Oh and she is beautiful! I am very embarrassed to say her registered name is Oprah....I just cannot see me in my backyard yelling for Oprah, so she will be getting a new name!
Thank you both! She is a Dexter, and she isn't coming up to me yet, but I'm sure she will soon. Before her old owner unloaded her, she and I met through the side of the trailer and she gave me a lick and let me scritch her on the nose. Hopefully we will make friends soon!
Oh she is beautiful!! I love her! For me....feed helps me to make the bestest of friends when it comes to critters. LOL! So glad you found such a pretty girl!
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"Some people without brains do an aweful lot of talking..." The Scarecrow in Oz
Cattle love range cubes and apple crumble treats intended for horses.
I recommend you cut off about the upper two inches of those horns though.
I will pick some up at TSC Monday! I have Kongs to go on the horns as soon as we make friends!!!!!! (They are kinda scary lol!) I may looking in to banding them, gotta see if that's dangerous for her first, I will deal with horns on her if I have to and disbud the calves.
She's a heifer, turned 3 in March, pasture-bred, best guess owner said maybe late September for a calf. She's got a pretty good udder going on already, but it isn't tight, I wasn't able to get a pic of it yet.
Ya know, I have hollered worse things that Oprah in my pasture! LOL! Look at it this way.....maybe she'll become rich....in milk at least! LOL! Not a horns fan but ya know....they work on her. Get them balls on the end and enjoy!
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"Some people without brains do an aweful lot of talking..." The Scarecrow in Oz
Cattle love range cubes and apple crumble treats intended for horses.
I recommend you cut off about the upper two inches of those horns though.
I made it to TSC, and got DOBBINS DELIGHTSŪ APPLE & OAT-FLAVORED HORSE TREATS, are those OK? I couldn't find anything that said "crumble." (I don't know anything about horses, I'm deathly allergic to them unfortunately)
I got pretty turquoise Kongs to go on her horns, that will be the 2nd thing I do once we make friends! Halter, then horns LOL. I think we will be disbudding calves, because they do scare me.
Yes, what I was referring to is an extruded product. You may have first give her a taste by putting them in her feed container. Next feed them through the fence. Just hold out with your thumb and index finger. She will sniff them at first, then open her mouth. You may have to sort of drop in the first couple. Once you have established a bond, you can go into the pen. Don't over do it as it is a treat, not regular feed.
Had one cow which would suck up my whole hand.
I have three donkeys which get them occasionally. As well as 'special' cows.
Thank you Ken! She loves these! I just read your post, but we've already made some progress (I think!).
I googled and didn't see anything she shouldn't have in the ingredients, so I went out with a few, in the pen. She wanted to check them out when i held one out to her, but I was making her nervous, so I dropped 2 on top of her hay and left.
A little while later, I went back out with 3 in my pocket and she came to me to get them, the first one I held out and edged as close to her as possible, the other 2 I held so she could see them, but kept my hand by my side, she came and got them.
Went out again with hubby, after she saw the treats, she came over and got them, she let hubby pet her head/nose for a brief moment.
Then my mom came to meet her, with my 13 yr old (he spent the weekend with grandma), and she came over to get treats from everyone, when they were gone, she kept licking my hand trying to get more LOL. Wouldn't let me pet her head, but she isn't "trotting" away anymore, she just backs up slowly if we get in her space.
I think she's had plenty for today, so I made sure she has plenty of hay and water for the night. Told hubby to always have a couple in his pocket when he goes out to take care of her. Thank you SO MUCH for the suggestion!
Dexters are great, I do miss mine, but Wendel has them and I've got an order in for the first couple of girls she has out of my old Dexter and Jersey, so we will see.. Mine really liked when I would brush her, and I got her in the habit of lifting her feet, just like a horse, for something to do... those little carrot treats work great too. (A little cheaper would be the frosted oatmeal cookies at the dollar store...) and don't forget to get a hold of a couple really good books. I think one is called "A Family Cow" or something like that. Someone help me remember the names of a few of the "must have" books on a homestead cow? (((And read them right away))) Don't wait until a problem occurs and you need to rush to find the information... You're making me want to get a milk cow again....!
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A good dog may be hard to find, ...but a hard dog usually means it's been dead for a while
Dexters are great, I do miss mine, but Wendel has them and I've got an order in for the first couple of girls she has out of my old Dexter and Jersey, so we will see.. Mine really liked when I would brush her, and I got her in the habit of lifting her feet, just like a horse, for something to do... those little carrot treats work great too. (A little cheaper would be the frosted oatmeal cookies at the dollar store...) and don't forget to get a hold of a couple really good books. I think one is called "A Family Cow" or something like that. Someone help me remember the names of a few of the "must have" books on a homestead cow? (((And read them right away))) Don't wait until a problem occurs and you need to rush to find the information... You're making me want to get a milk cow again....!
Thanks for the suggestions Slev! I bought the Keeping a Family Cow book about 8 months ago, and I've read it a few times already. I've also been reading the KAFC forum for a year or so. I have a really poor memory, so I have to reread stuff a million times to "get it," but I've learned quite a bit. I have a couple of the Backyard Homestead books, but I really haven't found too many books about raising a single dairy cow (I know Dexters are dual purpose, that was my compromise with hubby, he's after beef, I'm after milk )
What I can't find is a livestock vet, ugh. I've made some friends in the local goat community, and my tenant has *some* experience with cows, so I have a little help if we run into problems, fortunately!
What are the little carrot treats? Horse treats? I'm looking for some smaller treats, the ones I bought are hard as rocks and impossible to break (though my son says they taste fantastic, I had to thump him on the head to get him to quit eating them! He's 19, lol) Anyway, I want smaller ones, ideally I'd like to be able to give her 30-50 a day (3-5 each time I visit her, which is as often as possible throughout the day!). I'll check the dollar store next time I'm in that town!
I bought a curry comb for her, but she's not ready for me to put my hands on her yet. She's letting me pet her nose for just a second to get her treat, so we are making some progress.
(I could babble all day about her, sorry, I thought I was still years away from getting my cow, and it just happened out of the blue over the past week)
it's me!
is she a dexter cow?
)
