Strange cow behaviour - tail up and run

[sunnyblueskies]

Strangest thing ever. Maybe you can shoot me some ideas.

We started calving last week. Temps are still freezing at night time, slightly above freezing during the day.
This older cow, not new to the herd and nowhere near to her having her calf, is exhibiting some strange behaviour.

During the day she is fine, not fighting with anybody, lounging and wandering around. Nothing strange.

We feed late in the afternoon, at about 5pm, hay is rolled out in the calving pasture (size is about 9 acres for 85 cows), greenfeed every other day, free choice 2:1 mineral, free choice salt, fresh water........ nothing in feed has changed during the last few months.

Yesterday hay was rolled out, same hay as usual, she started to eat, just like everybody else, but maybe 15 minutes in her tail went straight up in the air and she started running across the field as if something is chasing her, all by herself, everybody else kept eating. She is not walking, she is running. Zig zag through the pasture, tail straight up, if she stops she starts to throw dirt and tries to kick her belly. She ultimately came back to the feed after 20 minutes or so, but didn't take long and tail went up and off she took running.

Throughout today she was fine again, as if nothing happened. Cows were fed at the usual tim , same thing happened, but it didn't take as long as yesterday for her to start running. Same behaviour, tail up, run around like an idiot. Today she did not return to the feed, just stood in the middle of the field by herself.
Like what the heck? No visible sign of illness, no other cows fighting her and pushing her away, no diarrhea, no bloating. Not warm enough for bugs to be out......what gives?

 

[gcreekrch]

We had a cow do that several calving seasons, never did figure out what flew up her a$$ but after she calved she quit putting on a show. Never knew what it was.

 

[Ky hills]

Do you notice any raised bumps or knots on her?
There is some kind of larvae I think it's botfly, the old timers here called them wolves. They make their way through the host animal and come out those raised knot places.
It causes pain for the animal and they react by throwing up their tails and running like that. It happens this time of year.
I don't know that that's what it is but I would suspect that from what you describe.

 

[moses388]

I have seen a cow do the same thing. The baby inside her is kicking?

 

[farmerjan]

Called Warble Flys, ... if you find some lumps where the larvae (grub) has come to the surface below the skin... then that is what it is... cycle is about a year from first egg laying to the grub falling off the cow into the ground and then pupates and hatches... But this is early in the year for them... Especially for you in the further north...
Don't know other than when starting to eat, it causes the cramping for the calf as far as competing for "room " in there ????

 

[mwj]

Hardware? Also she could have a mouth or tongue problem causing pain when she eats. If she only does this when eating I would check her mouth for a foreign object.

 

[sunnyblueskies]

Do you notice any raised bumps or knots on her?
There is some kind of larvae I think it's botfly, the old timers here called them wolves. They make their way through the host animal and come out those raised knot places.
It causes pain for the animal and they react by throwing up their tails and running like that. It happens this time of year.
I don't know that that's what it is but I would suspect that from what you describe.

No, haven't noticed any bumps or anything like that, unless it's on the inside of her back legs where you can't see unless close up.
Would now be the time for larvae to break through? Still too cold for bugs really.
Hardware - hmmm, good thought too. Don't think it would be in the mouth, she's not slobbering and wouldn't kick her belly if it would be in the mouth.

We'll see what she does today.

 

[sunnyblueskies]

We had a cow do that several calving seasons, never did figure out what flew up her a$$ but after she calved she quit putting on a show. Never knew what it was.

LOL thanks for letting me know I'm not the only one with crazy critters. =D

 

[Ouachita]

Same thing this past weekend. Saw one lone cow out away from the herd (as in over a quarter mile and out of site). Went to check on her because she is due, but not for a couple more weeks. As soon as got within 100 yards, she bolted, tail in air, galloping like a horse. She jumped a cross-fence and hit the woods. She would occassionally stop, look left and right as if she was frantically searching for or running from something. Never heard her moo or bawl.
I had to take the long way around the fence and never caught up with her. Within 20-30 minutes, all cows were accounted for back with the herd acting normal. I'm not even certain it was the one I suspect. Never seen anything like it.

 

[TCRanch]

Only time I've had a cow exhibit similar behavior, she had anaplasmosis. But by the time they go bat shyt crazy, they usually drop dead.

 

[greybeard]

Warble flies-heel flies-grubs-wolves, all the same thing. Warble is the name given to the bumb and hole in the cowhide, thus also given to the fly that causes it. A few, this time of year would be hard to see on cattle that still have a thick winter hair coat. Back in the '60s, they were real bad down here and I still saw a few in the 90s but I never knew the host cows of adult grubs(the larvae) to act like what Sunnyblueskies said.

