Freshly calved heifer

mallethead

Hi
this is my first thread and i'm looking for some advice
i had a heifer that calved yesterday morning a good Charolais simental cross and she had a nice limousin heifer calf
She has loads of milk ,had the calf up and sucked and everything is fine except you can't go into the shed she comes straight for you and if she got you would do serious damage
Even when you're the other side of the gate she would come at you
I would think bad of parting with her as she is a good heifer
, but i wouldn't want anyone to be hurt or god forbid killed by her .
i wouldn't sell her in the mart so she stays or heads to the factory
She was quiet enough up to this , i have seen heifers a bit contrary after calving but she seems to have a bad streek in her
I have another cow recently calved and she would rear two calves no problem as she did last year so i would be happy enough to foster the calf
Anyone have this problem and how did they get on

Alibaba

She's probably just stressed out after calving. Seen lots of them like that and most calm down after a few days. JUST be careful of her as they can be dangerous.

pakalasa

It all depends really. Some are agressive at calving but quieten down after a few days. I had one stone mad bitch once, that would charge from 100 yards if you went into the field. Even after a few weeks she was still agressive. I took 3 calves off her but culled her in the end. Too many people had told me to get rid of her. So in the end, I loaded her for the factory.
I don't know how you can quieten her, apart from giving her time and see if she quietens down. If not - well you know yourself. Life's too short..... and precious.

Bizzum

We would have a few the same. No doubt they're a pain, particularly if, for many reasons, you need to handle them or the calf. It's no fun either assisting a cow calving if she's nasty.
A lot of people will tell you to get rid of her, and maybe it's hard to argue with that but like I said we have a few that vary from threatening to downright dangerous at calving. Your calving set-up needs to be very good if you're going to consider handling a dangerous cow.
I find with the nasty ones that they calm down a little every day and after a week they are bearable!
I also find that if a heifer is nasty at calving, that she will always be the same at calving but probably not as bad with experience.
In this case, you say the heifer is a good one with plenty of milk, I'd expect a big change in her as every day goes by and would see no reason to foster the calf.
Do you intend letting her out to grass for a while or is it indoors for them?
Give her a bit of time and see how she goes.

mallethead

Not sure what to do weather here is lovely today and it will lash out of the heavens the next
We also have had a fair bit of frost
Was thinking of leaving her in with the older cow that calved she might settle her a bit better
She has taken a paticular dislike to the boss and i wouldn't want anyone hurt

Bizzum

mallethead wrote: »

She has taken a paticular dislike to the boss and i wouldn't want anyone hurt

Bizarrely, the worse offender at home has it in for him too!

leg wax

i have a few as well ,the mad one i put out with her calf every winter because she would get me in the shed,the others all come right after a week or so but this one will kill you as long as her calf is with her.the only way i can get her out of the pen is with the tractor,i had a pied come in through the back window in my first year at suckling,broke the 2 pieces of glass.needed the back window open after that to let the smell out of the cab and seat.:eek:

sh1tstirrer

Leg wax what is a pied? Op do you have a dog with around the calved heifer? Because dogs will make cows go daft as they think they are a threat to their newborn calf.

Bizzum

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

Leg wax what is a pied?

Rightly or wrongly I took Pied to be Piedmontese.

Could be a pied wagtail though:D

vanderbadger

Piedmontese maybe ?

mallethead

No dog with me but i had the dog out earlier she might have got the smell of him from me
She watches everything even the poor auld cats have to be wary of her

leg wax

yes a piedmontese.

tim04750

Ah nothin' like a simmy cross to keep you on your toes,smashin calves but they are the spawn of satan.
Have fun dehorning,they're like a hand grenade in a dustbin

Bizzum

Just to show there can be a silver lining in this:

One of the first Ped Charolais cows I had years ago, was a lovely polite cow until near calving and a week afterwards. Before any other visible outward signs of calving, she would keep you out of the calving pen, when you'd go to feed her. She'd calve that or the next day!

blue5000

OP what exactly is her breeding? Is she by a simmenthal bull or charalois bull?
She might settle down after a few weeks, I had one cow go for me when I went to tag the calf, she's fine now, yours could be just very protective of the calf.

mallethead

She is out of a simental cross cow and after a charolais bull
She is very protective of the calf ,just as well she sucked i would't like to be getting to do that with her

blue5000

Have you anymore by the same bull, if so what are they like?

mallethead

no she is the only one ,i bought her a while back and she settled in fine was a quite heifer enough dosed her and she got some vacinations no worse than any other heifer being handled

Bizzum

mallethead wrote: »

no she is the only one ,i bought her a while back and she settled in fine was a quite heifer enough dosed her and she got some vacinations no worse than any other heifer being handled

I've never noticed a correlation between docility and this calving behaviour. Some of our quiter cows will be nasty at calving, and some of the flighty cows will be flighty at calving but not aggressive.
The old Ch cow I mentioned earlier was nasty at calving, her daughter was the same, and her grand daughter is quite at calving.........I'll know next year if her great grand daughter is ok:).

whelan1

had one really mad one during the summer, hadto leave her in as calf was unwell... would go through you for a short cut! we had to let her out, even when we where scanning the other day she was facing us:eek: