My new baby, Molly

[Lannie]

After further reflection, I have decided I'm DONE pussyfooting around her and her silly head-shyness routine. She knows I'm not going to hurt her. This is some sort of twisted cow game she's playing, and I've been her unwitting playing partner. So as of today, school is in session! It's about to be My Way or the Highway!

There will be no treats in the morning until she's gone in the stall, let me tie her up (and if I have to use the rope on her horns for a few days, so be it), and touch her freaking FACE for five minutes. I might as well spray her for flies then, too, and get all the "bad" stuff done at once. Then, and only then, after she's been standing like a good girl for a little bit, will I let her out to eat her pellet treats. Eventually, I'll make her walk on a lead around to the pellets after her stall lesson. That one might take a few days, but that's my first short-term goal with her. Once we get that one handled, I'll think of another one.

She's such a great cow, except for the head thing. So, wish me luck! LOL!

 

[MurraysMutts]

After further reflection, I have decided I'm DONE pussyfooting around her and her silly head-shyness routine. She knows I'm not going to hurt her. This is some sort of twisted cow game she's playing, and I've been her unwitting playing partner. So as of today, school is in session! It's about to be My Way or the Highway!

There will be no treats in the morning until she's gone in the stall, let me tie her up (and if I have to use the rope on her horns for a few days, so be it), and touch her freaking FACE for five minutes. I might as well spray her for flies then, too, and get all the "bad" stuff done at once. Then, and only then, after she's been standing like a good girl for a little bit, will I let her out to eat her pellet treats. Eventually, I'll make her walk on a lead around to the pellets after her stall lesson. That one might take a few days, but that's my first short-term goal with her. Once we get that one handled, I'll think of another one.

She's such a great cow, except for the head thing. So, wish me luck! LOL!

Good luck gal!!

I'm about to start working with Opal soon too. But I may give it a lil while. It's so hot here!!
For her sake and mine.

She leads pretty good here at home.
When we went to preg check she was a bit spooky. (Always is in strange new places and around new people) and she got away from me. I hope that didn't give her any ideas.

 

[Lannie]

Well, my Brilliant Plan sort of backfired on me. It's very hot today, and because it's so hot, there's no breeze at all, and all the animals (cows, horses, humans) are sweaty and covered in flies. I blocked off the stanchion when I called Molly in for her treats, thinking I'd just run her straight into the stall in front of the stanchion, but she was having none of that nonsense. Her food was in THERE, and she wanted in THERE, and nothing I said or did was about to convince her otherwise. I tried to spray the flies off her, thinking less flies would mean less spinning and bucking (she really had a lot of flies on her), but she suddenly decided the fly spray was POISON and I was really trying to kill her after all.

I was getting nowhere, and she was getting more and more agitated, and we were both getting cranky by that point, so I said to hell with it and put her pellets in the stall. I figured she'd go right in, and I'd follow her in and rope her. Not so. She wasn't going in that stall until I was GONE, and I finally had to go sit in the stanchion, totally out of her sight, before she'd go in - and then she went RIGHT in. She is such a typical teenage girl. Tantrums and all. So our "lesson" today was eating in the stall. I guess we'll have to do that for a couple of days until she gets it through her head that she should go in there first. Then I'll put my Brilliant Plan into effect. I hope. LOL!

She's such a good girl when things go her way. I just can't understand why she doesn't want to do things MY way. That was sarcasm, by the way...

 

[Lannie]

Well, kind of a funny story... not so funny when it was happening. Molly went into heat last weekend and spent all day Sunday marching up and down the perimeter fence, hollering at the neighbor's cows. She quieted down after sunset and I thought maybe she'd tired herself out, or lost her voice, or whatever. Monday morning, she didn't come in for her treats, but it was hot, and sometimes she prefers to stay holed up under a shady tree than eat pellets, and it was too hot for me to feel like tromping the whole jungly-overgrown property looking for her. Tuesday morning, still no Molly, and now I'm starting to worry, because it was much cooler, so she should have been eager to come in for treats. I sent my husband out on the riding mower to look for her and he spent an hour out there and never saw her.

