Can you change a cow's temperament? - Aggressive cow!

carole · Post by **carole** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:04 pm

We bought an in calf heifer at an auction a few months ago, she was flighty when we brought her home and decided to break out of what we thought (and for that matter what the other cows thought) was a secure field to join our bull calf and a couple of steers. We decided to leave her with them, and whilst she has not exactly calmed down totally she had become better (bull calf and steers very laid back). Yesterday she had her calf...oh boy we now have the cow from hell, we can't get near enough to tell if her calf is a boy or a girl and if we do approach she paws the ground and charges us. This is completely new to us as we have had heifers calve before with nothing like this reaction. Has anyone any experience/advice about this because at this rate the freezer is beckoning. Thanks

Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:43 pm

Lots of cows of all breeds can become very aggressive around calving. I always tell people a cow with a newborn calf is more dangerous than any bull. If this heifer has calmed down generally but gone agressive since calving she will almost certainly calm down within a week or two but will need to be treated with caution when she calves next year. This is the sort of behaviour from cows which has resulted in a significant number of suckler herd managers being injured when trying to put tags in etc in newborn calves. Dairy cows can do it as well as sucklers, I attended a friesian cow calving recently and she was very very aggressive. Eventually we got her in a corner behind a gate, with a rope on her head, I did an internal examination, all was well, but it took 45 minutes to get the rope off her again. Two days later she was back to her usual approachable self.

So what I am saying is that your heifer although scary is not necessarily abnormal and will almost certainly be back to her usual self in a few days. In the meantime take care.

Duncan

carole · Post by **carole** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 7:29 am

thanks Duncan this is reassuring we thought we had made a mistake by not her getting back with the main herd when she escaped but frankly as she legged it through a neighbours tennis court and across his beautifully manicured lawn we were just very relieved that we had got her back in any sort of field....and just so I can say it before you do, her forehand does need some work!

Sylvia · Post by **Sylvia** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 8:55 am

There are 2 separate problems here. First her flightiness and second the fact that she is horribly calf proud. The first is likely to improve with good fencing and calm treatment. We bought in 2 young ladies (with others) a few years ago. The others behaved very well moving as a group even though they were new to the holding, but the 2 in question were quite different. If we simply went into the field they would leave the rest and tear away to the far side, moving them around was a nightmare and cause for much swearing but I'm certain they were just terribly nervous. They are now 2 nice little cows who are very confident and behave just like the others.

The 'calf proud' cow is another matter. We've so far only had one and that was in our first group. Luckily she was already in a pen when she calved but the calf needed help to suck and I had to get her previous owners over to help which, bless them, they did. She did calm down eventually but I sent her back when the calf was weaned and kept the calf. She was a prize-winning beauty but I never felt the same about her. Most of our calvings take place in the field and I just didn't want to risk having that happen again. Even our 6'2" cattle mad contractor treated her with very great care. Her daughter hasn't inherited that trait and none of the others in the herd have so far. We give some cows a bit more space than others just after calving but feel confident if we had to intervene we could.

stew · Post by **stew** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 9:46 am

my oldest boss cow elizebeth is always as soft as butter until about 2 weeks away from droping
then she turns into a right handfull pawing the ground grumpy with me and other beasts
then when shes has new calf she likes to let everyone know about it and pushes people toward calf, runs up and down the road side to get folks attention as if to say look at my new baby
shes as giddy as a kipper

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 9:53 am

One of my totally trustworthy cows becomes extremely dangerous when with a new calf, even after a week. I have never seen anything move so quickly as when I tried to touch her calf once. After 1 or 2 weeks she starts to return to her normal, totally calm self.

carole · Post by **carole** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 10:16 am

Thanks for the advice it is appreciated, fortunately the calf is suckling well, ear tagging could be a problem and our more immediate problem is we are still not 100% certain what sex it is, guess we will have to get one of the kids to camp out in a neighbouring field making waterfall noises.

