Calf licking hands

[moopups]

Have a neighbor saying an old farmer from her childhood said that a calf that licked a persons hand gained a bacteria which lead to the calf dying. Has anyone heard this before?

Apparently this is not true in that a great many have licked my hands without dying over the years.

[LuckyGRanch]

Just what did that old farmer have on his hands?!

[AnnB]

Originally Posted by moopups

Have a neighbor saying an old farmer from her childhood said that a calf that licked a persons hand gained a bacteria which lead to the calf dying. Has anyone heard this before?

Apparently this is not true in that a great many have licked my hands without dying over the years.

This has more to do with not allowing the calves to lick everybody who visits.
Took me a while to figure out that that was where our scour problems were coming from.

Ann B

[willow_girl]

Hmmm, interesting!

I noticed when my heifer was very young (> a week) she went around licking (or tasting) EVERYTHING!

I wondered if this was nature's way of exposing calves to certain bacteria (possible pathogens) when they still have maximum immunity from mom's colostrum?