Turns out (it took a lot of walking and searching), she broke down the six-foot cow-proof high tensile woven wire fence on the east hill, and put herself in with the neighbor's herd, which by some stroke of luck turns out to be the heifer herd, with three low birthweight Black Angus heifer bulls in with them. When I saw the fence, I called the neighbor and she went over on the side-by-side to check, and yup, there was Molly, perfectly safe and sound, and presumably now bred. But, she's now out on 6,000 acres, so getting her back might be a bit of a problem.

Fortunately, our neighbor is a VERY nice lady, and has said Molly can stay with her herd for as long as we need, so we can (hopefully) find someone to fix the fence. Rich (hubby) can't do it with his two bad shoulders, and I've already tried, but I'm not strong enough to pull it back up. It's gonna take a couple of really big guys with muscles, or a tractor or other kind of machinery to pull that fence back up and mend it. And if we can't get her back ourselves, the neighbor said she'd load her up with her cows when she moves them to winter pastures in late September, and just drop her off her on the way. NICE neighbor.

I can't believe how badly Molly mangled that fence. It's been up since we moved here 18-1/2 years ago, and we've had any number of horses and cows in here and NOT ONE of them has so much as dented that fence, much less just smashed it down. She had to have reared up on her hind legs and put her front feet up to reach high enough. I kinda wish I'd seen it, to be honest. And not just the one span between posts, either, she "ruffled" NINE spans before she got the one in the middle to come down far enough to jump over. I'll try to get a picture later. We have to go out and make some measurements so we know what we're dealing with.

These days are some of the ones that I swear, I'd really like to be done with cows. I love my girls, and I really love the milk and dairy products, but dang, all they ever do is BREAK stuff. And now I'm looking at an April calf, instead of a September or October calf, which is what I wanted. Oh, well, I'll just have to deal with it. Hey, if she's pregnant, maybe she'll "settle" down a bit and not act like a rabid donkey all the time. Ya think?

 

[MurraysMutts]

So she's turned into a rhinoceros huh?

Well, won't have to worry about breeding now I reckon.
U can always extend her first lactation and hold her for a fall calf next go round!

Shes really gonna miss her cookies here pretty soon. I look for her to find her way back all on her own...

Opal is trained to my whistling. I've been whistling her and the butcher heifer every time I feed. And I'll tell you what! It's amazing. They can be ANYWHERE and all I gotta do is whistle and here they come. It's great because my other cows ain't got a clue. I always yell at them, "C'mon girls! Come!"

But with the whistle I can get just those two

 

[Lannie]

She might miss her cookies, but not enough to leave all her new friends. And let's not forget, she's on 6,000 acres now, compared to our measly little 15, so calling her would only work if she was within a few hundred feet, and whether she decides to "hear" me or not is debatable. But those cows travel all day long... the chances are slim that I'd happen to see her when I went over there. I'm just planning on leaving her there until the neighbor moves her cows and can drop her off.

We went out and measured the damaged fence yesterday morning, and it's 10 feet between posts, not 15 (hey a man taught me how to measure, you know the joke... LOL!), so it's only 100 feet total that's damaged, but only maybe 20 or 30 that needs anything more than re-wiring some broken bits along the top. So the plan is to get some cattle panels and wire them up to the posts so the tops are level with the top of the existing fence. Those will stay a lot straighter and we won't have to worry about pulling them tight, AND they're lighter than a huge hundred foot roll of woven wire fence. Us two old broken down farts would never be able to get a roll of fence that big over to the other side of the 3-foot-tall pasture anyway. The cattle panels we can carry easily. So that's the plan. Much better than trying to cut out the bad fence and put up new in its place, with any kind of hope that it would be tight and secure. We'll just slap the cattle panels over the bad parts and call it good.

