Will a cow hide her calf

[DAYMON]

I have a cow that is due anytime and yesterday her bag was real tight and she had a very thick amber colored mucus around her tail and this morning her bag doesn't look tight just full but no calf. I was wondering if she could be hiding it in the woods or in a briar patch?

thanks
daymon

 

[hillsdown]

Yes they will hide it sometimes.

 

[MO_cows]

Watch her, especially early morning and evening. She'll go to the calf and feed it. Hopefully it's not a huge pasture they are in. Got binoculars?

 

[DAYMON]

It is only 25 acres or so but about 6 or 7 is wooded with a couple of cedar thickets that you can't hardly walk through. I will look real good tommorow morning.

 

[BRAFORDMAN]

Yes they will hide them. Try to make a calf sound she may look towards the direction she hid her calf or may run to the calf. This is one way i know where to find calves, but it does not always work. Be carefull looking because the cow may try to get you if you go near the baby.

 

[Isomade]

Yes, usually for the first couple of days to a week. I just came in the house from lookingnfor a calf. Look at the cows teats, if a calf has sucked they will be smoother, sometimes shiny, and the hair around the teat will be matted. Compare to your other cows.

 

[DAYMON]

That is why I think she had a calf because this morning her bag was smaller and at least one teet was shiny and wet looking with matted hair above it.

 

[Isomade]

Yep, sounds like she had it. I am sure you will see it tomorrow. As suggested above, binoculars are a valuable investment. :nod:

 

[dun]

Just try to spot the calf but stay away. Freqeuntly if the ocw has the calf hidden if it's found and you get to close she'll take it somewhere else to hide. Also there is a chance if you spook the calf it will take of running and be even harder to locate next time

 

[fit2btied]

We have a couple cows that like to hide them for a week or so. We don't look for the calf where the cow tries to take us. We go exactly opposite. When we are headed in the right direction, momma will usually pass us doin' about 90!

 

[backhoeboogie]

I've changed pastures and found a cow going nuts a few hours later. Calf was hidden and left behind. Too many cows to watch close I guess. Scary. It would be better if I lived there.

 

[Santas and Duhram Reds]

yeah, sometimes they will deliberately lead you away or pass it and keep on going like they are still looking.

 

[Suzie Q]

I find it is about 3 days before the cows bring the calf up to eat with the herd when we are feeding out. Some sooner, some later.

 

[Calman]

I usally pay close attention to the mama and watch her head come up and give you close attention when you.re going in the direction of where she hid it.
We have some that keep them hid for 2 wks and some that bring them back to the heard a few hours after birth.

Cal

 

[DAYMON]

Well I may have been too anxious the other day I haven't had any luck finding the calf and this morning I went to check her and she was laying down with a couple of my other cows when they got up she couldn't walk very well with her back legs and she had alot of clear discharge hanging off her back end. She waddled off about 30 yards and layed back down. I am going to give her a little while and go back and keep an eye on her with the spotting scope. It would have been too easy for her to have had it the other day when it was 55 degrees much better today when it's 28 and the wind out of the north at about 30 mph.

thanks for the replies

Daymon

 

[Caustic Burno]

It is only 25 acres or so but about 6 or 7 is wooded with a couple of cedar thickets that you can't hardly walk through. I will look real good tommorow morning.

I got one cow that is on the cull list because of hiding to the extreme, she won't bring that calf around anyone for a month. I know now why I have so much trouble finding a deer. When I can walk back and forth all over this place and have pure he!! finding a red and white or a black and white calf.

 

[backhoeboogie]

We moved the cows off of the river pasture in June. #19 was missing. I looked and looked for her. She was a 22 month heifer that had never been wild.

She was obviously hid out between the upper and lower flood plains. The thicket there is covered in grape vine. Two weeks later I spotted her out on the flood plain grazing and she broke for the thicket. Some time after that she was spotted with the calf. I finally just left a gate open and she made the mistake of going through so I closed it behind her. No choice then but to rejoin the herd. She was ready to do so. The calf was 5 weeks old by then. Wild as all get out. I can now walk up to #19 again but the calf has the worst flight zone in the pasture.

 

[MO_cows]

Wondering if Daymon ever found a calf, or figured out for sure if she had one?

 

[Brute 23]

I have some that will not bring their calves out for a week or two. Some times if you know roughly where the calf is you can beller like a cow and they will come out.

 

[cypressfarms]

but the calf has the worst flight zone in the pasture.

I think one of the stupidest things I've done was trying to chase a newborn back to the pasture where mama was. They only have one speed, which is faster than yours, and they always seem to take off in a straight line and go through any fences in their way. As silly as it may seem I now do nothing. If the calf is small, moma will call it back during the night and the next day they are always back in the "right" pasture. I actually gave up on a calf a few years back that was at least a mile away from moma and the cows. I thought it would just die by itself. The next morning came and the little calf was in the right pasture getting it's breakfast.

One word, though, first calf heifers sometimes don't know how to call their calves back. Experienced momas don't seem to worry if the calf is gone for a few hours, they know they can call it back.