Cow personalities

I have stared long and hard at the girls ... LOL. Sometimes I think I can see a red tinge in their coats (esp. when they're standing at that gate, with the sun behind them) and other times I think it's just a trick of the light.

I have stepped up on their loose minerals, though. I'd been pretty casual about it before, just putting a coffee can or so in a tub once or twice a week. They never came running or expressed any interest, so I thought everything was good. (They get minerals in their TMR, too, although that only makes up roughly 1/3 of their diet.)

I've been more careful to check the tub every day and keep it topped off. Again, thanks to Ronney for bringing this issue to our attention!

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"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

Copper Deficiency is a complex issue and I certainly hope everyone here gets a handle on the situation. We have a large dairy farm so we test our feed and have a cow nutritionist ensure that this is not a problem in our cows, but by doing so, we introduced another potential problem that some on here might need to deal with, and a least consider.

With copper being added to the feed, we are finding that from years of spreading cow manure on our fields, we are nearing the threshold limits of copper and zinc in our soil. That is why it is important to do soil samples as well as manure and feed samples as recommended.

As for cow personalities, having so many cows around, we see the personalities so well. I know it may be hard to believe that while we are a production dairy farm with thousands of cows, we actually see this and smile at it.

The only named cow on the farm is Mini-Mouse, a small, single Jersey in a sea of Holsteins. For some reason she has to be the first cow to get milked in her block (we milk 24/7/365 with each cow being milked 3 times per day, so we keep the cows in blocks). When she is in the holding pen and the milk parlor doors open, she rushes through all the bigger cows to be first. I would take a picture of this, but you can't see her, she is like a torpedo, this unseen thing parting the Holsteins roughly as she makes a bee line for the parlor door, only to emerge victorious as the first cow in. If she does not make it, she will pin the mush bigger holsteins to the wall until she gets first stall. And she is just this tiny Jersey! Yep that is MiniMouse.

Then there are the cows that love to be milked on the right side. Put them on the left side of the parlor and they will kick, thrash and be nervous the whole time. Its crazy but some cows just prefer to be on the right, or the left, or the first cow in or the last cow in a milking stall. As dairy farmers, despite having lots of cows, we have just learned to know our cows and try to accommodate them...that is just how it is with cows.

I have also seen cows adopt calfs...calfs that were not their own, even though they have mother's. I have seen them reject their very own calfs too, and watch certain cows always hang out with other cows as if they are friends or something.

One trait I noticed in 38 years of working with cows...Holsteins with white eye lashes are the most skittish. They are jumpy and cantankerous, but before you ship all your white eye lashed Holsteins, I also noticed the little pukes tend to give a lot of milk. They are worth keeping!

That MiniMouse story cracked me up! Those Jerseys are smart girls.

When I was a tester, I had a farmer who was milking in an old swing-6 that had been built to accommodate the smaller Holsteins of yesteryear. He decided that by adding a few Jerseys into the mix, it would make the parlor less crowded. To his chagrin, he found that the Jersey inevitably would come in first, as a group, instead of mixing with the Holsteins. LOL

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"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

It's only been few days since two of my cows calved and I have found it interesting the difference in personalities, herd status, etc. The cows are very interested in each others calves and fuss over them at times like their own. One of the cows didn't take and never has calved, but she sure likes the calves.
In this picture herd boss is to the left confidently waltzing up to the other cow to check out her new calf. The cow on the right is the mom. She looks like she wants to be defensive, but will not cross the other cow, instead she will move out of her way. The younger steer, and another young cow were not allowed too close to the calf. She would meet them and nudge them away.

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Funny how the Jerseys seem to know they are different.

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JERSEY'S RULE! BOO-YAA!

Dsis got her first Jersey last year. She raises calves on her, but is milking her right now because of the price of calves. Money is tight, so I'm paying the AI bill for sexed semen. If it's a heifer, it's MINE!

I was talking to sis on the pnone the other day.
She was complaining about being swatted with cow tail and manure. I told her the fix. Now the cow keeps her tail tucked to the other side while being milked. You've got to be the boss cow!

My father and Uncle made a family milk cow...a typically docile, timid, calm Jersey cantankerous one day...LOL, and yes I am laughing just at thinking about what they did.

When my father was six, and my Uncle was ten, their Grandfather convinced the two boys that if they gave their father’s jersey milking cows chocolate, the cows would give chocolate milk. This interested the two farm boys who HATED white milk and would only drink it if it was chocolate, so this idea greatly appealed to them...

So they found a Hershey’s chocolate bar and tried to get the cow to eat it. She refused, so they resorted to plan B, which was to put a little molasses on it. That plan still did not work either, so they were forced to go with plan C…which was cramming the chocolate bar down the cows throat; a great many malicious moo's, bovine bleats, and cow cries emanating from the maddened moo moo, and whatever other sounds a cow makes when it is severely stressed out from having two young boys force feeding a chocolate bar down its throat whether she wanted to eat it or not!!

Now they decided, they had to mix the chocolate with the milk, so grabbing a halter; they preceded to unteathered the cow and run it around the pasture to “mix it up.” Surely their Grandfather was laughing as the six year old and ten year old boys were dragged around the pasture by a 700 pound cow that wanted nothing more then to be left alone that day.

Later that night when their father milked the cow, he thought it was odd the two boys took so much interest in what was a routine, daily event. I am sure the result is evident; there was two very depressed boys when only white milk came out of her...because no matter how much chocolate you give a Jersey you see, she just does not give you chocolate milk.

I wonder though, perhaps their luck would have changed, if they used a Holstein instead?!

My favorite cow, Bitey, with my white cow Christine's last calf.
This was taken 5 years ago.

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"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

Now here is a nice picture of Christine! I took this one yesterday.

She looks less ravenous than usual ...

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"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

Christine is very photogenic!

She does seem to have a different looking head for a Holstein. Not as long - almost looks like a cute puppy.

Awww all these cow pictures are awesome...I think cows have the sweetest faces!!! I cant wait to get our family milk cow...hoping in the next year or so...great shots everyone!!! Love it!!!!

One more ...

I had a load of shredded bark delivered and dumped in the barnyard. Haven't gotten around to spreading it yet. Came home today to find Teeny lounging atop the pile ...

Leave it to her to find the most comfortable place to lie down!

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"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.