Gentling a cow

mamabear · #1 03/23/07, 01:15 PM

Our red heifer is fixing to be a new mom is appears. She has a bag twice the size of the cows down the road that already have calves.
I recently asked a question about what type of cow she might be and the consensus appeared to be that she was at least 1/2 jersey. That is great because I would love to have a milk cow. Now the problem comes from the fact that she will not let you touch her. You can only get within about 10 feet of her before she's starts jumping around and acting silly. Not aggressive or frightened, just silly.
Is there any way to tame her down? I have always been the one to feed them and talk to them (is that strange?), but they are not pets. So any suggestions?
Thanks in advance because I know you'll have great ideas.
hugs,
mamabear

francismilker · #2 03/23/07, 03:26 PM

What I done with a cow similiar to yours is put her up in a confined stall or small pen. (mine was a 10'x10' pen made out of portable panels) I then put her feed and water trough in one corner. I kept water available to her at all times but only put in a handful of feed in the trough for her morning and evening. After she got used to grain and became "dependant" on it, I started pouring a more liberal amount of grain in and standing right out side of the pen until finally she came to it and lowered her head to eat. This took two days of her not trusting me and me having to remove the feed and go to the house. I did put a small block of hay in the pen so she could have some roughage to tied her over. But, after two days of not getting any granular gold, she finally gave in and approached to eat.
The next step was trying to reach though and touch her. This took only two feedings before she would let me pet her. Next step was getting into the pen with her and doing the first two step. (feeding and petting)
I then got brave enough to approach her udder. This caused a momentary rodeo so go cautiously! After about a week of doing these tactics, I could rub her anywhere I wanted while she was eating.
I then let her out of the pen and went through this process in an open pasture.
Next, I started making her put her head in a stanchion to eat. When she calved, I would put her in the stanchion to eat and let the calf suck a little (the whole time I would be rubbing her udder) Once the calf got the colostrum he needed I locked him away from her and started share milking. This was also a momentary rodeo. I ended up having to hobble her rear leg closest to me to keep her from kicking. Once she realized I was doing her a favor and releasing a tremendous amount of pressure, she gave in and is a GOOD milk cow today.

THere may be a better way, but it worked for me. Good Luck to You!

Ronney · #3 03/23/07, 04:12 PM

Time and a load of patience! Keep in mind too that many heifers are skittish and silly until they have had their first calf. I'm now milking one that was as silly as a two bob watch and I wondered why the hell I had kept her. She calved last October and I though "Right, here goes!" I couldn't have been more wrong; she walked into the bale chewing her cud, and stood there. I did have to leg rope her for the first two milkings but after that she was as good as gold.

So follow FM's line to get her used to you, being handled and a change in routine. By the time she's calved she will hopefully have started to get used to it all and will settle down. The first few milkings may still be a bit of a circus but hang in and don't give up. It's a rare cow that can't be milked.

Cheers,
Ronnie

jerzeygurl · #4 03/23/07, 09:37 PM

same as fm I also use horse treaties, they will stick out their necks as long as they can to get them from you from a distance, gradually pull it back towards you as they get used to you.

mamabear · #5 03/26/07, 11:35 AM

Thank you so much for the advice. I've got a pen that I can get her into simple enough because she loves to eat. Thank y'all again.
mamabear

jerzeygurl · #6 03/26/07, 11:40 AM

btw say her name alot while you feed her ect, and when you call her to feed.

they learn to associate thier names to feeding time, make it something easy to hollar if she is allowed free range

most of ours are daisy, rosie, crazee, because those names carry really well when hooted out at the top of your lungs