That one cow that hides her calves

[Rosielou]

Anyone else have her? That one cow that always hides her calves and you can never find them?

This is a first calf heifer. I was originally going to sell her, but I gave her to my grandfather as a Christmas present. She calved the same day as her sister but we could never find a calf!! She was missing for a day and I walked all in those woods and got stuck in thickets so thick it was dark, trying to find her and make sure she had the calf alright. Never found her. The next day she shows up with the rest of the cows, has been nursed, but no calf. I walk the woods and thickets again, but no calf, no sign of calving, nothing. This went on for over a week. I have always been able to find the calves even when the mommas hide them, but not this one. I am not happy to say I think she's going to be that cow. I guess we were due, we haven't had one in a few years.

Needless to say, I was just happy to see it alive today. It's a heifer.

 

[Nesikep]

We had one that was really good at it. The year we had an epidemic of scours, hers didn't get it... she took biosecurity into her own hands (er, hooves?) She'd find some sagebrush somewhere and tuck in under there, in a little gully somewhere.

Sometimes it's not the cow, but the calf that does it... We had one routinely break through the electric fence and hide under an alberta blue spruce right by the house... the mother didn't even know where it was and was getting upset.

Always nice when you find them and all's well though

 

[dun]

We all have them, and year to year they may or may not hide it.

 

[Waterway65]

Our surprise this past year was Atwood year old that went mean. With the new calf she crippled up a friend who was helping me and helped me over the fence. She would circle just inside the herd waiting for a chance to take me. In the mean time another hfr whose calf had been killed started nursing the mean heifers calf to. I penned the mean heifer and took her to the sale barn. I told them she was mean but I don't think they listened. Four guys were coming up the ally being and packing beers. She put them over the fence so fast a couple of them dropped their beers!! Mel

 

[dun]

Our surprise this past year was Atwood year old that went mean. With the new calf she crippled up a friend who was helping me and helped me over the fence. She would circle just inside the herd waiting for a chance to take me. In the mean time another hfr whose calf had been killed started nursing the mean heifers calf to. I penned the mean heifer and took her to the sale barn. I told them she was mean but I don't think they listened. Four guys were coming up the ally being and packing beers. She put them over the fence so fast a couple of them dropped their beers!! Mel

I sold a looney at the salebarn the same way, the jokers didn;t believe she was rank till she cleared the alleyway. The next day at the sale she climbed half way up in the auctineers stand. One of the ring men grabbed her by the tail and jerked her back then she flipped him completely out of the rring (8 foot sides) intp the second row of seats.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

For the first time, we have one of those. But I think it is the calf, and not the cow! The calf has disappeared twice in two days (she was born on Friday). The first day, Saturday, we found her in the horse pasture sleeping under a large American Sycamore, and mom was panicked! Racing the fence line and mooing like crazy. That calf, when woken, broke through two separate hot fence lines, and ran into a 5 strand barbed wire fence before she fell over backwards!!! Today, she was "lost" again. Mom was not as panicked, but was looking for her. We looked everywhere, but could not find her. Went to church, came home several hours later and she was on the other side of the hot wire fence... this calf is CRAZY fast! Never had one like this before, I think she is mental because her dam had her standing up, dropped her on her head!!! She spurts like a deer when she sees people, and NONE of our cattle do that. ALL of them come to us when we go out on pasture, so not sure why this girl is super crazy. I sure hope she settles down, she seems a bit shy on the brains!

 

[shortybreeder]

For the first time, we have one of those. But I think it is the calf, and not the cow! The calf has disappeared twice in two days (she was born on Friday). The first day, Saturday, we found her in the horse pasture sleeping under a large American Sycamore, and mom was panicked! Racing the fence line and mooing like crazy. That calf, when woken, broke through two separate hot fence lines, and ran into a 5 strand barbed wire fence before she fell over backwards!!! Today, she was "lost" again. Mom was not as panicked, but was looking for her. We looked everywhere, but could not find her. Went to church, came home several hours later and she was on the other side of the hot wire fence... this calf is CRAZY fast! Never had one like this before, I think she is mental because her dam had her standing up, dropped her on her head!!! She spurts like a deer when she sees people, and NONE of our cattle do that. ALL of them come to us when we go out on pasture, so not sure why this girl is super crazy. I sure hope she settles down, she seems a bit shy on the brains!

We seem to have two calves like that this year (so far)... Except it's more like your one calf is our two calves combined! :lol: One of the calves is faster than speedy gonzalez, and the other calf goes completely mental when you try to get near her! Her feet are in the air more than they are on the ground it seems... Luckily she's a 3rd generation calving-ease-bred heifer calf so I won't be keeping her!

 

[Rosielou]

So far, we've had a pretty good year so I can't complain much. We had a couple of wild heifer calves but they're simmering down and I figure will get gentle when we wean them. If it is the calf that has been hiding, I'll be glad when he gets the paycheck for it and its gone! I was kind of mad to have worried over her just to find out the sucker had been holed up somewhere that I never found. :?

