To sell or not to sell

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Col Reb

Col Reb

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Not really a calving or breeding question but more of a momma cow/calf issue. I have cow that has jumped the fence into the neighbors empty pasture & had a calf. Just after the calf was born another neighbor's Great Pyrenees dogs tried to attack the calf but the momma cow kept them at bay. I've never had an issue with the cow but now she is quite vigorous. She pawed, snorted & shook her head at me & charged at the neighbor trying to help me get her home. 5 days of unsuccessful attempts of getting her into a panel corral or through the gate back to my pasture. My dad says be thankful she hasn't hurt anyone yet & take her to the sale barn. My wife says she's just traumatized from the attack & is obviously a good momma . Opinions would be appreciated. All of my cows have been fairly docile & I've never had one I couldn't lead with a bucket until now. Heck, I'm a little leery walking in front of her at this point but thinking if I can ever get her back home with the other cows she'll be fine especially when the new wears off the calf. Thoughts?
 
I wouldn't keep her longer than necessary to wean the calf IF she stays home and IF she calms down. She got accosted by the dog after she jumped out of your place. 5 days of trying to get her back is a big waste of time. Next time she may take others and keep leading them away from corrals, gates etc.

The head shaking isn't an issue to me, charging a stranger close to calving could be forgiven under certain circumstances (probably not by me depending how it happened) but making a huge nuisance of herself for multiple reasons shouldn't. These things tend to escalate.
 
My opinion... once a cow has a bad experience, she will remember it. She will not change back to her old self. I agree with Rydero. Try to keep the cow until the calf is ready to wean. If not, you will be selling a cow/calf pair. In a year, if the cow is still around, there will be another situation. Next time somebody could be hurt.

I have a few cows I have to watch out for. And once in a while they catch me. When I have to start selling, they will be first on the list.
 
Col Reb said:
I have cow that has jumped the fence into the neighbors empty pasture & had a calf. I've never had an issue with the cow but now..... 5 days of unsuccessful attempts of getting her into a panel corral or through the gate back to my pasture. My dad says be thankful she hasn't hurt anyone yet & take her to the sale barn. Heck, I'm a little leery walking in front of her at this point but thinking if I can ever get her back home with the other cows she'll be fine especially when the new wears off the calf. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Jumping a fence to calve is not normal or acceptable behavior.
She went to extreme measures to separate herself from her herdmates.
Nearly a week and she refuses to return to join the herd.
There is never an issue or a problem... until there is.
Your dad is right. Plus your neighbor will be happy to see her go.
Quit making excuses for her, I vote sale barn, see ya later bye.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the responses. Looks like this will be her last year at my place, if I can get her back to my place. Going to cut a gap in the fence & put a gate in where she keeps hanging out. Surely she'll head home then. Will be much cheaper than a trip to the hospital if she gets in the make shift corral hemmed up. I've ridden panels down before when a cow goes under them. No fun! Plus I was younger then.
 
I would say sell her as soon as possible, and definitely when her calf is weaned. We had one that put me up a gate when she calved as a heifer. I kept her around a few more years because I was dreading trying to load her and she always weaned a big calf. Her aggression got worse to the point that she would charge at anybody from a longways off regardless of whether she had a calf or not. When she started that she was gone. Have one now that's not aggressive but we call her fence jumper because if the notion hits her she goes over a fence, like sometimes when we move the herd she will go back or if wean her calf she will jump over looking for the calf. She is on the list to cull too.
 
Generally if I have to hook up a trailer to go get a cow or bull off someone else's place. They don't get a ride home. They get a ride two town.

Just had a deal with a cow that last year when we took her calf jumped a good tight fence . We brought her home. Few weeks ago same deal we took her calf and she left went to the same neighbor. He tells me I'm selling calf's next week. Well get her penned with them and you can come get her. I told him how bout you take her to town with the calf's and we'll split what she brings.... problem solved and everyone is happy.
 
Just went through a bad cow experience with a neighbor. He bought the cow at the local stockyard and when he got her home she was crazy. The calf that came with her was not hers and she ended up on me. Being the good guy I am I probably used a couple sacks of feed and a lot of effort put into tricking her into the catching lot. Once I got the crazy bitch in the lot there still was no getting her into the trailer as she would fight you and run around the lot like a wild animal. I put another cow with her and finally after running her around the lot on a 4 wheeler got her were I could get her in the loading chute. I have had a few through the years not fun to deal with, but nothing like this animal as I believe she was retarded. I hauled her to the stockyard and I know the poor guy lost a lot of money on her. I hope he does not bring another like this in.
 
Last one I had like that I had to get her penned with a tractor. Try that. Luckily she was only in a 8 acre pasture so it just took some time. She wasn't going to go over the fence and she wouldn't run off very far because that would limit her chance to kill me.
I was to embarrassed to even take her to the sale barn so she went straight to the packer where they have a chute to unload them straight onto the kill floor.
 
I'm not one to sell a good momma for doing her job . Taking care of her baby . If she doesn't milk , runs off and leaves her calf , or raises dinks , she gone ! I'd give her a bucket of feed a couple of days and walk off and leave . Then I'd try to get her to follow you . I know I'm in the minority on this but that's how we roll . We have a part Brahma momma that raises the best calf in the pasture. I've kept 2 daughters and both are cool customers. That might change when they calve . You don't mess with momma for about 2 weeks after she calves . But after the new wears off she doesn't give you a second look .
 
If she makes you uncomfortable you should sell her the first chance you get. It sounds like that is the case.
If you are truly on the fence about selling or keeping her there are a few questions to ask yourself.
Has she been a problem before now staying home?
How/why did she get out? Jump? Hole? Eating through fence?
How old is she? How productive is she? Does she calve every 365? Does she raise a good calf?
I guess what I'm saying is if you have lost your confidence in her, it's too late for her and she should go. But if she is a good producer and has a calf every 10-11 months and weans heavy, I can see hanging with her for a while. Pretty good chance she will always be protective of her calves but can be manageable if you're willing. Think of it like this, if she had not been protective of her calf this question would likely have been can I kill my neighbor's dogs for killing my calf?
 

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