Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 7:44 pm
When we bought the dun cow in the picture below the black cow seen grazing with her stood like a statue and stared - as if she had seen a ghost for a good few minutes without moving or batting an eyelid and then continued to stare whilst getting a closer look for about 10 minutes without turning away once. They hadn't seen each other for 3 years and the black cow was only a yearling then, the dun cow, now 12 was always a fairly dominant animal, lead cow when they came from the field and we assumed the black cow was afraid of her. However when they went in together a few weeks later it turned out that we were wrong, they were actually really fond of each other and were really pleased to be together, they get on very well. It seemed to us like a human trait to stare like that, as if she couldn't believe her eyes to see the other cow again after 3 years!
Once this - a different dun cow had done her time in isolation after we had bought her we put the black heifer on her right in the picture below in with her for company. You rarely see them far apart in the field and when they had to be in different fields as one was spending time with the bull there was much mooing back and forth. Dexters definitely form strong bonds and resent it when they are split up.
We have noticed that the herd like to lie on the brow of the field and chew their cud, it is probably a coincidence that they also seem to lie in a circle quite often.
Another thing that springs to mind about Dexter behaviour is family groups. We haven't had much chance to observe it here as we don't have many families here as yet but we did see it as Bunksland. Also on the same subject we have a cow that was until last year at the bottom of the pecking order. Suddenly she got quite determined and has been at the top for at least six months now. It took a while for us to realise why this was, as we couldn't understand what had changed and then we saw what was going on. Every time she has a little altercation with another female along comes her huge two year old son and although he doesn't always actually do anything he makes his presence felt - amazing. He has always loved his Mum and mooed to her if she was in a different field, so we shouldn't be so surprised that he protects her. I wonder where she will be in the pecking order in a few months time as he will be in the freezer soon!
Stephanie
Once this - a different dun cow had done her time in isolation after we had bought her we put the black heifer on her right in the picture below in with her for company. You rarely see them far apart in the field and when they had to be in different fields as one was spending time with the bull there was much mooing back and forth. Dexters definitely form strong bonds and resent it when they are split up.
We have noticed that the herd like to lie on the brow of the field and chew their cud, it is probably a coincidence that they also seem to lie in a circle quite often.
Another thing that springs to mind about Dexter behaviour is family groups. We haven't had much chance to observe it here as we don't have many families here as yet but we did see it as Bunksland. Also on the same subject we have a cow that was until last year at the bottom of the pecking order. Suddenly she got quite determined and has been at the top for at least six months now. It took a while for us to realise why this was, as we couldn't understand what had changed and then we saw what was going on. Every time she has a little altercation with another female along comes her huge two year old son and although he doesn't always actually do anything he makes his presence felt - amazing. He has always loved his Mum and mooed to her if she was in a different field, so we shouldn't be so surprised that he protects her. I wonder where she will be in the pecking order in a few months time as he will be in the freezer soon!
Stephanie