Our surprise this past year was Atwood year old that went mean. With the new calf she crippled up a friend who was helping me and helped me over the fence. She would circle just inside the herd waiting for a chance to take me. In the mean time another hfr whose calf had been killed started nursing the mean heifers calf to. I penned the mean heifer and took her to the sale barn. I told them she was mean but I don't think they listened. Four guys were coming up the ally being and packing beers. She put them over the fence so fast a couple of them dropped their beers!! Mel

I sold a looney at the salebarn the same way, the jokers didn;t believe she was rank till she cleared the alleyway. The next day at the sale she climbed half way up in the auctineers stand. One of the ring men grabbed her by the tail and jerked her back then she flipped him completely out of the rring (8 foot sides) intp the second row of seats.

One thing I cannot stand is a wild cow!! This heifer is flighty, which is the reason I was going to sell her, combined with the fact that I don't like the way she's built. My grandfather has one cow leftover from when he sold them off, and the sole reason she is still in the pasture is because we can't ever get her up. I think we're going to either have to just tranq her or just put a bullet between her eyes. She can get the whole dang herd running for no reason!!

My first cow, I was really young but my Grandfather and Dad like to tell me this story, calved in our neighbor's hay field and it took them a few hours to find her. When they found her, she came at them and if my dad had not stepped behind a tree, he would've gotten gored by her horns. They said screw it we'll get her out and fix the fence later and left her alone :lol: She has been gone a long time, but the story still makes me laugh because she was so timid.

But I did buy one of those wild, snorting and snotty cows a couple summers ago. She was a 2 yr longhorn x, no horns, and cheap, so I thought what the heck, and while she was trying her best to get the guys in the ring, we bid on her lol. She was eyeing the auctioneer in his stand pretty hard, so they went ahead and let her go. When we unloaded her into the corral she was still snortin mad, and acted like she was going to come at me through the fence. I backed away only to watch her turn and run and crash through the back of the corral. :roll: She was just fine the next day and to this day she is as calm as my others.

 

[cowgirl8]

I have several who hide their calves every year. I have a note by their number reminding me. I hate spending hours searching so when i see that the noted cow has a calf but i dont see it, i know she's a hider and i just look at her udder to see if its been nursed. Sometimes if i cant find a calf and i know the cow calved, i'll stare at her. She will either ignore me, or she'll get nervous. At some point, they will look in the direction the calf is in..lol

 

[Rafter S]

It's typical for most of my cows to hide their calves for a day or two, but I had one years ago that would keep it hidden for a week.

 

[myblackgold]

Yes, We have one of those cows too!!! And it makes me so dang mad. Im obsessive over head counting at least once a day if at all possible and we have a cow that i believe hides her baby just to make me look for it. Then she walks around bawling all day like she is dying :shock: . I searched the farm for hours one day trying to find the baby only to find the little bugger curled up beside the pond bank in swamp grass.

 

[redsimangus]

ya i hate it too but ive gotten use to it cause most of are cows calve on pasture so it aint uncommon for most of them to hide them for the first couple of weeks. We just learned to not even look all we do is make sure the udder has been nursed and if so dont worry about them. Our cows can hide them in bushes and you can walk right past them and never see them :!:

 

[danl]

What gets me aggravated is when the cow acts like it doesn't know where the calf is and follows me over forty acres bawling right in my back pocket. Then after me walking miles and getting covered in ticks, turns around and walks right to it.
The biggest reason I want to see them every day is new calves have a real ability to lay down next to a fence and get up on the wrong side, or just walk thru it. Then can't figure out how to get back.

 

[Bez__]

Pretty much all our cattle do it and we have a lot of heavy bush that they live in.

I am lazy and never search - wait for the cattle to wander off and start eating.

If you have a rough idea where it is go to that general area - lay low behind some bush and bawl real hard and loud like a calf in distress - she will generally run to it - followed by most of the herd if they are a tight group.

If there are ten hidden in the area the cows will all come on the run - so be careful - mine run over everything in their path - literally. They get very aggressive

Works on this place pretty much 100%

Bez__

 

[Rosielou]

This calf has disappeared a bit after I posted this, which was pretty much my fear in the first place. I searched forever trying to find any smell or buzzards but I haven't found a trace of anything. I really hate it because the heifer was my grandfather's christmas present. We have woods in the back part of our pasture that are pretty thick during the summer and some pretty deep creek beds, so I don't know. I followed the creek and looked through thickets, walked on the other side of our fence line to see if the calf had gotten lost in our neighboring pastures. It's really disappointing not to even find the body or anything. I don't know if she was just a bad mother because she was a heifer or if something got the calf, the calf got lost, etc. I guess we will see when she calves next. Just hate that my grandfather lost it. You win some and you lose some I guess Thankfully none of my others hide their calves, I sold the last one that did the other week. Hopefully this calving season my first calvers won't hide their calves. I know the places that the cows usually go to have them at so I will go check them immediately when one calves, though.

We had a cow once for quite a few years that every year she would hide her calf for about a week and we never ever could find her for a couple days and then never the calf. Still no clue where she was and we walked that pasture each year she calved forever, even did like Bez said and would bawl and she would just raise her head up and look around and go back to eating. She ended up having a backwards calf one year and we found her after she died. Not finding the cow or calf is just a fear of mine I guess. I'm a worry wart I only have about 35 head so it is tough to lose one.