Post by Lisa on Sept 13, 2010 17:00:39 GMT -5
Just brought home three Dexterd last Thursday night. Our first cows ever (tho we're old hands at dairy goats and pigs). We got a good deal on the cattle -- too good to pass up, really -- but we're understanding now, what the catch was...
The owner said they'd not been handled in about a year and we understood the problem with that -- theoretically -- but now we're dealing with it in practical terms. When we arrived at the owner's property, two of the moomoos (the 1 yr heifer and the 4 mo steer) had escaped the pen and were diddybopping down the road. We spent about an hour rounding them back up and funneling them into the trailer. They are very leery of any human touch, and could only be "led" by scaring them where we wanted them to go. Realizing how very skiddish they were from the start, when we got 'em home, we decided not to let them out into the "paddock" right away but to keep them closed in the barn, so that they'd be forced to get used to us. They have plenty of light and air and free access to good hay and water and we are going out and talking to them and just "being around" several times a day. The little steer calf has gotten to where he'll let us pet him (sometimes), but the mama and the heifer are still very leery (tho the mama has reportedly been hand milked before...). Those horns are very pointy, so we're being friendly, but not pushing our luck.
The question is whether this is the right way to go. We're just moving on instinct right now. We have a two wire electric fence around the 1/4 (to 1/2) acre we have for them right now, but there is lucious grass on the outside of that narrow wire and scrap on the inside of it. And a busy road nearby. Can't afford to have the fencing not work! We thought we'd take someone's advice (from an earlier thread) and tie the girls one-by-one to a post near the hot wire so they can learn and be controlled at the same time. But... we haven't been able to get close enough to get a harness on any of them yet...
Are we being too chicken?
The owner said they'd not been handled in about a year and we understood the problem with that -- theoretically -- but now we're dealing with it in practical terms. When we arrived at the owner's property, two of the moomoos (the 1 yr heifer and the 4 mo steer) had escaped the pen and were diddybopping down the road. We spent about an hour rounding them back up and funneling them into the trailer. They are very leery of any human touch, and could only be "led" by scaring them where we wanted them to go. Realizing how very skiddish they were from the start, when we got 'em home, we decided not to let them out into the "paddock" right away but to keep them closed in the barn, so that they'd be forced to get used to us. They have plenty of light and air and free access to good hay and water and we are going out and talking to them and just "being around" several times a day. The little steer calf has gotten to where he'll let us pet him (sometimes), but the mama and the heifer are still very leery (tho the mama has reportedly been hand milked before...). Those horns are very pointy, so we're being friendly, but not pushing our luck.
The question is whether this is the right way to go. We're just moving on instinct right now. We have a two wire electric fence around the 1/4 (to 1/2) acre we have for them right now, but there is lucious grass on the outside of that narrow wire and scrap on the inside of it. And a busy road nearby. Can't afford to have the fencing not work! We thought we'd take someone's advice (from an earlier thread) and tie the girls one-by-one to a post near the hot wire so they can learn and be controlled at the same time. But... we haven't been able to get close enough to get a harness on any of them yet...
Are we being too chicken?