I looked at the gestation calendar and Molly's due date should be May 2nd-ish, which is OK, I guess, but her calf will be getting to be 6 months old right at the start of cold/bad weather, and I calf-share, so I lock the calf up at night and milk in the morning, leaving the two of them together all day. It's gonna be kind of hard keeping a 6+ month old calf locked up in a stall in the barn overnight if he or she really wants out. I usually wean my calves at 6 months and put them over with the horse until we can sell them, but that's going to mean I have no one to milk for me if there's a blizzard or the temp drops below -10F (that's my lower limit for milking).

Forgive me for thinking out loud for a minute. If it's a steer calf, I could just not milk over the winter, and leave them together, then separate/sell the steer in the spring and pick up milking whatever she has left until it's time to dry her off. If she hasn't already dried herself off. And if it's a heifer calf, which I'll be keeping, I guess I'll have to wean at 6 or 7 months and just dry Molly off for the winter. I'll have her bred again by then anyway, and I suppose we can live on store-bought milk, or milk from the neighbor if she has extra, until her next calving.

It'll all work out. It just wasn't my Plan A. Kinda the story of my life lately. I used to hate Plan B, but sometimes it works out just fine.

 

[Lannie]

I was going to say, if I still had a good horse and the knees to get on him, oh, and any kind of roping skills at all, I'd ride out and find her, rope her, and drag her naughty self back home. But I don't have the horse, or the knees, or the roping skill, so I'm letting the neighbor use her horses, her catch pens, and her nice big trailer instead. I'm hitting the Easy Button on this one.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Missing her yet??

 

[Travlr]

.

 

[pleasantpasturesbeef]

Somehow I missed the part of the story where she ran away and got bred. Just read over that tonight.

Actually makes me jealous, cause I had calves getting out, but they were goin over to the horse farm across the street. Meanwhile I've been tryin to catch my mama's coming in to heat, but I'm only there once a week, so it's kinda frustrating. Too bad my neighbors don't have a bull…I don't think the horses would do a very good job… Fence is fixed anywho, and I'm happy there are no more motorists stopping at night saying they almost hit my steer!

 

[farmerjan]

@pleasantpasturesbeef ... if you want to catch her in heat then get the shots from the vet and synchronize her so you can get her in heat when you want her and get her AI bred if that is your plan. Do you use heat patches to at least get an idea of when they are riding?

 

[farmerjan]

@Lannie just been reading up on "miss Molly" and her getting out with the neighbors cattle and the bull.... The bull may very well have done some of the damage if she was in heat and sidling up to the fence with him on the other side. Then she might have just followed him over if he got in your field first. Doesn't negate the damage, but might explain why there were several sections.
No reason to not let the heifer (if she has one and not a bull/steer) stay on her longer also so that she can take care of the milking if the weather gets too fierce. She ought to be dropping off in production anyway, so she might get a little more roly-poly with the milk for so long, but it won't kill her... And you can milk as much as you can as long as the weather cooperates.

 

[Lannie]

I've been missing her since the day she got out, but I've been getting periodic reports from the neighbor when she rides through checking the herd.

The good news is the fence on the east side that she squashed is now repaired (we put cattle panels up to cover the damaged fence sections, all hog-ringed and wired securely), and we're halfway down the 370-foot length of barbed wire road fence with more cattle panels (these things cost more than my new couch, which I am AGAIN not getting...). We were going to finish it today, but yesterday the hot water heater blew its guts out and started leaking water all over the basement, so we have a hot water emergency to deal with, which hopefully we can get resolved today and get back to finishing the fence tomorrow.

HOWEVER, when the neighbor loaded up her bulls yesterday, Molly wouldn't go with them and ran the other way. There were only the two of them on horseback, and they couldn't herd a cow that didn't want to go. So now the plan is to call the family down the road that has rodeo cowboy sons (professionals, I mean), and see if one or both of them can come help, with ropes, and maybe catch her.

I hope we can get her back here before she calves. And if she breaks the fence and runs off again, I'm done with her. I don't want a "wild" milk cow anyway. The neighbor can keep her and do whatever she wants with her if she gets back over there. She (the neighbor) has been more than generous with us as it is.

