow me around and play with me, every time I walk through the pasture. By play, I mean she approaches and immediately begins to rub and butt me with her head. I usually just push her away and continually move to her side so she can't reach me with her head, but I may be just encouraging it. I don't know. I am afraid that if I whack her, she will think it is part of the game and get rougher. She gets way too rough as it is and makes it difficult to walk among the herd and do anything beyond dodging her head.

None of my cows are particularly tame although none are wild either. I like my cows to move away when I walk up too close. I don't ever scratch them or make pets out of them, so I really don't know how to deal with this. She needs to learn some respect. Maybe some of you that halter break and show cows have some suggestions?

She was a 96 pound calf, born to a heifer. We were watching from a distance when she stood for the first time. She was all alone because her heifer mother had already taken off. As soon as the calf was on the ground she had headed towards the hay feeder where the other cows were. We watched her come back briefly with the entire herd following. They were all really worked up, running and bucking. The calf was aggressively looking for nipple on anyone that got close. The heifer took another look at her calf, kicked at her, knocked her over, and left again. It was cold and alternating between rain and snow, so we carried her to a covered pen and put the heifer in with her. We tried leaving them together, but she would kick at the calf or knock her down. We spent three days putting the heifer in the head gate and letting the calf suck three times a day, but she didn't seem to be getting any better, so we put her on an older cow that had lost her own calf. It took a few days, but the old cow eventually accepted her.

Unfortunately, I think the calf decided that I was her real Mom since I was the only one to care for her for the first week of her life. She only got to eat when we were there although I only fed her with a bottle twice. Once when we first put her with the older cow. She seemed confused about the nipples that were bigger than the ones on her birth mother. We milked that cow and put some in a bottle and got her drinking on the bottle. Once she figured that out I was able to use the bottle to do a switch and get her on the cow. On the third day, the cow ate almost nothing and looked depressed. She was still not accepting the calf, so we put her back in the head-gate to feed the calf. She looked really irritated by that. Much more so than she had before. The calf was still acting hungry after the noon feeding and went and drank a bunch of water. The calf went from nipple to nipple on the cow at the evening feeding and when I tried milking the cow, she refused to let her milk down and I couldn't get anything out of her. The calf went over and drank more water. I went back to the house and I mixed up a bottle of replacer. The calf took it all down. When I let the cow out, the calf tried sucking more and the cow knocked her down, so I separated them for the night. I thought "Oh great, I may end up with a bottle calf". The next day I let the calf go in with the cow and the cow fed her without even being locked up. The cow started eating again and we had no more issues. By this time the calf totally associated me with getting fed. For the next couple days, I think the calf would wait for me to show up before nursing, but then she finally figured out that she could nurse whenever she wanted. I expected her to loose interest in me after that. Most calves we have grafted on cows, even those that were bottle fed for some time, would quit paying me any attention after a few weeks. This one will run after the RTV. As soon as she sees me she leaves her mom and the other cows and comes running and pushing her head against my legs. She may think she is showing me love, but I don't like it!

 

[RDFF]

That bottle a couple times was all that it took, especially when she was that young. Sounds like she's still "on the hungry side".... but let her find her own food from the nursing cows... even if she's stealing.... that's better than having a bottle baby.

Carry a hotshot with you, and just make it a little unpleasant for her to come up to you. Only use as much "deterrent" as is necessary... you don't want her to be afraid of you either, just use enough for her to get the message to leave you alone. Once or twice should probably be enough. But be consistent with it, at least at first until she seems to get it and leaves you alone. Anytime she comes for you, give her a little zing. She'll quickly learn.

 

[wbvs58]

Similar to the hotshot theme but a little bit more subtle, make yourself up a leather knuckle duster. Get some sharp large staples and drive them through the leather or some large sharp flathead nails. wear it on your knuckle whenever you go amongst them. You don't have to punch her with it just place your hand in front of her nose when she approaches you and let her come in contact with it so she hurts herself, not you doing the hurting. Hopefully she will get the idea. We have used this approach on young horses that like to nip and make a nuisance of themselves while cleaning stables and it has worked well.

