Is craziness contagious?

[PACrofter]

So we have a cow and her steer who are crazy. We've had them about a year now and she was crazy when we got her, but we had hoped it was because she was protecting her then-newborn calf. However, she hasn't calmed down or warmed up to us in the past year, and now her good-sized steer is as skittish as she is. (They're both Galloways, for what that's worth.)

We're planning on adding some new heifers to the 'herd' this summer, but I don't want them to catch this craziness thing from the older cattle. Am I in for an unpleasant surprise when I bring the heifers home? Is there any way to calm down the cow and steer beforehand? Or will I have to shoot her and the steer to prevent them from turning the entire herd crazy?

[Ronney]

In recent years there has been a lot of research done on temperment, mainly in connection with meat condition, but there is no doubt that skittyness or calmness is inherited to some degree.

To begin with, your cow will probably upset these heifers when they first arrive and they'll all be running around like blue-arsed flys but if they are quiet cattle by nature they will soon settle down - and with any luck, once the pecking order has been established, she may integrate with the herd and become quieter too. Part of her problem may be that she is an only cow and while some cows deal with that very well, others can become quite frenetic.

Give her a chance, especially if she produces a nice looking calf, and see how it goes. I'm a great one for giving everything the benefit of the doubt and most often it pays off. The only time it didn't was with a lovely quiet Angus bull that went over every fence on the farm. I threatened him with all sorts of dire consequences but persisted with him - until he scaled our cattle yards. If he could get out of them, he could get out of anything so the dire consequences came to fruition and he went on a big OE to the works.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[cowkeeper]

Temperment is genetic, and also learned. If your cow is rebred and has a heifer you want to keep, pull her and hand raise her, then get rid of the cow. While she and her steer are with you, pen them separately from your new heifers. A quiet friendly older animal will train your incoming heifers to be the same, but again depending on their genetic inheritance could be just 'manageable' or really laid back. As your herd grows, cull any nut cases or fence runners. They are not worth the grief. ck

[agmantoo]

My observations are that it is learned. As i was building the herd and brought cattle in if I happened to get a crazy one it would only be time to the herd started getting skittish. I eliminated the crazy wild ones and the herd would settle. I had a relative that have the most docile Herefords that one could imagine. He had something to occur that made a couple of the cows extremely skittish. Within weeks, if a stranger went into the pasture the entire herd would panic. Never retain a crazy. I have read that it takes 21 days for a bovine to learn or unlearn a habit. I don't wait the duration for the unlearning portion.

[ksfarmer]

Originally Posted by cowkeeper

Temperment is genetic, and also learned. If your cow is rebred and has a heifer you want to keep, pull her and hand raise her, then get rid of the cow. While she and her steer are with you, pen them separately from your new heifers. A quiet friendly older animal will train your incoming heifers to be the same, but again depending on their genetic inheritance could be just 'manageable' or really laid back. As your herd grows, cull any nut cases or fence runners. They are not worth the grief. ck

cowkeeper is correct, temperment is somewhat genetic. Temperment can also be contageous. One wild-eyed, head in the air critter can influence the behavior of the rest of the herd. It isn't worth the grief. Get her and her steer calf on a set of wheels and get rid of a headache.

[randiliana]

I agree with ksfarmer. We deal with a lot of cattle, year in and year out. One wild, head in the air cow will keep the whole herd unsettled, regardless of how quiet the others are naturally. We've sent some awfully nice cattle down the road because of their temprament.

Your situation is even worse, bringing a bunch of yearlings in with a wild cow, you are just asking for problems. Being yearlings, they will follow her example, and yearlings are flighty enough just because of their age.

[Timberline]

Why shoot them? Sell or butcher for the freezer. They will definitely influence new yearlings in a negative way. We always cull for temperament and any animals like you describe either get sold or go in the freezer, they aren't worth the trouble they cause.

Good luck.

[crowinghen]

We had a couple of Hereford heifers that had never been handled. I tried and tried to friendly them down to no avail.
Then we got a big older cow that was friendly as a dog. The heifers learned from her, it was okay to let us touch them. Their babies learned from them that it was okay, ( even great!) to be brushed
I think your older cow will teach any new cow, or her babies ( just like the steer) to avoid people. So if you want your herd to be friendly, you might want to sell or butcher her, and the steer, otherwise I'm pretty sure they will follow her example.

Susie

[PACrofter]

Thanks for all the responses. I think we will have to get rid of her, and the steer too, to avoid having a herd full of crazies. Oh, well, the freezer is getting kind of empty...