I'm kind of shocked I even said that. Do I really not like her anymore? Or am I still just pissed off? Probably just still pissed off. Geez, all she did was jump a fence to get to a bull, and hasn't EVERY cow done that at some point or another? My other cows never did, so I guess I was just lucky with them, but I hear about cows jumping fences all the time. Maybe when I get her back, she'll be more "settled" (in more ways than one) and I can start bonding with her again. I WOULD really like to have a milk cow, so I can have decent milk, and can make cheese and butter and stuff. I hate buying dairy items at the store.

You think maybe if she has a calf to keep her company, she won't be so motivated to jump the fence again? I'd keep a steer, too, if I have to, in order to keep her home. I'm actually thinking of asking someone around here if they have an extra youngster they'd let me raise for them over the winter. I have plenty of hay, and at least Molly would have more than just a horse for company. Said horse being VERY lonely since his little cow buddy took off, by the way. There's nothing much sadder than a lonely horse. Our "herd" was much happier when there were 3 or 4 members.

 

[Lannie]

Hmm, did I never post the pictures of the fence she smooshed? I thought I did. Anyway, here they are, and there's part of the Wild Blue Yonder she disappeared into...

Looking north:


Looking south:


I don't have pictures of the cattle panels up there, but when the road fence is done, I'll take pictures of all of it. At least the panels on the road frontage are sitting on the ground. The ones on the fence above I had to lift up and hold in place until Rich could tack them in so I could let go. That was tiring work. The road fence is going much faster. (The darker green strip off in the distance is the ditch and hill on the other side of the road.)

Oh, and after I managed to do a walk around of the entire property, I found a whole bunch of places where she'd been testing the fence. It was nothing I couldn't bend back up straight, but she'd been pushing on it here and there for some time. She's a crafty one, and if she ever comes home, I'm gonna have to keep a very close eye on her.

 

[pleasantpasturesbeef]

@pleasantpasturesbeef ... if you want to catch her in heat then get the shots from the vet and synchronize her so you can get her in heat when you want her and get her AI bred if that is your plan. Do you use heat patches to at least get an idea of when they are riding?

@farmerjan I had used heat shots one year, but I never did see her in heat. What would the time window look like after giving the shot that she could come into heat from the shot? I kind of like to stay away from the shots and artificial stuff, but I'm not totally opposed to giving heat shots. I wanted to get the pink tape, but couldn't find it in any farm stores. I guess I should find some online, tho. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[Travlr]

I've been missing her since the day she got out, but I've been getting periodic reports from the neighbor when she rides through checking the herd.

The good news is the fence on the east side that she squashed is now repaired (we put cattle panels up to cover the damaged fence sections, all hog-ringed and wired securely), and we're halfway down the 370-foot length of barbed wire road fence with more cattle panels (these things cost more than my new couch, which I am AGAIN not getting...). We were going to finish it today, but yesterday the hot water heater blew its guts out and started leaking water all over the basement, so we have a hot water emergency to deal with, which hopefully we can get resolved today and get back to finishing the fence tomorrow.

HOWEVER, when the neighbor loaded up her bulls yesterday, Molly wouldn't go with them and ran the other way. There were only the two of them on horseback, and they couldn't herd a cow that didn't want to go. So now the plan is to call the family down the road that has rodeo cowboy sons (professionals, I mean), and see if one or both of them can come help, with ropes, and maybe catch her.

I hope we can get her back here before she calves. And if she breaks the fence and runs off again, I'm done with her. I don't want a "wild" milk cow anyway. The neighbor can keep her and do whatever she wants with her if she gets back over there. She (the neighbor) has been more than generous with us as it is.

I'm kind of shocked I even said that. Do I really not like her anymore? Or am I still just pissed off? Probably just still pissed off. Geez, all she did was jump a fence to get to a bull, and hasn't EVERY cow done that at some point or another? My other cows never did, so I guess I was just lucky with them, but I hear about cows jumping fences all the time. Maybe when I get her back, she'll be more "settled" (in more ways than one) and I can start bonding with her again. I WOULD really like to have a milk cow, so I can have decent milk, and can make cheese and butter and stuff. I hate buying dairy items at the store.