Woodmagic · Post by **Woodmagic** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 10:44 am

I have only experienced this twice in my lifetime. In each case the cow was horned, which made her even more dangerous. In the case of the first, I used to make a practice of tying her up before she calved, but then you need to ensure you are going to be in attendance. Providing all goes well it is possible to view from a distance, until she decides to calm down, but if she does have calving problems you need to be able to handle her. It is natural that a cow should wish to protect her calf which at that age is vulnerable to predators, particularly if she is strange to you, since she cannot be certain you haven’t designs on the calf. I sold the second cow, since in my experience this behaviour can be heritable. In the earlier case it took several generations to eliminate it completely.

PeterO · Post by **PeterO** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 12:04 am

I would suggest the freezer once the calf is weaned - who needs that kind of hassle

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 3:54 am

I tend to agree with PeterO. You have other heifers, stick with them. Because the calf's father is so quiet. The calf's nature may be better, but I wouldn't keep the heifer.

Rob R · Post by **Rob R** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 4:54 pm

There are two types of aggression, one is very much genetic & the other is learned, but it's not easy to tell the two apart when you don't have the benefit of sucessive years of breeder knowledge! Also there is an equally hard to distinguish difference between aggression & natural sex-linked behaviours. You want to encourage the natural protectiveness of a breeding cow as it means she will look after her calf better & you will spend less time treating neglected neonates. This is more apparent in sheep where some of the continental breeds have had the natural behaviours bred out of them, in the pursuit of other traits, so that some need constant shepherding just to raise their lambs. There has to be a fine balance between good protective behaviour & aggressive bahaviour though, and nervousness & aggression could have come from a previous bad experience with humans, which can be impossible to overcome.

The tendancy is to avoid handling the nervous or aggressive members of the herd but that's the only real way of finding out which type of aggression you are dealing with, either calming them or deciding that they are completely unmanageable. If you only handle them for the routine 'nasty' jobs, they can soon associate you with negative experiences, particularly if they are pre-stressed by gathering. Strip grazing the herd this year has meant a lot more regular close contact with the cattle, and subdividing pasture would have a similar effect as they associate that contact with fresh grazing. We also try giving a calming treat to the adults after any handling & before returning to the field, just so that they go back a little less stressed & hopefully remember the positive following the negative.

carole · Post by **carole** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 1:00 pm

Thanks for all the advice it is now a month since her calf was born and she hasn't changed a bit and as I do not want me or a member of my family to become a statistic she has got to go now rather than when the calf is weaned, which leads me to another question. I have searched the site and found really useful threads from Jan and March last year (posted by Kathy Millar) regarding feeding orphaned calves we do, however have a 'universal' mum in the herd who has been known to feed several calves at the same time so should we give it a go or take the calf straight into the barn?

Martin · Post by **Martin** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 7:10 pm

Carole if you can manage to keep her until the calf is 6 months it would make your life much easier. Can the cow and calf be put into a field on their own for this period? The calf could quite easily re adjust to being in contact with humans at that age.

Martin.

PeterO · Post by **PeterO** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 6:25 am

I would wean the calf at 3 months rather than drag it on - you can always give a bit of supplementary meal if needed.

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 6:34 am

Carole, if you have a nice quiet cow that could be willing to take the calf, then I would do so now. If it is learned behaviour, the foster mother will teach the calf to accept people. Plus its the calf's avenue for acceptance into the herd. It would be much harder blending the calf with her age group at a later date.

I kept the heifer of a nervy cow (which was then culled) and the effect of having the weaned heifer calf with the rest of the heifers, without her mother's influence has been interesting to see. She's more settled than I had anticipated.

It remains to be seen how she will behave when its her time to produce a calf. I have had a very nervous cow become quite easy to handle after producing two calves. Her mother was eaten soon after we bought them, but I kept the heifer because of her sire. I'm glad I did now as she produced the calf with the best weight gain in the herd. :laugh: