Post by bella on Mar 8, 2010 7:50:29 GMT -5
I wonder if many of you have brought home cows from large dairy herds? Lucy is 4 or 5 years old and is due with her 3rd calf (I think). At the dairy the calves were taken away from their mothers, so she never mothered her own babies or fed any calf at all. When she came here I put a 10 day old foster calf on her, but she never accepted Honey as her own. She protected her a little, and slept close to her, but never licked her and would only feed her if restrained by her halter, with a bucket of feed for distraction.
We taught her to be led on a halter, to be hand milked, to accept Honey feeding (though only with the halter tied, and the feed bucket). I've taught her to come when called and she knows when I want her to come to the milking shed, or to the pen for the calf - different calls, different buckets, etc.
I wonder if she will recognise her calf as her own baby and mother it? I know this depends on the cow, and I presume she should be okay. Am I being naive to think it'll all go smoothly though?
I'd love to sneak another foster calf onto her as she's having a wagyu (beef) calf X (she is Jersey). I can get a pure Jersey heifer calf from a nearby farm (same farm as Honey came from). I'm a bit nervous about jeopardising her relationship with her own calf though, since it'll be a new thing for her. And I'm thinking I may have to go through with the whole tying up thing that I had to do with her for Honey.
Gee, it's like motherhood all over again isn't it - so many questions and worries... Just wondered if anyone's had similar experiences and have any tips for me?
We taught her to be led on a halter, to be hand milked, to accept Honey feeding (though only with the halter tied, and the feed bucket). I've taught her to come when called and she knows when I want her to come to the milking shed, or to the pen for the calf - different calls, different buckets, etc.
I wonder if she will recognise her calf as her own baby and mother it? I know this depends on the cow, and I presume she should be okay. Am I being naive to think it'll all go smoothly though?
I'd love to sneak another foster calf onto her as she's having a wagyu (beef) calf X (she is Jersey). I can get a pure Jersey heifer calf from a nearby farm (same farm as Honey came from). I'm a bit nervous about jeopardising her relationship with her own calf though, since it'll be a new thing for her. And I'm thinking I may have to go through with the whole tying up thing that I had to do with her for Honey.
Gee, it's like motherhood all over again isn't it - so many questions and worries... Just wondered if anyone's had similar experiences and have any tips for me?