# And the herefords are at it again



## dawnandduke2002 (Sep 28, 2015)

SO. This calving season isn't looking too good. First let's start with the good;

- I have five hereford heifers that are calving.
* Rosie (Hasn't calved)
* Cherry (Hasn't calved)
* Legacy (Calved)
* Athena (Calved)
* Ruby (Calved - She was the one who's calf died in the post before)

** All of these cows are handled every single day, so when it came calving season and some of them got aggressive it was really dissapointing and i need some help on what to do here. **

So first, Legacy;
* Legacy is the SWEETEST cow I've ever known. She lets you pet her and she's fine with you messing with her calf, yet she's an awesome mom. This last friday her black baldie heifer calf was upside down so we had to pull it. They stayed inside in the warm barn friday and saturday and were let out on sunday. Everything's good with her. (Her calf's name is Pandora, btw.) 

Next, Ruby;
* You can look at my last post, but Ruby had complications and her calf died inside of her. We gave her another calf and on friday she was tolerent, fine with him but when he tried to suck she pushed him a little. Saturday she was ****ED OFF. She rammed him into the fence, grinded him into the ground, and almost broke his leg in the fence. Into the squeze/head catch we go! We just kept her there the whole day because she was shaking her head and being aggressive towards us, too. On Sunday when we came she let him nurse by himself without the head catch for the first time. We tried orphan no more and all that stuff but nothing worked except catching her and letting him suck on her. (The calf's name is Cookie.)

Then, Athena;
* Oh boy. She was always the most skittish of them, not mean in any way though. Let me start at the beginning; so sunday we decided to move the heifers to my relative's house so that he could keep a better eye on them, because my dad has a full week of trucking. I was home alone, I'm 13, btw, and dad told me to get the heifers in the small pen so we could load em up whe n we got home... I took my horse, Duke, and just walked out into the pen with him. (I wasn't riding him.) Athena ran right into the pen fine, and so did the other two. Buk, my 10 month old buckskin colt, is AWESOME at herding the cows into places, so when dad got home we put Buk in the small pen with the heifers so he would help. The first two got in the trailer fine, and then Athena was left. Buk just stood there like, "I'm not doing this, that chick is CRAE." It was my dad, me, and my step-mom in there. Suddenly athena makes a break for it and rams into buk. Buk jumps away and tries to jump the gate, it's really tall, though, and he just gets his foot in there and breaks the gate open. So, now I'm ****ed off because what if my poor Buk is hurt?! So we section her into the smaller side of the big pen and try to get her back into the little pen. Then she started snorting at my dad, and my dad backed off, because he thought she was going to charge him and he had no way to get away. Finally, we got Athena back into the small pen. Dad, my stepmom and I were kinda closing in on her to make her go into the trailer and she snorted and me and my step mom (we were standing right beside each other). Keri, my step mom, got up on the fence, but I didn't think she was going to do anything since she's never, so I didn't. In a matter of seconds I had a huge cow barreling at me. Keri screamed and it scared her to give me enough time to scramble up the fence. Then she came at us again, we were on top of the fence, harder this time. I kicked her in the head and she kinda shook her head and then went into the trailer, but GEEZ. My dad was really mad and said we were going to sell her this fall with the calves. But then later he said maybe if she straightens out we won't. So, of course, today she has her calf. Thank god she got it out on her own, but now she bulldozes anybody who gets close to her. 

* The other two are fine and nice I just hope they don't end up like Athena. I guess her name fits her now.... :/ Should I sell her come fall and just keep legacy's calf to replace her, because Legacy is SUCH a good cow and her calf will probably be that way. Or if ruby doesn't take her replacement calf just sell ruby and athena and her calf right now? and then just keep all of the calves... I want to to do something that makes an income, but I won't get killed doing it.


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## Altalefty (Apr 14, 2014)

Someone with more knowledge on cows will have an answer for you, but I can give an observation comment to get it started. Around here when they loose a calf like that and want to put another calf on the cow, they usually skin the calf and tie the hide around the new one for the first bit. With a protective mother they are usually sold before calving again. A cow got a good friend of mine and busted her up pretty good. Glad you guys didn't get hurt.


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## dawnandduke2002 (Sep 28, 2015)

yea Athena definently won't be staying around here to have a second calf, I just don't know when to sell her. Dad says if we keep her just make sure you have a bat handy every time you go around her if she does decide to try to stomp you into the ground. I don't know what to do; I wanted to halter train and work with these calves; possibly even let little kids show them in 4-H but I can't do that with one heifer disliking her replacement calf and the other hating everybody. With the whole tying the dead calf's skin around the other one when we took her to the vet we left the calf there, mostly because my dad wasn't around and it was just my step mom, and she doesn't know to skin that.


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## dawnandduke2002 (Sep 28, 2015)

I'm not really into hitting animals with bats and such, but you kinda have too if ones coming at you while your trying to feed her :/


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

I don't do cows but my rule of thumb with horses is, first and foremost they have to pass the temperament test. If they fail that, I don't care how good they are at what they do, how pretty they are, none of it. Fail temper and you are GONE. I would do the cows that way too.


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## Roux (Aug 23, 2013)

This advice is too late for you sorry but when a cow needs a replacement calf you can put the cow and the calf in a pen and then put the cow in stocks for a while. Then the calf can nurse and the cow can't chase or kick him away. After a day or so she might learn to accept him.


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## dawnandduke2002 (Sep 28, 2015)

*Update*

So, the heifer never took the calf. He got a new mom though. Anyways; we put her in the head catch, put calf claim on (orphan no more), put grain on her, and tried putting a dog in (no dog was hurt, thank god.) Nothing worked. She's mean now, too. ;( But, I guess it's just how it goes. She's sitting in my feedlot right now, wasting our money, till I decide what to do with her. :/ Keep her another year and hope she takes her next calf or send her to the packing plant. Opinions?


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Eat her. And before anyone jumps on me because I said I don't do cows, if I had a mare who acted like that she would go to the next sale too. And I don't mean the good kind.


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

I recommend turning her into burger, too. 

You don't have enough animals to absorb a second year of bad luck with one. 

FWIW: Sometimes skinning the cow's dead calf and using that hide on a graft calf works. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes putting Vick's vapor rub in the nose of the cow and a bit on the calf works, Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes snubbing and blindfolding the cow and letting the orphan calf suck a time or two works. Sometimes it doesn't. 

And then there are six other ways that sometimes work. And sometimes don't.

Glad you got that little one grafted.

Oh, and probably like you, I never mind a bit of attitude by a new mama cow. Even if they put me over the fence. They are just a good mama and chances are less that coyote, wolf, bear, or mtn lion with get those calves.


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

I would take her to the sale asap. An empty cow and a dry cow lose money every day that you feed them. If she is fat, she will bring a decent price and you can buy a bred heifer or add a little to it and buy a pair. Or, you can buy a really nice open heifer that will be ready to breed when your other cows are bred back. Then they will all calve at the same time next year.

I would not breed to a bull that is not known for producing low birth-weight calves. Go strictly by EPDs. Low birth-weight bulls are the best management decision you will make and will always pay bigger dividends than anything else you do.


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