Is this a common problem?

DownHome · #1 04/10/15, 12:33 PM

We sent our milk cow down to the neighbors for a month to get bred. She was in with 15-20 other cows. They separated her to feed her because she is considerably smaller than their meat breed cows. When we got her back she looks skinnier and rather beat up. I think she is acting strange. I know she bellowed back and forth with our other cows all month. The first day we got her back she layer around nearly all the time and didn't eat much, she still doesn't seem to be eating as much as I think she should, but now she will get up and come see me. Is it possible she is just depressed and shaken up from being with all those bigger cattle or should I be watching for other signs and how long do I wait before contact the vet? She seems to be slowly slowly improving, she has been back for 4 days. We have her separated from the other cows so she can concentrate on putting some weight back on.

Bret · #2 04/10/15, 01:40 PM

We can learn a lot about how to treat people and how individuals are treated by watching cows. A cow is not just a cow when introduced. I see constant bulling at feeding time in my herd. Hope she got bred for you. Her needs and their needs are a little different too.

MO_cows · #3 04/10/15, 02:27 PM

She's smaller, she's different looking, she's new to the herd. It was probably a rough month for her.

Chief Cook · #4 04/11/15, 07:25 PM

Hope your girl is back to normal very soon.

Lazy J · #5 04/11/15, 07:59 PM

You threw her into a different herd which distrupted the pecking order. She had to fight for a position in the herd and since she is smaller she probably fell right to the bottom.

No matter how much we try to impose human emotions of fairness on our livestock, they are still livestock and, like it or not, can be cruel and hurtful.

G. Seddon · #6 04/12/15, 05:38 AM

Another way to deal with this might have been to pasture the cow with just the bull so that she wasn't placed in the position of having to protect herself from 15-20 cows and try to compete for food. She could also have been given a shot of lutalyse to bring her into heat within 3 days to make the visit shorter. Just something to consider......

DownHome · #7 04/20/15, 05:40 PM

Bringing the bull here is not an option, but lutalyse would have been, good point thanks, We will remember that for next time.

She is doing much better now and I know its silly but I think part of it was she was lonely. We put her back out with her regular cows and they all went nuts jumping, playing, grooming, and gathering around her. Wish we had gotten it on video.