Cowology 101

Barnhouse · #1 03/10/13, 05:34 PM

Ok, here's how it happened-

My husband I bought our homestead a year ago. Slowly but surely we're becoming more educated about hobby farming being semi-retired we are having a wonderful time.

Last night we attended a fund raising dinner for a neighbor who is in the hospital. Besides the dinner, they also had some raffles and one of the prizes was a heifer. Today I get a phone call to let me know, guess what- I won!

Well good, I'm really

about that and we certainly have the room and time to take on our new member of the family. What I don't have is any cow experience.

I have to move the animal here this week and I don't even know how to prepare, so ......where do I begin?

We do have an existing electric fence and a small barn. Now what?
Thanks for your help.

**gone-a-milkin** · #2 03/10/13, 05:53 PM

Wow, congratulations.
How old is your heifer, and what breed?

In the very beginning she will be scared and maybe try to run off.
The first thing to do is make a very secure place for her to "land".
Do not trust electric fence for this.
Set up a smallish pen using panels or other good stout fencing.
Keep her in there for the first few days at least.

G. Seddon · #3 03/10/13, 06:24 PM

gone-a-milkin has a very good suggestion and here are a few more:

1. Get yourself a good basic book about cattle ("Storey's Guide to Raising Beef Cattle" by Heather Smith Thomas). It will be a tremendous help to you.

2. Get in touch with your county extension agent and take advantage of all his/her experience and contacts. GET HAY AS SOON AS YOU CAN (square bales must be kept inside the barn)! You'll need it!

3. Find a large animal vet in the area and make contact with him/her BEFORE you need help.

4. Strongly consider getting another cow/steer to keep this one company if you can. (Or find a home for this one with other cattle?)

While I am somewhat apprehensive about animals being raffled off as prizes, I hope you'll do your best by this heifer whether you decide to keep her or not. Good luck!

unregistered41671 · #4 03/10/13, 06:27 PM

Good posts above. I can not stress enough to put her and keep her in a very secure panel type fence for a few days. If you want to keep her.

MARYDVM · #5 03/10/13, 09:01 PM

There are lot more dairy cows than beef in NY. If she's a dairy calf she's had some handling and should be fairly tame. How old is she?

Barnhouse · #6 03/11/13, 06:44 AM

Thank you everyone. Yes, this is a dairy cow. Holstein. I will find out today how old - I didn't ask details on it before since we really were just there to help the neighbor.
But I assume it's young because before I could ask, the woman told me yesterday they will not allow me to transport it in the back of a pick-up, not that I would do that anyway.

Since there's still snow on the ground here, I was going to keep her in the barn until she settles in some, and we were about to move a pony here as well. Will that be sufficient company for the heifer?

What and how much should I expect to feed this animal?
Thankfully I found out last night that a member of our church works at this dairy, so I will have someone to guide me thru the "adoption" process.

But FINALLY I get to have a cow!

Yvonne's hubby · #7 03/11/13, 06:50 AM

I would not run the pony with the heifer. Ponies like to chase cattle!

Barnhouse · #8 03/11/13, 07:33 AM

No, I was not thinking of putting them together. I was just wondering if they would be ok as companion animals in the barn.

Barnhouse · #9 03/11/13, 08:46 AM

Ok, I just got off the phone with the dairy and they're telling me she's between 2-3 months old. Is that the norm for being away from mama?

MARYDVM · #10 03/11/13, 09:32 AM

At a dairy, she never was with mama. She's been bottle or pail fed milk replacer. Make sure she's completely weaned and eating grain and hay, or you may have to buy some milk replacer yourself.

**gone-a-milkin** · #11 03/11/13, 09:38 AM

When you go to pick her up, see if you can get a look at her mama.
That will give you a bit of information about your calf's genetics.

I agree that she likely wasn't left to nurse her mom for the entire 2-3 months since her birth.
Do be sure she is eating her calf starter grain and hay very well before weaning her from milk/replacer (whichever they have raised her on).

bknthesdle · #12 03/11/13, 11:02 AM

If a dairy is giving away a heifer calf, I'd think the chances are she is a free-martin?? The dairies around here keep their heifer calves back for replacements.

Barnhouse · #13 03/11/13, 02:17 PM

Well, I feel a LOT better now. We went to the dairy and the owner was more than willing to answer all my questions. We were allowed to look over all the heifers and choose which ever one we wanted. The one we chose is not quite 2 months old, so to my surprise the owner said they would keep her until she was completely weaned and ready to go.

I was very impressed with how clean and well maintained the entire property was and I feel good that they were not just trying to dump an animal. I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity- thank You God!

So we will be bringing our Holstein heifer home in a few weeks which gives me more time to prepare my barn and yard and learn more "cowology."

genebo · #14 03/11/13, 03:43 PM

You are lucky to get this opportunity to make sure your place is ready for her. Particularly fences.

Your new heifer will not know where she lives for several days after she arrives. If she were to get out, she wouldn't know where to come back to, so make sure that doesn't happen.

It's perfectly normal for the calf to bawl for about 3 days. She will miss her mama and herdmates. This is a good chance to step in and be a replacement for her mama and friends. You be her herd!

Barnhouse · #15 03/11/13, 09:26 PM

I hear you. We've got a few weeks to get it set up right, so I won't waste time.
She's been separated from mama, but yeah she's gonna miss her barn mates, so
she'll get lots of attention. Lucky, no. Blessed, oh yeah.
I've been wanting a cow for years, so this is a wonderful opportunity.

bigmudder77 · #16 03/12/13, 07:14 AM

Ask them if you can buy a bull calf from them as well that way she wont be lonely they seem to do better in groups

And yes at a dairy farm she might of been with her mom long enough to get her cleaned off they dont leave the calves with the moms very long too much can happen to the calf just left with the mom

And yes get hay fast and a couple bags of feed we use an 18% calf starter mix and grass hay or hay thats not hard and full of stems works best for calves

Good luck