oh crap

[donnaIL]

I am sorry for your loss. The saying, if you got them your gonna lose them, is true, but we never want to lose them. Being you bottled him and then tried to save him makes it worse. Take the experience and learn from it & hope that its never repeated. donna

 

[msscamp]

The holstein calf I raised on the bottle, is down. To no fault of his own. The cows for some odd reason tried to kill him yesterday. I cant git him up by myself. I dont know if i can try to pick him up with the tractor without hurting him. I cant tell if anything is broke. We are in the middle of a bad snow storm. Its slacked off for now. I got him covered in tarp till I can figure out how in the heck am I gonna git him up by myself. He is almost a year old and he weighs bout 500 pounds. I have straps that i use to tie down hay, was wondering if i can make a makeshift thing to put around him and lift him up with the tractor? I have a bucket but I dont want to roll him in case he does have something broken. I dont think I can roll him by myself if that is ok to do. Alright im in a bind. Any ideas? :help:

I'm sorry your calf died, and I don't mean to kick you when you're down, but why would you put a yearling bottle calf in with a bunch of cows?

 

[angie1]

I don't mean to kick you when you're down, but why would you put a yearling bottle calf in with a bunch of cows?

I have done this as well ~ often and successfully. What are the concerns with this arrangement?

 

[msscamp]

I don't mean to kick you when you're down, but why would you put a yearling bottle calf in with a bunch of cows?

I have done this as well ~ often and successfully. What are the concerns with this arrangement?

The main one is that a yearling calf - especially a bottle calf - cannot compete with mature cows for feed. There is also the concern that the yearling will be injured by the adults, as syork has unfortunately discovered. Think like a cow.

 

[angie1]

The main one is that a yearling calf - especially a bottle calf - cannot compete with mature cows for feed. There is also the concern that the yearling will be injured by the adults, as syork has unfortunately discovered. Think like a cow.

I think the attack and the subsequent injury are isolated and rare incidents ~ I have never had, nor even heard of, issues with this. I have heard of cattle being struck by lightening during a storm gathered under a tree on several occassions ~ yet I do not go out and put them in the barn during a storm. As Joy pointed out, it can happen to a young calf in a herd with its mom, and yet it is no more of a viable option to seperate each cow/calf pair into their own pasture to prevent a freak accident.

I have, as do others on here, put my bottle babies in with the cow/calf pairs very young ~ and they come in 2 or 3 times a day for their bottle, in over night for grain and back out with the herd in the morning. If he was a pet as opposed to a feed steer, it would make complete sense to me to put him in with the cows, but I hear what you are saying.

 

[msscamp]

The main one is that a yearling calf - especially a bottle calf - cannot compete with mature cows for feed. There is also the concern that the yearling will be injured by the adults, as syork has unfortunately discovered. Think like a cow.

I think the attack and the subsequent injury are isolated and rare incidents ~ I have never had, nor even heard of, issues with this.

I do not agree. I have heard of, as well as seen, this type of injury when younger animals are put into a herd of mature animals. I've seen mature cows take a dislike to a 2 year old heifer and knock the living daylights out of her, how could a yearling defend himself/herself against that kind of aggression?

I have, as do others on here, put my bottle babies in with the cow/calf pairs very young ~ and they come in 2 or 3 times a day for their bottle, in over night for grain and back out with the herd in the morning. If he was a pet as opposed to a feed steer, it would make complete sense to me to put him in with the cows, but I hear what you are saying.

I don't understand why you would be more willing to put a pet bottle calf into the main herd. Because he/she is a pet, he/she would have a higher dependancy on people, have a much lower understanding of herd dynamics and, therefore, be more likely to get hurt. Please explain? Thanks.

 

[hillsdown]

Stormy and Maggie are in with the rest of the herd ( as I have limited space this year so all of my heifers are with the dry cows),both were bottle babies ...The only draw back is that both are extremely feisty. Stormy can take on a 2 year old and win :cowboy: and Maggie will wedge herself in between two cows and make them move to get at the hay,,........I do not have to worry about them at all ,,,the other cows maybe.. :lol:

Yep I raised my girls to be independent.. :cowboy:

 

[hillsdown]

Msscamp you are right on that perspective,,to this day all my bottle calves still know their name and come to me when they are called..It is a bond between myself and them and they will always remember that as will I..

 

[angie1]

I don't understand why you would be more willing to put a pet bottle calf into the main herd. Because he/she is a pet, he/she would have a higher dependancy on people, have a much lower understanding of herd dynamics and, therefore, be more likely to get hurt. Please explain? Thanks.

I say I would put a pet in as opposed to a feeder steer because feeder steers have different nutritional needs than cows and "pet steers" ~ namely feed. My bottle calves are never raised in isolation from other calves or even, if I can help it, the herd itself ~ so they are aware of the dynamics. If I were to buy yearling heifers as replacements, which I have done plenty of, they would be and are integrated into the herd at purchase. They learn the dynamics, and make a place for themselves in the herd. The older cows push and shove, but I have never had them so much as injure a younger animal, nor have I heard of it happening. This is my experience, which is obviously different than yours. I don't think syork could have anticipated this reaction from his/her cows. I hope that explains my position.

 

[Keren]

I have raised bottle babies from day 1 in the herd with all the other cows and calves. Never had the cows even injure them slightly. From what syork said, he'd been living with them quite happily for a while, then all of a sudden they turned. Cant say why.

