cow behaviour 101 - questions from a newbie
Nov 23, 2018 11:23:12 GMT -5
rileycows and mommasquilts like this
Post by honeygoats on Nov 23, 2018 11:23:12 GMT -5
so i guess here i am with my first few questions. just a bit of an idea of where i'm coming from: i've had fair success with a well-trained old horse, NO success with three bossy horses, had to get rid of all of them, they scared me no end. good success with all the dogs i had from pup age on, no success with two adult dogs, one seriously behaviourally challenged. good to very good success with my donkeys, two of which i bought virtually untouched, and the other two being their foals.
given that i am on the timid side when it comes to large livestock, i am trying to establish myself as the boss cow fearing that the cow senses my insecurity. bronte generally moves away from me when i bring in hay (am hand feeding for technical reasons, but also to establish a better relationship and get her used to me moving around her). but the last two days she moved just a little, so i made her move more, waving my beautiful pink cattle stick and myself. she moved away gallopping and bucking, but never got closer again and stopped after a few hops, looking at me. the steer sometimes does the same when she moves him out of the way. is this okay? i would hate to overstate my point and get her scared of me.
also, she is quite talkative she comes up to the water in the morning (living in an off-grid, no running water situation, i also have to water her) and sometimes moos in a low, gentle way, but sometimes she gives off that moo that starts low and ends on a high pitch. what does that mean? i am a translator by training, but not for cow language, unfortunately
when i put the grain and some alfalfa cubes in her little trough, she will follow, but not come closer and eat until i've left. that looks ok to me.
so my plan is to keep working around her, picking up the manure (because i'd rather want that on the compost heap right away), feeding her at least twice a day, talking to her, but not trying to touch her. she will sometimes sniff my fingers through the panels. the first couple times slight head swinging, i told her NO, now she just sniffs. proper stanchion is not yet built, so i'm not attempting any unsafe trials until that is done. the plan is to build that stanchion as similar as possible to the one she was previously milked in, leave it open on the back and have her eat her grain and cubes in there only, then eventually move up to her, shut the back and start - hopefully - brushing her and doing stuff like that. does that make sense? i am grateful for any input, and i have found sooo many intersting things here already that i am optimistic i can make this work.