Pics of my new cow!

willow_girl · #1 11/02/05, 12:38 PM

This is Bitey Jane, the latest addition at the Home for Wayward Holsteins. She has been with us for a week and a half now. These photos were taken shortly after her arrival. She was suffering from an abcessed front hoof, a large infected abcess on her hip, and a spot of bag rot. (You can tell she's in pain in the second picture, can't you?!) She is healing up nicely now, putting weight on her "bad" foot again, and seems to be settling in nicely here.

She has been my "pet" on the farm where I work for 2 years now, luckily the farmer was willing to sell her to me when she developed the lame foot! She calved about 4 months ago, was milking pretty good although her milk production dropped off drastically given the above problems. I believe she is open (although she might be short-bred). If so, I'll milk her until it isn't worthwhile anymore, and then she'll enter retirement. She's already a 6th lactation cow, had milk fever with her last delivery, so I don't want to push my luck with the old gal. She can live out her life in green pastures, and eat me out of house and home. Ha!

(BTW, the calf in the picture is Little Man, Twister's calf, who is 3-1/2 months old now!)

Pics of my new cow! - Cattle

jerzeygurl · #2 11/02/05, 09:33 PM

i bought a horse like that....had lice, was all kicked up and bitten...she also got a staph in fection from the bites or somthing so all her hair fell out too.....
today i have strangers stoppin in just to see the pretty horse

JeffNY · #3 11/02/05, 10:04 PM

Not sure if you mentioned she was from a freestall setup or not. But either way, freestall barns were made for the lazy person IMO. You feed them in a bunk, which can deliver more feed to them, however you cant see which animals are getting what, especially who might be off feed. You run the risk of them falling, or pushing each other around. You cant prevent one from going into a stall with another (pushy cow starts butting a cow laying down). But it allows you to feed them, sit and wait for them to come into the parlor when its time. It is faster, and allows for a larger herd, however they have cons, some I mentioned above. A couple things that I don't like. It is free stall barns, and docked tails. Both are the lazy mans way. Funny thing, anyone I talk to say the same things. Whether it is our AI tech, our vet or other past and present farmers. Of course I dont ask those who have free stall setups. Now I will have to contradict myself. I know of one free stall setup that works, however he has mattresses, and his setup allows outside access, so there is a big difference with this one persons setup. One of the problems you can also run into is bad feet. Funny how you can take an animal from a free stall setup, and the animal recovers. If that doesn't proove something, im stumped!

Jeff

Ronney · #4 11/03/05, 04:59 AM

Hi Willow,
Well done girl. There is no doubt that at this point in time she looks a pretty ugly cow and certainly not a comfortable one but I see no reason why she shouldn't improve and do you well - and I'm sure that with the care you will lavish on her, she will. As you know, milk fever is often a management problem associated with high producing cows - and by the look of that udder she will fall into that category. There is no reason at all for her to ever have it again. 6th lactation - that will make her around the 8 year old mark? She's got years left in her yet and with good care and management I see no reason for you not to be posting pictures of her calves for the next 6 or 7 years

Cheers,
Ronnie

Goat Freak · #5 11/03/05, 07:08 PM

Well done on rescueing her! By the way, Little Man seems to be a LOT bigger, I remember his baby pics, he was little back then.

willow_girl · #6 11/03/05, 08:11 PM

Thanks ya'll!

I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear that Bitey is doing very well!

Yeah, she's no beauty queen, but what can I say?! She's ma girl!

In answer to your question, Jeff, yeah she's from a freestall barn, although the cows are able to go out pasture during the day.

I don't like tail docking either.

Poor Bitey's had her switch amputated. That is just plain mean!

Ronney, I'll give your suggestion some thought, but gosh I'd hate to risk it. We certainly don't need extra milk -- we have 2 other Holsteins and a Jersey X heifer who will freshen this winter! Raw milk sales are illegal in our state, so we mostly feed the excess to the other critters, and give some away to close friends and family.

It would be nice if she had a heifer calf, of course, but according to the farmer I bought her from, she hasn't had one yet!

(Neither has my Twister... although I think she's due for one next time, don't you?!)

Yup, Little Man is gettin' big! Although he hasn't caught up to Boo yet, and Boo is a week younger! LM has his mother's personality ... he's more standoffish, whereas Boo is a big lovebug!

I am still hoping to find someone who wants to buy LM as a herd bull. I'm also toying with the idea of keeping Boo and turning him into a pet ox! I can see him pulling a cart or something, that would be too cool. He's going to be enormous though ... and feeding all these cows, well, I don't have to tell you what THAT costs! Egads!

