My cows are bullies!

[glacierridge]

Actually, come to think of it, that little fart's dam is that way too, at 21 months old, one of the smaller ones in the pasture and 8 months pregnant at the time she was jumping on and roughing up animals 300-400 pounds bigger than her. I was always worried she was going to get hurt or hurt her unborn. Crazy cattle.

 

[jcarkie]

cattle do not go by color, they go by body language and attitude. in the winter all cattle are bullies they are confined and hungry it is the strong that get the most. it is sad but 10 or 100 someone is the bottom and someone will always be on the bottom and everyone wants to make sure they stay there. you will see major power struggles and overthrows around the hay and feed because the pressure is on and if a more dominate cow shows weakness look out some one will seize the moment. I have seen some major battles in winter and change in leadership, I have had to intervene to keep them from hurting each other, but you cannot change the behavior cattle they are rough. that is why you have to handle them properly or you will get hurt I am the boss and they need to remember that, I am not mean to them but I am loud and make them move. calves from dominate cows will be more aggressive they have a different attitude.

 

[inyati13]

cattle do not go by color, they go by body language and attitude. in the winter all cattle are bullies they are confined and hungry it is the strong that get the most. it is sad but 10 or 100 someone is the bottom and someone will always be on the bottom and everyone wants to make sure they stay there. you will see major power struggles and overthrows around the hay and feed because the pressure is on and if a more dominate cow shows weakness look out some one will seize the moment. I have seen some major battles in winter and change in leadership, I have had to intervene to keep them from hurting each other, but you cannot change the behavior cattle they are rough. that is why you have to handle them properly or you will get hurt I am the boss and they need to remember that, I am not mean to them but I am loud and make them move. calves from dominate cows will be more aggressive they have a different attitude.

Interesting subject, I have seen the same thing. You mention body language. Let me ask everyone if they have observed a position or posture that the dominant cow assumes where she lowers her head and arches her neck. Her eyes become wide and she arches her back some and projects a threatening attitude. I have seen it when a high ranking cow is released back into the herd. I have even had a cow assume this behavior when I approach. I am very easy with my cows but I am loud with them when I want a change in behavior. I know I take risks and probably seriously need to change some of my habits before I am hurt.

 

[glacierridge]

Oh scary. I don't think we've had any cows show any signs of dominance to us. They can fight amongst themselves all they want, but any that exhibit any aggression with people quickly meet the knife. I guess you could say we breed for docility that way...
My little cow who's a top dog is pretty easy going with us, even my nephews.

 

[Nite Hawk]

I think a certain amount of extreme dominance is hereditary, and some may be learned. An extremely aggressive, dominate cow can pass on to her calves both her inbred attitude, but they also learn by watching mama cow push others around.
Have had some aggressive, dominate heifers around. Some were aggressive towards other cattle but fine with people, and some were not fine with people and you could never totally trust them when you were simply walking though the field, and had to keep half an eye on them.
Some cattle are "bluffers" will come stomping your way, but a wave of the arms and a bellow at them will send them scooting off, and you need to know which cattle are bluffers and which are serious.
Talking about pushy cattle, had a Semmental heifer put the run a full grown cow moose.
Saw the heifer flip her tail in the air and take off full charge at the cow moose who was about twice her size. The moose believed it and sailed over the barb wire fence catching the top wire in the process, could hear it sing an twang. She took off and never slowed down.
If you know anything about moose, sometimes they can be real aggressive and nasty especially in the winter when they are hungry and want that hay stack for their own, so I was very surprised to see that moose split for high country.
Had a different heifer, ( another Semmental) who was very aggressive and dominate, try to put the run on a very angry black bear who was beating the ground with his front feet and popping his jaws and foaming. She wanted to run at him even though he was on the other side of the fence! Not too smart. She was possibly saved by her greed, someone came out and shook a bucket of grain, and she forgot about chasing the bear.
I do believe that a certain amount of pushiness can be bred out by selecting for docility, and know of ranchers who have selected for years for calm cattle, and anything that "flicks an ear" gets shipped, and they do have calm cattle in general.
There will still be a pecking order and some pushing, but not the insane constant bashing that some cattle engage in.