Would anyone keep this cow?

Help Support CattleToday:

F

Ferd

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 23, 2014
Messages
150
Reaction score
175
Location
S.E. Il.
I have a 2yr old who calved and walked away. I wasn't around until the next morning. She hadn't licked it at all. Bull calf decided that I was his mother since I was the only one to take care of him. He is a long solid calf. Born May 28, so 7 weeks tomorrow. Fantastic calf, the mother is well built. I had them in a 10x10 pen and gave her a shot of oxytocin, but she still wanted nothing to do with him. I thought maybe that the pain of giving birth made her walk away.
Does anyone think that she would decide to raise her calf next year? I don't really want to raise another calf for her.
Not sure of her breed besides angus cross. She is black and when totally relaxed shows a little ear. Thanks
 
Ship her. Buy one with a calf on the ground already and then you will have a better chance of her breeding back and actually taking care of it. Too many good decent cows to deal with something that is not interested. When we lose a calf, born dead or whatever, I give the cow a good talking to as I am trying to graft a calf on her, and tell her that this is not an option.... her job is to raise a calf, any calf... or she can get a final job at McDonalds.....most all of them heed my little pep talk....
 
Thank you very much! She doesn't build fence, there's a mean cow in the freezer. I will haul her, maybe next week. A friend stopped by and really liked how they both look. He thought that he might give her another chance. I needed your, and I am paraphrasing "get your head out of your butt and get her out of there!" advice. They do both look good, and she is gone.
 
She might do fine for the neighbor, but not worth taking the chance on her since she is not some high priced fancy animal that you are dying to get off spring from....
The drought situation in the west has farmers and ranchers shipping some GOOD cows as they cull to try to be able to afford to buy hay to keep their best.... my heart aches for them... we are seeing a smaller/lighter hay crop this first cutting and rain is hit and miss.... we cut numbers some in the last 2 years and are in pretty good shape, but if it doesn't rain a fair amount soon, we could go to "way too dry" real quick. Only the ones that will do their job and do it well, will still be here.
Had a 3rd calf cow just have a dead calf... got her in the barn, got a holstein bull calf to put on her. She is an average cow but not mean or anything. Wasn't thrilled with the calf but never kicked it off. A week later it is nursing her whenever it wants and she goes back out to pasture with it this weekend... her disposition and willingness to accept that grafted calf is "plus lots of points" in my book.
 
We have had plenty of rain here. People who don't know better are complaining. It can get dry in a hurry this time of year. I have more grass than cattle, and enough hay for the winter. Still, she is gone.
 
You're making the right decision shipping her. Rejecting a calf is one thing I have zero tolerance or patience for. I can be too lenient sometimes if it's one I really like, and alot of things I can find an excuse for giving another shot, but not even trying to do the one job she was created to do is strike 1,2, and 3 in my book.
 
Probably not.
Sell her and buy a heavy bread middle aged cow to replace her. If you don't want to mess with the calf, sell it too and buy a younger heavy bred cow.... or sell her and hold the $$ till the end of December when short bred cows are cheap..er.
 
Life is too short to mess with a cow like that. I experimented with one like that about 35 years ago, who actually tried to kill her calf. It is the only one I've ever had try that. I was pretty young and inexperienced then. She ended up getting out with the herd, and got bred again. So I tried her again the next year, knowing what she had done previously. She did the same thing again on her second calf. This time I didn't mess with it. She was freezer beef, with the only rule being that I got to pull the trigger on the Winchester 94, just as payback. Again, now that I'm old, I know that life is too short to mess with a cow like that.
 
I put one in the freezer for doing the same thing but her calf had the bag over his head and died. Was still steaming when I found him but it was too late. If she can't do her job then her job changes.
 
Ferd said:
I have a 2yr old who calved and walked away. I wasn't around until the next morning. She hadn't licked it at all. Bull calf decided that I was his mother since I was the only one to take care of him. He is a long solid calf. Born May 28, so 7 weeks tomorrow. Fantastic calf, the mother is well built. I had them in a 10x10 pen and gave her a shot of oxytocin, but she still wanted nothing to do with him. I thought maybe that the pain of giving birth made her walk away.
Does anyone think that she would decide to raise her calf next year? I don't really want to raise another calf for her.
Not sure of her breed besides angus cross. She is black and when totally relaxed shows a little ear. Thanks
Click to expand...
I have a cow that I bought at a reg sale we pulled her first calf and she took great care of him but then her last 2 calves she has calved and walked away no liking or nothing . I would tie her up or put her in chute for calf to nurse then I would put hobbles on her and after 3 days it was like oh that's my calf and they are fine. But after 2 years of fighting her I'm going to take a loss on what I paid for her and ship her to the sale yard
 
Ferd said:
I have a 2yr old who calved and walked away. I wasn't around until the next morning. She hadn't licked it at all. Bull calf decided that I was his mother since I was the only one to take care of him. He is a long solid calf. Born May 28, so 7 weeks tomorrow. Fantastic calf, the mother is well built. I had them in a 10x10 pen and gave her a shot of oxytocin, but she still wanted nothing to do with him. I thought maybe that the pain of giving birth made her walk away.
Does anyone think that she would decide to raise her calf next year? I don't really want to raise another calf for her.
Not sure of her breed besides angus cross. She is black and when totally relaxed shows a little ear. Thanks
Click to expand...
Possibly if you tie her up and hobble her legs, maybe the calf would nurse and after a few times, she might take it. Might be worth trying next year if she throws a fantastic calf
 
So refreshing to read these answers. I'm on a FB page for cattle women and out of 100 responses, 99.5 will be "pen her, squeeze her, and milk her and introduce the calf to her." But I think I do agree with cattleman19. Worth a shot.
 
I'm all about 2nd chances but no milk and or not taking their calf doesn't cut it with me . Just dealt with one of my sons Hereford cows . Weak calf and big strutted teats. Put her in the small pasture with our chute . Two days of milking her out and getting some milk in him and by the 3 rd day he was able to take care of her . Don't normally have July babies but trying to move some fall calvers to spring.
 

Similar threads

Chuckie
Humming Cow
Replies
19
Views
847
Named'em Tamed'em
Named'em Tamed'em
J
Cow wasn’t trying
Replies
13
Views
707
Farm Family
Farm Family
Silver
Cow won’t quit pushing
2
Replies
22
Views
2K
Ouachita
O
wshn41
Keep or cull?
2
Replies
21
Views
1K
Warren Allison
Warren Allison
Silver
Ever seen this before?
2 3
Replies
53
Views
3K
southalberta
S

Latest posts

Top