Should i ship her?

Help Support CattleToday:

Black and Good

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 27, 2011
Messages
1,568
Reaction score
1
Location
Eastern Kansas
Yesterday I hauled my heavy bred heifers home from the pasture they were in. But, one of them had calved a few days earlier and didn't want to come into the corral with others so I just left her there. Then I went and got my weaned heifers and brought them to the pasture where the breds were to be bred in the spring. I had decided to just leave that pair there with the weaned heifers so she'd get some feed. Anyway, as soon as I dumped in the coming yearling heifers the oldest one started nursing on that cow. The cow tried to fight her off but was losing the battle. :bang: This heifer that's trying to nurse turn a year today 1/24/16 and has been weaned since 10/1/16. I was able to catch the pair this morning and get them out. My question is this should I shipped the robber? She's a Reg. Balancer out of a first calf heifer.
Thanks B&G
 
Separating them might work, but I'd definitely keep an eye on her. Last year I had a couple of 2-year-olds that started nursing each other after I weaned their calves. They'd stand side-by-side and both nurse at the same time. I moved one of them, and that seems to have stopped it.
 
I know I replied to this thread earlier.. But here I go again.

Throw a spiked nose ring in her, and keep her away from anything with an udder for a while. Once grass comes on she should be more interested in keeping her nose to the ground than on a teat. If not, she'll be bred and ready to go.
 
Supa Dexta":1r6xbrq9 said:
I know I replied to this thread earlier.. But here I go again.

Throw a spiked nose ring in her, and keep her away from anything with an udder for a while. Once grass comes on she should be more interested in keeping her nose to the ground than on a teat. If not, she'll be bred and ready to go.
Exactly. These work well and are inexpensive. https://www.enasco.com/product/C00448N
 
If prices were better I would say ship her but with these prices you might as well toss a spiked nose ring in her and let her get kicked a few times. Unless you have better prices there than here.
 
I pulled the pair out of there this morning. She won't see an utter till around this time next year. Unless, I loose that pasture which might be happening cause of divorce. :roll:
B&G
 
Like TT, my experience has been that they will always steal.

I'm thinking along similar lines as BestoutWest. Seeing that you have removed the cow w/calf, I'd hang on to her for a while and sell as bred, get more money for her.
 
It seems like every time I see a thread about shipping a bovine, my answer is always the same. With a whole world full of cattle that don't keep sucking as adults, why keep her? The only questions seems to be when to ship.
 
You might want to watch her closely as they will also try to suck immature udders. There have been several cases of mastitis in dairy heifers caused by a heifer that was sucking other heifers even with them not having an udder. If she was mine she would get a nose ring w spikes, and the next time I saw prices looking up a bit she would be gone. Have seen too many do it and although there are no claims to being genetic, it does seem to run in families.
 
farmerjan":i05p05rn said:
You might want to watch her closely as they will also try to suck immature udders. There have been several cases of mastitis in dairy heifers caused by a heifer that was sucking other heifers even with them not having an udder. If she was mine she would get a nose ring w spikes, and the next time I saw prices looking up a bit she would be gone. Have seen too many do it and although there are no claims to being genetic, it does seem to run in families.

Good point jan, I've never seen her do this till she was turn out with this pair. She never stole from others cows when she was little either to my knowledge. B&G
 
I would seperate her and likely she will stop. I've seen it before and usually as they mature they quit.
 
farmerjan":20k65ce1 said:
You might want to watch her closely as they will also try to suck immature udders. There have been several cases of mastitis in dairy heifers caused by a heifer that was sucking other heifers even with them not having an udder. If she was mine she would get a nose ring w spikes, and the next time I saw prices looking up a bit she would be gone. Have seen too many do it and although there are no claims to being genetic, it does seem to run in families.

I lost two beef heifers to sucking induced mastitis.
 
If she is in heat, all the more reason to ship her now. If she is going to have issues everytime her hormones get going.....then she is just going to be a problem. If the spiked nose ring doesn't cure her, then it's time she is on her way to a big mac attack.....Ought to be a nice young baby beef in your freezer.
The sucking induced mastitis sometimes doesn't even show up until the heifer that has been sucked, starts to bag up, then she has an enlarged quarter, or a hard quarter, or worst case, she calves and comes in as a 2 or even only a 1 teat animal. If she was mine, she'd be gone. And I would not wait to get her bred, I would not do that to someone else. Sometimes a complete change of scenery will change their minds, but....
 

Latest posts

Top