You think maybe if she has a calf to keep her company, she won't be so motivated to jump the fence again? I'd keep a steer, too, if I have to, in order to keep her home. I'm actually thinking of asking someone around here if they have an extra youngster they'd let me raise for them over the winter. I have plenty of hay, and at least Molly would have more than just a horse for company. Said horse being VERY lonely since his little cow buddy took off, by the way. There's nothing much sadder than a lonely horse. Our "herd" was much happier when there were 3 or 4 members.

Wow... when I read all your posts all I'm seeing is someone with a huge heart and infinite patience beating themselves up over a cow that will never be what they want... and continuously making excuses for the POS dangerous animal.

I don't know if you've noticed... but there are a lot of great cows that can be milked without wasting your time trying to negotiate a truce with an animal that is clearly not interested. Give it up and get an animal that you can handle easily. Molly isn't going to work.

 

[MurraysMutts]

I'm with Jan.
Bet the bull had some say in the matter! Especially after seeing fence. A single strand of electric on the inside will keep her away from the big bad dangerous fence!

I don't see the lil heifer being tall enough to put her head over the top of the fence. Bet the bull was doing to that, like they do with cows. Resting his chin on top of the fence "smooshing" it a bit. I have one section on my place the hot wire is on top. Keep any animal from testing the top to get over.

Im sure she's picked up a bad habit or two being with a large herd. Excited to see how it goes when she gets back home...

 

[farmerjan]

One thing, that you may not be understanding with her. Some totally do not want their heads messed with. EVER ... PERIOD END OF DISCUSSION. Does NOT make her a bad cow... If she does not want you to rub her head, just don't. She might be more receptive to being caught by the halter if she is not feeling that you are making her do something she just doesn't want. I have one now... don't touch or rub her head. Neck is okay, she is FINE to take calves, or hand milk.... Just leave her head alone. She goes in the "stanchion/head catch" and is fine... but she will never be one I can lead around or rub and pet on.

Re-reading the posts above, I really have to agree with @Travlr .... get rid of her and find an already in milk, family cow if you really want another cow to milk. She is probably never going to be what you are used to and what you want.
Another thing.... she wanted out partly because she did not think the horse was a good enough companion. She wanted some of her own kind. There are cattle that are just never going to be happy being the lone bovine... I really think she is one of them.
And you never did say what she was a cross with that I remember in the original postings. I am NOT maligning any one breed.... but we have had more trouble with the limousin cross calves than any... there are strains that are very high headed.... and in my experience, more beef animals dislike being alone than dairy animals...
Get an older more docile cow that knows the routine and is willing to be a family cow. Heifers are an unknown... except it is a "known" that she is not happy with her surroundings there....

 

[farmerjan]

@pleasantpasturesbeef ... you need more than just one shot. You need to ask the vet about a protocol for synchronizing her... there is a shot then using a cidr, then pulling it and another shot... if there is someone there that does AI ask them... I do know that Select Sire Power here local has a protocol for synchronizing cattle for "timed AI". Even though it is just one animal, that is probably what you need. Then you will breed her on heat signs and if not observed, then they breed at a certain number of hours and give a shot of GNRH also. I don't have the exact timing in front of me... but a vet or an AI rep can write it down or give you a sheet on the exact timeline...and I think there are 7 and 14 day protocols using different techniques....
I have not used it but once on a couple of cows that we never saw heats on several years ago... I have several dairies that do it frequently so they can get cows in heat at the same time... especially heifers to get them bred to calve in groups....

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I am sorry and don't want to sound unkind, but I am a retired nurse, a Jersey share milker and beef stock woman. Couple too old to take care of horses feet. Has a dangerous wild un halterbroke half beef heifer with horns like daggers. My solution, ask the neighbor to load her up with the ones that go to auction. Use the money to buy a Jersey bottle calf from a dairy, dehorn her properly with paste and raise her right. Get a shoer to come out and trim the horses hooves when needed. Good luck and I feel for your situation.