Post by dextermooz on Jun 5, 2011 5:44:20 GMT -5
I think I pushed my luck with Matilda this evening. I've progressed to being able to touch/scratch her from the top of her head, down her neck, back, tummy, side, hip and to the top of her tail (while she is busy eating her hay).
This evening I thought it worth seeing how she responded to having her udder/teats touched (I was standing at her shoulder). She responded instantly with a kick to my knee. Lucky it wasn't a full force kick, still I have a colourful impression of one of her toes just above my knee.
Lesson 1: Obviously cows can kick alot more forward than a horse can.
Lesson 2: Cow calming should be done behind the relative safety of metal bars and an head gate!
(In her defence, she may have also been paying me back for reaching over her yesterday and scratching Charlotte's side, which elicited a kick that connected with Matilda's ear).
I immediately growled at her (enough for her to scoot away from me), but didn't have anything in my hands to 'kick' her back with (thats not something that I would do with a horse, but from reading this forum it seems that some cows need a physical punishment to respect people).
I have ordered the KFC book, but not sure how many weeks it will take to get down here, but I would appreciate some advice until it gets here;) I get that they are big powerful animals that can easily hurt me (LOL even if they are only dexters) and need to know that I am Boss Cow.
How do I know what punishment should fit the crime? I'm still learning cow language, but I can see that a swishing tail, head toss and snot fling are negative behaviors that I assume could escalate to aggressive if I don't assert myself as boss cow. I often use a very gruff, gravelly "Uh" sound to stop unwanted behaviors with my animals (LOL sometimes I forget and do it to the kids).
This works exceptionally well, but only after the animal knows that if they don't stop what they are doing when I "Uh" a harsher discipline will follow.
Can anyone give me some ideas on how can I set up my cows to teach them this lesson in a way that they see as fair? Eg for a horse that bites, an immediate hard smack is seen as 'fair' discipline and won't make them head shy or afraid of you because they relate their behavior with your reaction and realize the biting was not acceptable.
Do cows think and learn like this? This may sound a bit bizarre, but I have done Join-Ups with my horses, it really helps them accept your leadership (or status as head honcho). For anyone who knows horses and cows, is it possible to do something similar with cows. LOL is there such a thing as cow whispering?
This evening I thought it worth seeing how she responded to having her udder/teats touched (I was standing at her shoulder). She responded instantly with a kick to my knee. Lucky it wasn't a full force kick, still I have a colourful impression of one of her toes just above my knee.
Lesson 1: Obviously cows can kick alot more forward than a horse can.
Lesson 2: Cow calming should be done behind the relative safety of metal bars and an head gate!
(In her defence, she may have also been paying me back for reaching over her yesterday and scratching Charlotte's side, which elicited a kick that connected with Matilda's ear).
I immediately growled at her (enough for her to scoot away from me), but didn't have anything in my hands to 'kick' her back with (thats not something that I would do with a horse, but from reading this forum it seems that some cows need a physical punishment to respect people).
I have ordered the KFC book, but not sure how many weeks it will take to get down here, but I would appreciate some advice until it gets here;) I get that they are big powerful animals that can easily hurt me (LOL even if they are only dexters) and need to know that I am Boss Cow.
How do I know what punishment should fit the crime? I'm still learning cow language, but I can see that a swishing tail, head toss and snot fling are negative behaviors that I assume could escalate to aggressive if I don't assert myself as boss cow. I often use a very gruff, gravelly "Uh" sound to stop unwanted behaviors with my animals (LOL sometimes I forget and do it to the kids).
This works exceptionally well, but only after the animal knows that if they don't stop what they are doing when I "Uh" a harsher discipline will follow.
Can anyone give me some ideas on how can I set up my cows to teach them this lesson in a way that they see as fair? Eg for a horse that bites, an immediate hard smack is seen as 'fair' discipline and won't make them head shy or afraid of you because they relate their behavior with your reaction and realize the biting was not acceptable.
Do cows think and learn like this? This may sound a bit bizarre, but I have done Join-Ups with my horses, it really helps them accept your leadership (or status as head honcho). For anyone who knows horses and cows, is it possible to do something similar with cows. LOL is there such a thing as cow whispering?