wild cows get tamer with age?

[circlet]

a buddy of mine had a heifer that had a breech calf last year and he tells me that it turned a normal cow into a pretty wild one. you basically can't get her in a working chute and she heads for the hills if you show up in the pasture (again he says she wasn't that way before). my attitude about such cows is that you should probably send them to the sale barn or butcher, but he says that he thinks that she'll mellow with age. i know each cow will have it's own personality, but do you think there's any truth to that and she will mellow out a little? i almost wonder if it won't be the opposite and she'll get mean on top of it?

just curious...

 

[Turin5-3]

I agree with you, send them packing. My longhorn bull needs to go but we can't get anybody to help load him. They've been there and done that with him a couple of times. He really isn't wild until you try to get him in the chute or trailer. He eats cubes out of my 4yr old grandson's hand. Any body looking for a longhorn bull that likes to stay put? :lol:

 

[nap]

a buddy of mine had a heifer that had a breech calf last year and he tells me that it turned a normal cow into a pretty wild one. you basically can't get her in a working chute and she heads for the hills if you show up in the pasture (again he says she wasn't that way before). my attitude about such cows is that you should probably send them to the sale barn or butcher, but he says that he thinks that she'll mellow with age. i know each cow will have it's own personality, but do you think there's any truth to that and she will mellow out a little? i almost wonder if it won't be the opposite and she'll get mean on top of it?

just curious...

I've had a little experience with limousine brahman crosses which are the wildest cattle I've ever owned. Their calves tend to be the same way. When we worked them we typically had to spend a couple of days trying to catch them and usually ended up pracically starving them to get them in the working facility. The other danger is that they will make your other cattle crazy. She is definitely one for the bus, you will save yourself a lot of frustration.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

ive had several that mellowed out with age.. and got easier to work each time.a breech is a pretty traumatic experiance.... especially for animals that had rather lay down and die, as to have you help make em better

 

[cfpinz]

Bought three angus heifers at a production sale from a very large place one time, looked calm in the ring. Don't think they'd ever seen a person outside a truck before. Knew I was in trouble when we loaded them. Unloaded them at night into a small pen with good woven wire fence, heard them bounce off the fence at the far end of the lot. One calmed down and will eat out your hand, the other two never settled. Those two are dead.

 

[dyates]

Had a heifer calve breech last fall. She was a pet before, but once we started fooling with her, Lassie turned into Cujo. She rammed gates, trucks, walls, whatever; it didn't matter to her. She stayed that way for a couple months, but later returned to pet status. I've also had heifers that were a little on the edge of being nuts, but after calving, they settled down to be pretty docile. I realize all are not the same, but this has been my experience.

 

[TexasBred]

Bought three angus heifers at a production sale from a very large place one time, looked calm in the ring. Don't think they'd ever seen a person outside a truck before. Knew I was in trouble when we loaded them. Unloaded them at night into a small pen with good woven wire fence, heard them bounce off the fence at the far end of the lot. One calmed down and will eat out your hand, the other two never settled. Those two are dead.

We need to find out exactly which drug these "large operations" use in order to make those cattle come thru the ring looking so docile. ;-)

 

[dun]

You both have the same chance of being right

 

[ALACOWMAN]

yet one of many reason, i like to raise my own replacements.

 

[Beefy]

some mellow, some dont. some remember a bad experience forever.

 

[novatech]

I wouldn't give them the chance to find out. They are not worth the effort and will generally get the rest upset.

 

[BamaCowboy]

Only looking for trouble with her. Get her in the pen and ship her to the packer

 

[iowafarmer]

Well the mean cows do mellow out with age baecause once they start getting 12 or older they cant chase you as far and loose all their pep and have fianlly realized that you are jsut going to tag the calf not hurt it. Take some cotton balls and put jsut a little cloroform on the cotton balls and put them in her nose but um probably dont want your name on that animal when they read the owner when it goes thro the ring adn the person gets it home finds out what u did and comes looking for you. Heard this story as a joke only it was a mule instead of a heifer.

 

[circlet]

well i still kinda think he should sell her, cause i kind of think she has a runty calf on top of everything else, but he seems pretty convinced that he's going to keep her. guess in 5-7 years i'll let you all know how she turned out :tiphat:

 

[TheBullLady]

I can't recall any "wild" ones that I've ever had getting better with age. Had a couple of Brahmans over the years that were nice cows, but nuts. Kept one for about five years, then gave up and shipped her. Of course she wasn't tame to start with, so that may be the difference with yours.

 

[3waycross]

My partner got slammed head on by a 13 year old cow because he was bent over cutting the twime on a bale in close proximity to her WEANED heifer calf. The calf was 10 months old at the time.

Bottom line is she hates him and the only way she will get better is to get rigor mortis. She runs when I get near her , she chases him every time she gets a chance. Don't ask me why she is still there cuz I don't know, and it ain't my call.

And this is a freakin Shorthorn.

 

[Lammie]

I have two I am trying to teach to pen. I have been leaving the gate open and putting feed in the there. Last night, one would get a mouthfull of food and run out of the pen, get mouthfull and run out... I was sitting on a bucket nearby to get them used to me being there.

If I ever get them to where I can shut that gate without them going bonkers, off they go. They are both Brahman influenced. At least the larger heifer stopped pawing the ground and blowing snot every time I walked out there. That's progress. (?)

 

[CattleHand]

haha yea id sell that one that you mentioned right above this post 3way. But some may calm down some may not but when they get to a certain degree of agression its not worht the risk. I remember one particular one my grandpa had. We were driven the truck checkin cattle and it rammed the front of the truck from the side. He didnt keep that one too long. Just till her calf was ready to wean I assume

 

[hillsdown]

I find that after a traumatic birth some do get a little nutty, but then there are the ones that just have it in for you no matter what you are doing or where you are. I had a heifer that was one of my favorites , easy to handle and move around ,,,,until that beotch calved and then I could be 100 yards away from her and she would find me, even when she had no calf anymore. It got to the point that I couldn't even get off the tractor when I was feeding the cows as she would always go out of her way to find me. It took me a month of me going out of my way to find her every time I went out where she was to educate her on who really was the boss of the herd.
It worked after countless bloody noses (on her part), and as soon as she was able to be handled again off to slaughter she went. Calving season was so much less stressful knowing that I didn't always have to watch my back with that one.

 

[dun]

We've had a few ovewr they ars that started out tame and calm that went nuts as they got older. Got rid of a great 7 year old last year that turned that way. Had one with teins that went nuts after her twins were weaned, she was fine before that.
They're cows. Anyone that says they can predict from day to day or in some cases minute to minute, what cow is going to do is just fooling themselves.