cow question from a horse person

[wildhorse]

This is going to sound silly but will it be ok to put my new little hefier in the barn at night and turn her out like I do my horses?I realize there will probably be more of a mess to clean up. Is staw ok for bedding?

[jerzeygurl]

yes, I would recomend it.

But, not with the horses, if at all possible.

[mamahen]

That's what we do. 3 stalls - 1 for heifer, 1 for mule, & 1 for the 4 goats.

Everyone goes in at 10pm & back out at 7-8 am. When they come in they all get a treat - hay, grain or cookie, depending who it is.

They all know who goes where, but the mule has to go into the heifer stall & poo, if she can! Then she goes to her own stall. The stinker!

We had the heifer loose in her stall at first (BIG BIG mess, all over) But now she gets tied, so much easier to clean, usually only in the rear of the stall. Two stalls are built like tie stalls, but hers has a manger in front.

When we first got her (she was loose)


This winter (tied)

[wildhorse]

mamahen your little heifer is cute. I do know that Ill have to keep reba (ex cutting horse)away from maggie so mrs maggie will have her own pasture and her stall will be my foaling shed which is 10 x20 . Im just getting so excited I should be able to bring maggie home in about 10 days.

[floramum]

How Beautiful! A Funny Face Heifer Her-fer {herford] And Again With Her Winter Coat On.....

Mum

[RosewoodfarmVA]

Perhaps a stupid question, but why do that with either horses or cows? Being a "cow man" I have never met anyone that puts their animals up at night, and as long as they have a shed to go under during a storm, I see no sense in wasting either the time or space to do that! Except in winter snowstorms when we let them into the barn, our animals (goats and cows and calves) are usually in the various pastures with no shelter whatsoever except trees. I just don't see why you'd do it in the first place, horse or cow!

[wildhorse]

RosewoodfarmVA the main reason is to save on wear and tear on the pasture.

[mamahen]

That's why we do it, too. Especially with the dry weather. Gives the pasture a little break.

Plus if anyone ever needs to be put up (for medical reasons or whatever), they're used to being in.

[jerzeygurl]

I assume they are wanting to tame the animal for handling. When I am raising a future milker, I keep it close and handle as much as possible.

[RosewoodfarmVA]

If your goal is to rest the pasture then you need to cross fence it and give each section a few weeks rest, not a few hours at night! Wear and tear on a pasture occurs all day long while they walk to and fro seeking what to eat. At night they are stationary, while sleeping. Plants cannot regrow in a few hours of darkness. If your pastures are overpastured then take the animals off them and feed hay until they can regrow to atleast a foot tall.
As to taming the animals, I guess that would make sense to a certain extent, although we have never had trouble with ours. But of course we do spend time with them in the pasture and so on. Seems to me that a horse that is ridden daily would be "tame" enough not to need extra handling at night to keep it that way. I guess it depends on your purpose for the calf. If it's gonna be a milker then the extra handling may help, but a beef calf would be better off in the environment it was made for. A local dairy raises all of its heifers (40+ a year) in a large pasture, without any human touch at all (just the tractor putting in a bale of hay in winter) until they are 2 yo then put them in with the bull in the main pasture. They don't have problems when it comes time to milk.

One other thing to consider....a calf in a stall has no where to go away form its own poop, so it will get much dirtier than a calf with lots of space(pasture), because it will poop in one place and lay somewhere else. The picture above by mamahen is a good illustration of that. Not trying to be divisive, just questioning the sense of it all!

[hoofinitnorth]

Silly question - why keep the cow separate from the horses?

[wildhorse]

Originally Posted by hoofinitnorth

Silly question - why keep the cow separate from the horses?

Because I have a cutting horse and she thinks its her job to make cows move.
She would run it to death.

[hoofinitnorth]

Hahaha well that makes sense!

If you didn't have a cutting horse and everyone got along, could you safely pasture cattle & horses together (assuming your pasture could handle that kind of traffic)? I understand confining them can be trouble with just about any animal if the space is not large enough for the type and # and attitude of the animals confined...

[sewtlm]

You do know that the calf may chew your horses tails?

[wildhorse]

Originally Posted by sewtlm

You do know that the calf may chew your horses tails?

Im going to keep them separate.

[jerzeygurl]

Originally Posted by hoofinitnorth

Hahaha well that makes sense!

If you didn't have a cutting horse and everyone got along, could you safely pasture cattle & horses together (assuming your pasture could handle that kind of traffic)? I understand confining them can be trouble with just about any animal if the space is not large enough for the type and # and attitude of the animals confined...

if they all got along sure, but

our horses and cows coexist nicely untill a calf is born . THEN the horses will do their best to stomp it to death.