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Improving disposition on your cowherd
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<blockquote data-quote="regolith" data-source="post: 647781" data-attributes="member: 9267"><p>The single biggest factor in improving disposition in my herd has been owning them.</p><p></p><p>I'm breeding for it (as of the incoming 2 yr olds next spring). But I have cows that I don't breed heifers from because they were wild when I bought them three years ago.</p><p>Now, I can do anything with them. I look at the row of crosses against their number on the breed list and wonder why they've been designated unsuitable.</p><p>Likewise, I've raised heifers from calves for the past five years. Until the first of them were two years old, I worked with the adage that you can "punish a cow, but gentle a heifer" because if you slap or shout at a heifer for misbehaviour while training her for milking I knew you could spoil her temperament for months or even years after.</p><p>Those two year olds, and every line of heifers since, has completely bucked that trend. Getting them to stand still in that stoopid herringbone - I could climb all over them, haul them around, chase the whole row back in when the end heifer turfed the holding bar aside and walked out - and they'd never fuss or hold-up their milk after the aggro.</p><p></p><p>I know other farmers who sent placid calves out to graze and the grazier returned heifers a year later that jumped everything (in one case, it was rotational grazing with electric fences that caused the problems. Instead of winding up the poly-wire fence or moving it aside to feed the heifers the grazier would drop the fence to the ground and expect the animals to jump/walk over it.)</p><p></p><p>I suspect there's been a much higher selection emphasis on docility in dairy breeds than beef breeds.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="regolith, post: 647781, member: 9267"] The single biggest factor in improving disposition in my herd has been owning them. I'm breeding for it (as of the incoming 2 yr olds next spring). But I have cows that I don't breed heifers from because they were wild when I bought them three years ago. Now, I can do anything with them. I look at the row of crosses against their number on the breed list and wonder why they've been designated unsuitable. Likewise, I've raised heifers from calves for the past five years. Until the first of them were two years old, I worked with the adage that you can "punish a cow, but gentle a heifer" because if you slap or shout at a heifer for misbehaviour while training her for milking I knew you could spoil her temperament for months or even years after. Those two year olds, and every line of heifers since, has completely bucked that trend. Getting them to stand still in that stoopid herringbone - I could climb all over them, haul them around, chase the whole row back in when the end heifer turfed the holding bar aside and walked out - and they'd never fuss or hold-up their milk after the aggro. I know other farmers who sent placid calves out to graze and the grazier returned heifers a year later that jumped everything (in one case, it was rotational grazing with electric fences that caused the problems. Instead of winding up the poly-wire fence or moving it aside to feed the heifers the grazier would drop the fence to the ground and expect the animals to jump/walk over it.) I suspect there's been a much higher selection emphasis on docility in dairy breeds than beef breeds. [/QUOTE]
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