Katpau
Well-known member
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!
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!
![Picture1128181244_1[972].jpg](https://data.www.cattletoday.com/attachments/21/21003-13f125c6a12fc6c469d187bfdddfe24d.jpg "Picture1128181244_1[972].jpg")