So sorry for your loss :frowns:

 

[syork]

I have raised bottle babies from day 1 in the herd with all the other cows and calves. Never had the cows even injure them slightly. From what syork said, he'd been living with them quite happily for a while, then all of a sudden they turned. Cant say why.

So sorry for your loss :frowns:

You hit the nail on the nose. I have been raising bottle babies since I was 10 years old. I have always when I was young with dads permission put the calves in with the herd. When I got older I never had no problems with anyone attacking anyone. I had a bottle fed bull calf one time he was a angus brahma cross and I swear he was bully. He was about 600 pounds he was still pretty young i know he wasnt a yearlin yet. One time I called cows to feed and the crazy thing was pushing shoving snorting causing all sorts of ruckus. I had to laugh. He wasnt letting noone run over him. I never had a problem out of my holsteins I raised either. This one that died was very different from my other bottle babies.

He didnt want to be in the herd. He just went off by himself. I guess cause when he first came here there were only two heifers on the place. I have anthor farm I put all the main cows on. He never did want to be with the cows. He was kind of a loner. They left him alone. It was more like you stay on your side of the fence I stay on mine. I didnt have to worry bout them. Then the other day I was out feeding and they wouldnt come to hay. I looked for them and there they was all of them had their head down and just ramming him. I never in my all born days seen anything like it. They had him in a corner and was just intent on doing away with him.

 

[cowman30]

I have raised bottle babies from day 1 in the herd with all the other cows and calves. Never had the cows even injure them slightly. From what syork said, he'd been living with them quite happily for a while, then all of a sudden they turned. Cant say why.

So sorry for your loss :frowns:

You hit the nail on the nose. I have been raising bottle babies since I was 10 years old. I have always when I was young with dads permission put the calves in with the herd. When I got older I never had no problems with anyone attacking anyone. I had a bottle fed bull calf one time he was a angus brahma cross and I swear he was bully. He was about 600 pounds he was still pretty young i know he wasnt a yearlin yet. One time I called cows to feed and the crazy thing was pushing shoving snorting causing all sorts of ruckus. I had to laugh. He wasnt letting noone run over him. I never had a problem out of my holsteins I raised either. This one that died was very different from my other bottle babies.

He didnt want to be in the herd. He just went off by himself. I guess cause when he first came here there were only two heifers on the place. I have anthor farm I put all the main cows on. He never did want to be with the cows. He was kind of a loner. They left him alone. It was more like you stay on your side of the fence I stay on mine. I didnt have to worry bout them. Then the other day I was out feeding and they wouldnt come to hay. I looked for them and there they was all of them had their head down and just ramming him. I never in my all born days seen anything like it. They had him in a corner and was just intent on doing away with him.

Again it is pecking order. If you have never seen them work out a pecking order then you have not been around cows as long as you say.

 

[syork]

I have raised bottle babies from day 1 in the herd with all the other cows and calves. Never had the cows even injure them slightly. From what syork said, he'd been living with them quite happily for a while, then all of a sudden they turned. Cant say why.

So sorry for your loss :frowns:

You hit the nail on the nose. I have been raising bottle babies since I was 10 years old. I have always when I was young with dads permission put the calves in with the herd. When I got older I never had no problems with anyone attacking anyone. I had a bottle fed bull calf one time he was a angus brahma cross and I swear he was bully. He was about 600 pounds he was still pretty young i know he wasnt a yearlin yet. One time I called cows to feed and the crazy thing was pushing shoving snorting causing all sorts of ruckus. I had to laugh. He wasnt letting noone run over him. I never had a problem out of my holsteins I raised either. This one that died was very different from my other bottle babies.

He didnt want to be in the herd. He just went off by himself. I guess cause when he first came here there were only two heifers on the place. I have anthor farm I put all the main cows on. He never did want to be with the cows. He was kind of a loner. They left him alone. It was more like you stay on your side of the fence I stay on mine. I didnt have to worry bout them. Then the other day I was out feeding and they wouldnt come to hay. I looked for them and there they was all of them had their head down and just ramming him. I never in my all born days seen anything like it. They had him in a corner and was just intent on doing away with him.

Again it is pecking order. If you have never seen them work out a pecking order then you have not been around cows as long as you say.

Yes i have seen them work out a pecking order. Yes I have been around cows and worked with them for 20 years. Yes I have seen cows ram other cows and caused them to lose their babies. I have been around cows enough to know how they work out their pecking order. The point I was tryin to make was I never seen them pick on a calf like they did what they was doing was not trying to work out a pecking order. They did it to kill him and they did.

 

[hayray]

Wow, sorry to hear about that, how tragic. I have never had anything like that happen before, would have been tough to watch. Nice picture by the way on the Coffee shop page, who is that with you?

 

[cowman30]

Survival of the fittest. If you raise livestock you will have dead stock. Sorry for ya loss. I lost one yesterday myself.

 

[ctlbaron]

Why wouldn't you let them run together? I've never had a problem with it either. If the cows can get a sniff of them through the fence as they grow theres not a problem with it. I think some people spend too much time and energy sorting the herd. All the baldys with one black eye patch over here, two black eye patches over there. Cattle don't usually tussle more than a few seconds working out the pecking order. I've seen horses go at it pretty good but not cows. Maybe bulls.