Ken

 

[moses388]

Sell the cow & calf as a pair, or just sell the calf. Some people don't mind bottle babies.

 

[kenny thomas]

Just carry a short piece of rope or even better a strip of leather or an old belt. Each.time it approaces too close just slap it across the nose. Lightly at first and a little more if it doesn't stop. Jusy show the calf that there is a zone around you that it must respect. It shouldn't take but a few times to stop the behavior.

 

[Ky hills]

It does seem odd, they usually seem to forget all about people once they get back on a cow and out with the herd.
We had a black commercial Angus heifer get bred by the neighbors Jersey bull. Ironically the heifer didn't have enough milk, so we pulled her off and colostrumed her and then gave milk a time or two, then looked like the heifer had a real full udder so we put them back together. After a week or so the calf seemed sluggish and always trying to nurse, so pulled her back off and bottled her. She never did bond with us and is one of the distant cows we have today.
Even with bottling hundreds of calves from my dairy calf raising years as well as a beef calf or two a year, I've only had one heifer like you describe. Bottle bulls are a different subject.
My first Holstein heifer was that way and when she got to be a year old or so was big enough and rough enough to push me around just pushing her head around like she was using me as scratching post. Right or wrong, after a few failed attempts at giving subtle hints, I got pretty tough back with her once and that stopped it.

 

[greybeard]

I had a couple sort of like that but never bothered me if I was on foot but they thought the 4 wheeler was 'momma' even almost unto adulthood. I suppose because I drove up on them and watched from the bike while they were being born?
They learned eventually but only because they couldn't move as fast I could go on the 4wheeler.




The little red one tho, did come quietly nuzzling up to my back late one evening at twilight while I was sitting on the end of my pond's dock fishing. Scared the crap out of me too....

 

[MurraysMutts]

@Katpau does she act as tho she is looking for a place to nurse?

Seven (my bottle baby now a cow) learned early on that when she tried sticking her nose in the wrong place she promptly got a boot heel in her nose! It was easier for me to just pick up my foot. She prefered ramming her nose right up my behind!

It did take a while... but I got her respect for my space. She still loves attention but don't do that crap anymore. Very very occasionally she will get playful and a quick rap on the nose puts a stop to that. It's really best to get it under control while they are small!!

Pick her up a couple times every now and then and throw in a hay pile too. I don't know if it really helps, but it's fun! And don't hurt anything.

The push me, shove you will just encourage her to play.

Been my experience and your mileage may vary....

 

[sunnyblueskies]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. You said she is just a month old, so all of the handling is really not that long ago.
You are not feeding her anymore, right? I would just kick or push, like a cow would if a calf gets too rambunctious. Like MurraysMutts said, kick on the nose, or a whack on the nose. Give it some time.
For the following....... every now and then we would have a bottle calf with the herd, yeah they would follow the quad, but they were easily distracted if we would drive through a bunch of cows to make our 'getaway'. =D

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

My Jersey bottle heifer was extremely friendly although I did not encourage it.



When she got to be a couple of hundred pounds I started carrying a small stick and whacked he nose with it if she crowded me. Then when while leading her I wave and swish it around behind me to keep her out of my space. I still carry a stick when she's in heat and tries to put her chin on me. Gets a pretty good whack if she tries that.

 

[Travlr]

@Katpau does she act as tho she is looking for a place to nurse?

Seven (my bottle baby now a cow) learned early on that when she tried sticking her nose in the wrong place she promptly got a boot heel in her nose! It was easier for me to just pick up my foot. She prefered ramming her nose right up my behind!

It did take a while... but I got her respect for my space. She still loves attention but don't do that crap anymore. Very very occasionally she will get playful and a quick rap on the nose puts a stop to that. It's really best to get it under control while they are small!!

Pick her up a couple times every now and then and throw in a hay pile too. I don't know if it really helps, but it's fun! And don't hurt anything.

The push me, shove you will just encourage her to play.

Been my experience and your mileage may vary....