Thank goodness I have an indulgent husband ...

woodspirit · #7 11/03/05, 08:47 PM

you have a big heart and your animals and husband are all very lucky.
congrats.

willow_girl · #8 11/04/05, 01:14 AM

Aw, Woodspirit, what a nice thing to say! :baby04:

I will have to bring it to my husband's attention just how lucky he is ... HA! HA!

Thank you!

OD · #9 11/04/05, 10:06 AM

Hi, Willow. You're a good soul, caring about the sick & injured the way you do.
But if you want her to really be happy, let her raise babies, if she will take them.
If you can get bull calves from the dairy, she should be able to feed 3 or 4. When they are a couple of months old & eating feed, sell them & get some more.
If you let her keep nursing babies, she will keep giving milk for up to a couple of years without having another calf. Her production will drop, but it doesn't matter, just put 2 calves on her instead of 4.
You will be surprised how much money she will earn for you.

willow_girl · #10 11/04/05, 12:33 PM

That's a great idea, OD, but I was kinda of worried about her udder ... do you think she'll be able to nurse a calf (esp. a strange calf) successfully?

Her teats are short, and her bag hangs rather low. Will a calf be able to figure it out, do you think?!

jerzeygurl · #11 11/04/05, 01:37 PM

i have a short teated mamma , we usually put all the calves on her and milk the others, she is just a pain to milk.

willow_girl · #12 11/04/05, 01:44 PM

BTW, I should add that the old girl is doing better all the time!

She has taken her place at the feed bunk now instead of hanging back while Twist and Teeny eat.

She had a large lump on the back of her udder that I had begun worrying about (now that more pressing concerns have been resolved) but it turned out to be just another $#@%$%$$&^ abcess! It opened today and is draining now ...

Gary milked her for 2 days while I was on the road, and had absolutely no problems with her! He is just as pleased with her as I am, perhaps even more so if that can be imagined.

I think things are gonna work out real well for her here.

I wish I could post an updated photo, but my computer crashed and took all my software down with it.

willow_girl · #13 11/04/05, 01:49 PM

Jersey, that is good to hear!

The reason I was concerned is because Little Man seemed to have a hard time getting started on Twister. He kept butting her up high, where her bag joins her body (and where her teats probably were when she was a heifer!).

Eventually he figured it out, though ... but he was her calf, and she gave him lots of encouragement.

Bitey seems to like the little ones, I saw her licking on Boo the other day. Right now the pasture they're in is a bit crowded (although nothing compared to a commercial dairy!). Maybe when I get the barn finished, and everyone swapped around a bit ...

Goat Freak · #14 11/04/05, 06:18 PM

Just out of curiosity, why would someone cut off a cows tail? Sorry but I see NO sense in it whatsoever.

willow_girl · #15 11/04/05, 07:16 PM

One farmer I talked to does it because it keeps the cows cleaner. They're not whacking their flanks with a manure-covered tail!

I think some people might do it to keep from getting swatted during milking. I have caught a tail in the face before (who hasn't?!) and it DOES hurt to get lashed in the eye!

I think the inconvenience is outweighed by the cow's use of its tail to keep flies off its back, though!

BTW, they don't cut them off ... I believe they band them when they're calves. Cut off the blood supply, and the tissue will die and slough off. Usually the tails are docked anywhere from about 6 inches long, to just above the switch (which is how Bitey's is).

I believe in order to be shown, cows have to have their natural tails left intact.

Goat Freak · #16 11/05/05, 06:42 PM

Well that sure sounds gross, cutting off a cows ONLY natural, if not only period, defense against flies and other things that might get on them. Makes no sense. Well at least now she has a good mama to take care of her.

willow_girl · #17 11/05/05, 06:51 PM

And daddy!

In fact she hurt my feelings today; when I brought her in to be milked, she went over to my husband and began licking the front of his shirt, but wouldn't give ME the time of day! Nooooooo!

OUCH!

Darned cow! *sniffle*

Goat Freak · #18 11/05/05, 07:03 PM

AWWW, that is allright i am sure that soon enough she will love you MORE than him, eventually.

woodspirit · #19 11/05/05, 07:44 PM

Just what was hubby doin while you were away?

Two things to think about concerning cows is your voice and your smell.
If you smell like perfume etc then that might put her off a bit. Cows are very sensitive to smells. My voice is deep and when Ive been in a friends barn when he milks, the cows are very aware of my voice. Not good if you want high milk production. They don't like changes much. Once you get into a pattern they will settle in. As far as how to get her to accept a different calf, I'd recommend putting her in a stanchion with some feed or grain and let the calves suckle her while she is eating.

OD · #20 11/05/05, 08:59 PM

It can be a real pain trying to get one started on low teats. One of my cows has low teats on the back, & high on the front. It seems to take forever to get the calves to suck the back, but they eventually do. It probably wouldn't take so long if they didn't have any high ones to get started on.