KyHills, the bumps are indeed the grubs after they have moved thru the cow's body (which is why you don't treat for them certain times of year, dependant on your location,) but they don't just eat holes in the hide to emerge. By the time they get up on the cow's back, the grubs are air breathers and chew a little hole so they can breathe air.

There are different types. The common or southern heel fly and the northern heel/warble fly.
The southern fly is smaller and often lands right on the cow's legs. It's from Northern Old Mexico even up to Canada. But Canada has their own fly too. The Northern warble fly.

But, the adult northern warble/heel flies are pretty big, look kinda like a little bumblebee and buzz like the dickens because of how fast their wings have to flap to keep them airborne. They don't bite the cows and don't usually even land on the cows but land on the ground near the cows, walk over to the cow's legs and lay their eggs on hairs on the cow's lower legs. It's that awful buzzing noise that makes the cow take off running. They assume (I suppose) that they are about to get stung by a big bee or bumblee.

 

[greybeard]

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN979

The adult northern cattle grub lays its eggs in the same areas, such as the legs and belly, but this species lays its eggs individually, one per hair, and often on non-resting hosts (Figure 4). Unlike the adults of the common cattle grub, the females of the northern cattle grub persistently pursue fleeing animals, laying eggs while the animal is running. Although the laying of the eggs is painless for the cattle, the fast-moving flies with their bee-like coloration and buzzing sounds cause panic and the cattle run frantically across the pastures, kicking in a vain attempt to deter the flies. In both species the eggs are a narrowed oval shape, about 1 mm long, and smooth with a dull yellow color.

 

[sunnyblueskies]

But, the adult northern warble/heel flies are pretty big, look kinda like a little bumblebee and buzz like the dickens because of how fast their wings have to flap to keep them airborne. They don't bite the cows and don't usually even land on the cows but land on the ground near the cows, walk over to the cow's legs and lay their eggs on hairs on the cow's lower legs. It's that awful buzzing noise that makes the cow take off running. They assume (I suppose) that they are about to get stung by a big bee or bumblee.

I can see why a cow would suddenly run with her tail up if she would be stung in the heels. The temps here are not warm enough yet for any flying insects. No buzzing insects.
Interesting nonetheless.

 

[gcreekrch]

I can see why a cow would suddenly run with her tail up if she would be stung in the heels. The temps here are not warm enough yet for any flying insects. No buzzing insects.
Interesting nonetheless.

Here either and we have no heel flies here.

 

[Ouachita]

We had 8.5" of rain between Thursday and Saturday. It was still raining when my cow did the herky-jerky gallop.

When I last saw her, she had ran into the woods in the creek bottom. It's normally a small creek, except during floods like this, and when flooding it has several overflow channels that fill up and flow as well. This creates a lot of little "islands". I was concerned that maybe she had calved and had it hidden down there and lost it; maybe the calf moved due to rising water, or maybe swept downstream or worse?

After all cows were accounted for, and judging from her bag and south end I do not believe she had a calf yet.
But there's always that doubt, so I spent the next few hours in full rain gear walking through that flooded creek bottom thicket which splits my place in half. A half mile one direction and back in the opposite sure seemed like 10 miles when I was done.

It was such odd behavior that I've never seen. It is also the first time that I'm aware of, that one of mine has jumped (and cleared) a fence. I didn't see it happen, but there's no way she could have walked through the water gap with the creek up. At least not without holding her nose underwater, and I didn't find any broken wires.

 

[sunnyblueskies]

It was such odd behavior that I've never seen. It is also the first time that I'm aware of, that one of mine has jumped (and cleared) a fence. I didn't see it happen, but there's no way she could have walked through the water gap with the creek up. At least not without holding her nose underwater, and I didn't find any broken wires.

The things we do when we get that nagging gut feeling 'something isn't right'. I'm glad you didn't find a dead calf somewhere in the water.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Warble flies. Aren't those the ones where you have a kid or a friend from town and call them over. Hey. Look at this lump on this cow. Looks like there's a little hole hole. They come over to take a look, then a closer look. You squeeze the lump the larva pops out and hits them in the face. Ask me how I know.

 

[sunnyblueskies]

Ask me how I know.

Why however would you know? Now you have to tell us the story.

 

[sunnyblueskies]

As for the cow. She ate yesterday just fine. Sat beside her to observe. Kicked her belly, she did, not me. No bugs, no calf doing yoga or the splits........ it will end up a mystery.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I was not the victim of the warble fly larvae prank, I was a horrified witness. But after that I never fell for it.

'The mystery' Didn't MurrysMutts have a saying A cow's gonna do what a cow's gonna do? Who knows what goes on in the bovine mind?