Hey... what's the update on the tiny calf that seemed to be older?

 

[MurraysMutts]

Hey... what's the update on the tiny calf that seemed to be older?

I'll go ahead and update in the bottle calf thread.

Getting ready to dump a large amount of photos anyway....

 

[Katpau]

 

[Katpau]

She is not quite a month old, but close. Born March 25. She does not act hungry or try to suck on me and she is already over 150 pounds, so I won't be throwing her. I am going to try the suggestions that involve her hurting herself when she goes to push on me, She seems to be trying to play with me, like she might with another calf. I am not real sure she realizes she's a cow.
Here is a picture of her rubbing and pushing with her head against my knee.

 

[Katpau]

Sell the cow & calf as a pair, or just sell the calf. Some people don't mind bottle babies.

The cow feeding her will go with the rest of the culls in the Fall. She lost her own calf. That calf couldn't stand and had no suck response. I don't know what the problem was, but I am not taking a chance on a repeat. Her birth Mom will be on the truck as soon as we can get a trailer in there. We just need a few dry days. I think convincing this calf to be a bottle calf at a month old, might be a hard sell. She has had all she wants off a good milking cow for three weeks now.

 

[TCRanch]

Well she's just cute as a button! I've had calves get a little too aggressive and a couple smacks straight on their nose seems to do the trick. I'm more "hands on" with my herd and yes, I still have some cows that will actually lick my jeans, but they know that ANY sign of aggression will earn them a solid smack and potential ride on the trailer.

 

[RDFF]

We had a heifer that we played with like that (pushing on the knee) when she was little like that... she got my cousin down on the ground in the pasture when she weighed about 900#... I had to get her off him.

It's cute and all.... but don't let them do it... I had another thought you could try too... put a dog training collar on her... adjust the heat to whatever level is necessary to send her a message. Once the training's done, remove the collar. Would be easier than a hotshot, and you could zing her BEFORE she gets up to you if you want to... and she would never know that it was you that was "doing it".... just would realize that if she "invades your space", there's an unpleasant consequence.

 

[Katpau]

A dog training collar is an interesting idea.

I was sure disappointed with this calves heifer mother rejecting her calf. She was a registered Angus heifer that was the result of 6 generations of carefully selected and mostly AI breedings. All of the cows in those generations were good cows with nice dispositions and excellent mothers. She was an extremely attractive heifer, although bigger than I had expected. She was already bigger than most of the three year old cows, so that 96 pound birth came easily. Until the calf was born, I would have said she had a nice calm disposition. She also had a beautiful udder with perfect nipples and she was real easy to milk.

I had thought we would only need to put that calf on a few times and she would want to be a mother. Instead she fought us worse on day three than she did on day one. We had to tie her foot back or she would kick the calf. We put food down in front, hoping she would relax and eat. That only partially worked. She would eat for a minute or two and then violently fight the head gate leaping around until she shook the calf off, then she would go back to eating. The calf would go right back in and a few minutes latter, she'd go nuts again. Perhaps our gathering up the calf and taking it to shelter so quickly after birth caused confusion, but we have had to bring in others in similar situations and the heifers have always accepted the calves readily. I might have convinced her to take the calf if we had kept it up longer, but I had the cow that had lost her own 3 day old calf the day before this one was born, and I figured if I wasted more time on the heifer I would loose my oppurtunity to graft her on that cow. Besides, had I convinced her to raise the calf, I might have rationalized keeping her and giving her another chance. Best to get her out of here before I did something stupid like that. While second chance cows somtimes work out, I have lived to regret it more times than not. I have no qualms about selling her for beef, but I sure wish things had been different.

 

[chaded]

Smack on the nose, no need for anything elaborate. She needs to know to respect your space. I for one would want her to know it's coming from me, get in my space and there are consequences.

 

[Travlr]

Smack on the nose, no need for anything elaborate. She needs to know to respect your space. I for one would want her to know it's coming from me, get in my space and there are consequences.

It's the same thing herd mates do to teach others. No reason to think any bovine would not learn from that kind of simple correction.