Post by nextyear on Nov 25, 2023 23:06:54 GMT -5
My new cow is a small jersey. Not a mini just a smaller framed regular jersey cow. She is terrible on her feet though! Are some cows just prone to falling, weak legged? Her feet look ok but her front knees are quite knobby. I was blaming it on her being thin but I'm starting to wonder if she could have injured it at one point or something? She doesn't seem to have any trouble getting up from laying down, but she falls so easily. One place we have really struggled is in the stanchion. At her old farm, I'm pretty sure she had side rails being milked (we do not) and she was milked from her right side. she walks in and plants her feet with the left foot forward. Unfortunately in our set up we can only milk from the left side. as a result we always have to try and move her foot back and it really irritates her so she kicks when we press and tell her back. we often try to push her over some because she crowds our small working space. It's like she is trying to lean on a side rail. She literally stands at an angle until she just tips over. We have taken to putting the kow kant kick bar on her and then tying it to the other side wall to hold her up. It's all very dramatic. Once she puts her foot in a spot you can push all day long and she isn't stepping over. She just leans and leans until she tips over. Any one have a cow like this? Is it just being dramatic or could she have been injured? She doesn't lift her tail to poop. Its so odd. she just lets it hang over the hole and get covered in poop. She doesn't even lift it a little. She's a clean cow with a poopy tail. She also is very easily startled. She doesn't like to be combed. Her skin quivers anytime I touch her. Shes very sensitive to noises. When we tap off the curry comb or when I go out the gate behind her while milking to go comb my other cow it she jumps and get anxious. One day my husband tapped the shovel while I was cleaning her and I thought she might go through the roof. She honestly reminds me of a dog that was beaten. I do not think her last farm was abusive in any way shape or form but they did say she was a cow that got picked on so maybe that is the issue? I still have her separated from my other cow so she has no one pushing her around at all here. She isn't aggressive and she isn't standoffish. She'll walk over to me at the fence, she just has these odd behaviors. She acts very very different from my other cow so I was wondering if this is a normal thing and if theres anything I can do to 1. help her adjust to being milked from the opposite side 2. make her stop leaning and tipping over 3. teach her to step her foot 4. explain why she doesn't ever lift her tail 5. determine why she is so scared of noises and help her to relax a bit. Thanks so much!