Wild / nervous cattle

RobinBanks

Hello All,

I have two weanling heifers at home that are mental in the head. One LM out of a CH cow and one BB out of a LM cow. Its driving me mental to be honest. When I go into the slats to clean down the cubicles they are gone like the hammers incase I get within 10ft of them! I keep going in quietly hoping that they will eventually get used to me. I had planned on keeping them for replacements even though I always knew they were flighty as calves. I kept thinking of our best cow at the min that used to shiver with fear in the crush as a weanling. She is a pet now.

Last night I treated them for fluke with the pour on and the blue one went mad in the crush and I was doing my best to be gentle and not surprise her. In the end I was getting so mad all I wanted to do was belt her with a stick! I didn’t though but I had to leave the pin to cool down before I went mad as well.

Anyway I have decided that I am going to sell them before turn out just to avoid hassle in future. Who knows they might turn out to be very quiet cattle like there mothers but I’ve given up.

Has anyone else had cattle like this and how do you handle them. You would need the patience of a saint with the feckers.

blue5000

Had a similar mad weanling heifer here, a whitehead, home bred. She calved last spring and was always wary out in the field. But since weaning the calf off her she has calmed down a lot. I can actually walk past her now and she is fine.

bob charles

RobinBanks wrote: »

Hello All,

I have two weanling heifers at home that are mental in the head. One LM out of a CH cow and one BB out of a LM cow. Its driving me mental to be honest. When I go into the slats to clean down the cubicles they are gone like the hammers incase I get within 10ft of them! I keep going in quietly hoping that they will eventually get used to me. I had planned on keeping them for replacements even though I always knew they were flighty as calves. I kept thinking of our best cow at the min that used to shiver with fear in the crush as a weanling. She is a pet now.

Last night I treated them for fluke with the pour on and the blue one went mad in the crush and I was doing my best to be gentle and not surprise her. In the end I was getting so mad all I wanted to do was belt her with a stick! I didn’t though but I had to leave the pin to cool down before I went mad as well.

Anyway I have decided that I am going to sell them before turn out just to avoid hassle in future. Who knows they might turn out to be very quiet cattle like there mothers but I’ve given up.

Has anyone else had cattle like this and how do you handle them. You would need the patience of a saint with the feckers.

bought 6 before xmas that were nuts, two of them managed to be facing in the opposite direction when it came to letting them out of the chute. broke up the six and put 2 of them in each pen among other cattle who were quite. made sure the pens were tightly packed as not to give them any opportunity to go off running when I was in the pens. they are quite now but one still a little nervous

xLexie

How about introducing them to nuts? When you go into the shed bring some feeding nuts, it might take a while but soon they'll get used to you coming and bringing nice things, Should quieten down.

moy83

I bought a heifer for bulling last year that was wild aswell , she jumped out of the crush and flattened the father the first time we ran her through . I wanted to send her to the factory after that but he said to give her a chance
When we moving them to new grass three of them got left behind , when I went to walk them down towards a gap she couldnt see the gap even though the other two had no problem but she went through the fence and bringing wire and three posts with her . Again I wanted to be rid of her , but a week later when I came home from work the father said she was bulling so he let the neighbours bull at her :rolleyes::rolleyes: because it would be a pity to let a nice one go :rolleyes:
She will run up to a bucket of nuts now and I can lift the stick to keep the rest of them away while she is eating and she wont give a toss , i had her in the crush monday and she stood grand for her pour on .
I'm hoping that she will quieten down more when she calves but if she doesnt to the factory she will go this time definitely .
Had a parthenaise weanling bull go up on his back legs on monday in the crush and turn the wrong way , it was some move as the crush was fairly full :cool:

grazeaway

have a few that can get a bit uppity but on teh whole are ok. Infact the heifers we had calving last year were really quite (1st crop from a bull we had) even my dad noticed. Vet called up one day to check a cow and was amazed how quite they were as i was sitting on a stool milking one of them by hand as she had a touch of mastisis.

that said we have ahad a few mad feckers too. dad had one really nervous one when we was milking, we would have to tie her leg to the rail every milking, she never calmed down. Thing was she was the bigggest milker in the herd. Had another will one a few years back, jumped the crush twice when testing them (second time blew another cow out over the rail with her. Her 1st couple of calves were fine and quite then we got one that pinned me to a wall and nealy faltened the ol lad twice. We had an issue with one of them at calving time and had to knock her out to work on her as she while she was wary of us, she went beserk when she saw strangers and the vet didnt fancy getting killed (neither did i). We decided her and her offspring would all have to go so when they calved we seprated them from the rest of the herd and off to the factory they went after weaning.

td5man

Have all except 6 lims gone, hoping for an easier life without. Between running through fences, jumping fences,one couldn't get through the fence so started to attack the gate and that was in the field. Another one tried to get into the jeep one day. And don't mention testing and dosing, putting the weanlings out last spring and one refused to leave the shed eventually got him out of the pen and then he would let us out of the shed.

yellow50HX

td5man wrote: »

Have all except 6 lims gone, hoping for an easier life without. Between running through fences, jumping fences,one couldn't get through the fence so started to attack the gate and that was in the field. Another one tried to get into the jeep one day. And don't mention testing and dosing, putting the weanlings out last spring and one refused to leave the shed eventually got him out of the pen and then he would let us out of the shed.

we had one right mad FR when we were milking, as soon as she would see ya, the tail would go up and she would be gone like a bullet, even when we were brigning them in for milking. Plan was to enter the feild on the oppisite side to where you wanted the cows to go out, after she had galloped off the othe rcows would be on their way in and most of time we would get her into the middle. when she was still up the same lark after a few years she went bye bye.

have mostly AAX and LIMX now, have never had any issues with the limos, actully tend to be the quitest of the lot. Had a few BBX's a few years ago, between problems with calving and just prue badness from them felt it was safer to cull them.

I think a lot is down to how they are handled too, espically if you buy them in, some may never seen anyone from one weekend to the next and only then from the gate until its time to run them up and be loaded into a trailer. sure tis no wonder they'd be daft. We try to walk in around them twice a day during the summer, 1) to keep a close eye on them, and 2) to keep them used to us. In the winter we let the cows out by day so again they are used to being moved around and in and out of the sheds.

Ol lad over the used to keep sucklers and we would give him a hand when he was stuck, jaysus they were mad. He would wander down every second day to have a look at them but mostly from the tractor or car, so they never go used to people. Come weaning, testing or mart time they would be gates and fences knoked all over the place. Was up there one day and had to get a weanling out of the tractor cab. He went in the back window and got caught between teh seat and steering wheel

simx

yellow50HX wrote: »

we had one right mad FR when we were milking, as soon as she would see ya, the tail would go up and she would be gone like a bullet, even when we were brigning them in for milking. Plan was to enter the feild on the oppisite side to where you wanted the cows to go out, after she had galloped off the othe rcows would be on their way in and most of time we would get her into the middle. when she was still up the same lark after a few years she went bye bye.

have mostly AAX and LIMX now, have never had any issues with the limos, actully tend to be the quitest of the lot. Had a few BBX's a few years ago, between problems with calving and just prue badness from them felt it was safer to cull them.

I think a lot is down to how they are handled too, espically if you buy them in, some may never seen anyone from one weekend to the next and only then from the gate until its time to run them up and be loaded into a trailer. sure tis no wonder they'd be daft. We try to walk in around them twice a day during the summer, 1) to keep a close eye on them, and 2) to keep them used to us. In the winter we let the cows out by day so again they are used to being moved around and in and out of the sheds.

Ol lad over the used to keep sucklers and we would give him a hand when he was stuck, jaysus they were mad. He would wander down every second day to have a look at them but mostly from the tractor or car, so they never go used to people. Come weaning, testing or mart time they would be gates and fences knoked all over the place. Was up there one day and had to get a weanling out of the tractor cab. He went in the back window and got caught between teh seat and steering wheel

Must of been a nice little bit of damage done inside the cab after that

yellow50HX

simx wrote: »

Must of been a nice little bit of damage done inside the cab after that

twas an old tractor, no back window thank god, and he manged to bust the window on the door. Lucky enough it was stopped and the loader was down. Bent the gear stick and a few of the handles on the side. what ever way he got hangled up he didnt do too much damage to him self. Manged to open the door and pull him out and than sat on him while we checked for any injuries.

ZETOR_IS_BETTER

I would cut my losses with them and ship them off.
I tried before with nervous heifers and they were terrible to have with other cattle.
As soon as you go into a field its up with the heads and gone along with the tame ones. Simply its not worth keeping them for your own safety.

Dont be daft

Heard of lads getting loaves of stale bread and feeding them to excitable heifers over the winter.

Throwing slices in front of them at the start and eventually building them up to the stage that their eating them out of your hand. Well worth it when it comes to calving time.

I've noticed it with the bulls, that if your moving them to new grass everyday they become way less flighty/nervous. I suppose they begin to associate humans with something positive rather that something negative or threatening

1chippy

Get rid, no matter how good they are they will cost you. All that extra time chasing them around fields, they will drive the others mad.
They never settle fully and any off spring will be mad too.
How much does a couple of days in hospital cost?

iverjohnston

I would advise you get rid of them. Dangerous to man and beast. Even if the quieten down when you are around, would you trust them with your wife/child? Also, if you keep them for cows, you can rest assured they will be homicidal when they calve. I had a Lim 2 years ago, who had quietened down reasonably well, and calved herself. Had ran out of pens for fresh calvers, so popped her and calf into feed passage for the night. Checked at bedtime, she had lay on the calf and killed it. I went onto the slats to try and check the calf, (lying at barrier) and she raced up and down the shed trying to get me. Was 15 minutes before I could get out. Ended up trowing my coat on her head, and as she was busy grinding it into the ground , I got over the barrier and out the end gate. Was a week before she calmed down. Took great pleasure on hanging her up on a hook, I can tell you! Iver in Cavan.

freedominacup

iverjohnston wrote: »

I would advise you get rid of them. Dangerous to man and beast. Even if the quieten down when you are around, would you trust them with your wife/child? Also, if you keep them for cows, you can rest assured they will be homicidal when they calve. I had a Lim 2 years ago, who had quietened down reasonably well, and calved herself. Had ran out of pens for fresh calvers, so popped her and calf into feed passage for the night. Checked at bedtime, she had lay on the calf and killed it. I went onto the slats to try and check the calf, (lying at barrier) and she raced up and down the shed trying to get me. Was 15 minutes before I could get out. Ended up trowing my coat on her head, and as she was busy grinding it into the ground , I got over the barrier and out the end gate. Was a week before she calmed down. Took great pleasure on hanging her up on a hook, I can tell you! Iver in Cavan.

We had a holstein years ago exact opposite would eat out of your hand from the time she was a young calf. You could do anything with her in a yard or out in the field, crush was totally unnessecary for her but calvng time total whack job. She went stone mad as a heifer and tried to kill her calf as soon as she stood up after calving, tounge out, eyes rolling the whole bit as she tried to grind the calf into the ground. I took her out of the pen to calm down for a few mins then left her back in she went for the calf immeadiately again. Put her back out in the yard got a bucket and hand miked the colostrum from her in a few mins. Watched her closely as a second calver and she did the same thing again. She milked away for years with one mad day a year and no bother for the other 364.

Bodacious

Dont be daft wrote: »

Heard of lads getting loaves of stale bread and feeding them to excitable heifers over the winter.

Throwing slices in front of them at the start and eventually building them up to the stage that their eating them out of your hand. Well worth it when it comes to calving time.

I've noticed it with the bulls, that if your moving them to new grass everyday they become way less flighty/nervous. I suppose they begin to associate humans with something positive rather that something negative or threatening

+1 good idea with the bread

All mine are outdoors and fed once a day and they associate the sound of the quad and me (or my dad) coming in around them as food, most of mine i can scratch in the field and they are 100% sucklers and never were tied or saw the inside of a shed.. i find the BB's exceptionally quiet... ive bought headers in the past most quieten... some never will and get rid is only solution!

Ive one lim X and we fight like cats and dogs, i can reach over the other cows and scratch her when they in the ring feeders and she will lash out at the very touch of me, last week i kept it up and she repeatedly kicked her own daughter positioned between me and her until i took my hand away, dosing her is like a full on scrap, i have no doubt that when im older i would not be able to keep a cow like this or else ill have to splash out on a flash headscoop:D

grazeaway

freedominacup wrote: »

She milked away for years with one mad day a year and no bother for the other 364.

she only needs one day and then it could be curtains for someelse. we faced that delima too. dont think i'll take too many chances, the ol lad is not a quick as he used to be and i've put on a bit on condition since i packed in the hurling so not sure i can out run them like i used to.

RobinBanks

Dont be daft wrote: »

Heard of lads getting loaves of stale bread and feeding them to excitable heifers over the winter.

Throwing slices in front of them at the start and eventually building them up to the stage that their eating them out of your hand. Well worth it when it comes to calving time.

Must try this. I'd try anything at this stage but this sounds like a good idea.

She is eating meal no since she was 5 months old but she will only come to the trough when I leave.

I must say I never have problems with BB's. She is out of Boherhard Cantona and now that I think of it I sold a weanling heifer in Oct partially because she was wild but mainly because she wouldnt make a good cow in my opinion. Maybe the sire is the problem!!

freedominacup

grazeaway wrote: »

she only needs one day and then it could be curtains for someelse. we faced that delima too. dont think i'll take too many chances, the ol lad is not a quick as he used to be and i've put on a bit on condition since i packed in the hurling so not sure i can out run them like i used to.

She was no danger to humans only to her own calves and another cow that she was reared with. They hated each other and never missed a chance to take a lump out of the other one. We simply took the calves away from her as soon as they were born and put her with the milkers no more problem.

xLexie

We bought two young calves who were wired. First day they were let outside, they both cleared the fence taking posts and wire with them. They ended up on a farm maybe a mile and a half away and the farmer closed them off in a farmyard, they had nowhere to go and were actually trying to get up the wall! They would race around the shed when they seen people BUT 18 months later, with constant contact with us and in with quiet weanlings a little younger, they are like two different animals. They're not pets, won't approach you or let you come too close to them but when the others come to be pet, they will come too and stand a bit away, no problems with them in the crush or being dosed. Persevere rather than just ship them off.

Ford4000

I had a Simmental cow recently now she was a little nervous but not bad, had a Limousin calf and thats when the fun started, i never saw anything like the calf, i was bucket feeding crunch to 5 calves i was planning to keep for replacements, with handling them every day and getting them used to the bucket the others calmed doen really nice, long sstory short it cleared every fence crush barrier about the place couldnt get it weaned as it was going to kill itself in the shed, tried to load it on its own one day and it ran between meself and the father in law with its back hoofs at my face height 6ft, i said enough was enough tested the cow and sold them as a team....new owner told me he was going to keep her on to beef and keep the cow so suited him ok ! Get rid of mad beasts quick not worth the hassle & possible injury !!

royalmeath

The father had an absolute mentaller of an fr heifer. I remember the day she calved the father putting her in an old shed following her with a pallet. She kicked the pallet and it nearly took his head off. The thing was she was like a mouse at milking from day one. A few years later and she is after calving so i go and take the calf in and the following morning i attempt to get her in with the milkers. I get her through a gap and all seemed fine until she changes her mind. she turns around and runs for me. I turn and head for the ditch of course I slip in the gap. I brace myself for an almighty belt but dosent the auld bitch somehow fall down behind me. Up I get and jump the gate into the next field. I get back to the yard and tell the father and he burst out laughing.