Post by Shawn on Jan 24, 2016 17:33:59 GMT -5
Or so it seems. My little (10 mo old) Milking Shorthorn heifer, Ellie, that is. She's not really afraid of me anymore, just doesn't want me to get too close or, heaven forbid, touch her! Her background is she was raised in the pasture, on mom, with very little human interaction. Mainly her human experience has been being run into the chute and dehorned etc. 2 weeks before I brought her home. So not good associations. This is what's going on so far.
I have her with my milk cow, Fern, and two steers in one corral. Fern comes in and gets locked in the stanchion. Then begrudgingly nurses her foster. Two head stalls away, I put about 1 cup of grain and 2 tablespoons of yeast in that one for Ellie. she's very willing to come in and very willing to eat her snack. I carefully backed up and threw the catch on her. When I had her caught 2 times, I brushed her down and then made her stand until she quit pulling. The first time it was scared standing still, the second I could tell she was no longer afraid, just PO'd. But it took her exactly twice before she was wise to that.
So I rigged up a rope to pull it closed from the other side. That worked exactly twice. Get the picture? This girl is one smart cookie. Now I love a good challenge, but my bag of tricks is running low.
The next thing she started doing was kicking. I had walked behind her many times, even scratched her on the butt, in or out of the head catch and never a kick. Then all of a sudden, kicked out that leg. First time she grazed my knee, no damage. She got a swift kick in return. Second time she was way out of range. Third time I was ready and laid the whip across the back of her legs. We've done that routine now 3 times maybe? Not sure if she's figuring out that kicking isn't a good idea.
So we've entered the, I'm going to be sassy stage.
I took her to the vet for a blood draw, but other than that, nothing terrible has happened to her here. She's a real thinker, so I've got to come up with some way to get a hold of her routinely and start haltering, etc.
The other thing she does that's a bit unnerving to me (because I'm not used to jumpers) is she will try to go over anything you crowd her against. So once I had the foster between us, reached over to scratch her, and she tried to come over the top of him, almost straight toward me.
And in T minus 2 weeks, Paprika's going to calve and Ellie is using her stanchion. So Fern will be gone and I will switch Ellie to Fern's stanchion and totally upset the apple cart. Maybe Paprika's calming nature will help?? Because right now Fern hates everybody. She tries to smash Ellie and her foster. Not sure what her problem is, but she's making it easier to keep her butcher date, for sure.
I know that underneath all that will probably be a really great cow, but help me find it please. Any ideas?
I have her with my milk cow, Fern, and two steers in one corral. Fern comes in and gets locked in the stanchion. Then begrudgingly nurses her foster. Two head stalls away, I put about 1 cup of grain and 2 tablespoons of yeast in that one for Ellie. she's very willing to come in and very willing to eat her snack. I carefully backed up and threw the catch on her. When I had her caught 2 times, I brushed her down and then made her stand until she quit pulling. The first time it was scared standing still, the second I could tell she was no longer afraid, just PO'd. But it took her exactly twice before she was wise to that.
So I rigged up a rope to pull it closed from the other side. That worked exactly twice. Get the picture? This girl is one smart cookie. Now I love a good challenge, but my bag of tricks is running low.
The next thing she started doing was kicking. I had walked behind her many times, even scratched her on the butt, in or out of the head catch and never a kick. Then all of a sudden, kicked out that leg. First time she grazed my knee, no damage. She got a swift kick in return. Second time she was way out of range. Third time I was ready and laid the whip across the back of her legs. We've done that routine now 3 times maybe? Not sure if she's figuring out that kicking isn't a good idea.
So we've entered the, I'm going to be sassy stage.
I took her to the vet for a blood draw, but other than that, nothing terrible has happened to her here. She's a real thinker, so I've got to come up with some way to get a hold of her routinely and start haltering, etc.
The other thing she does that's a bit unnerving to me (because I'm not used to jumpers) is she will try to go over anything you crowd her against. So once I had the foster between us, reached over to scratch her, and she tried to come over the top of him, almost straight toward me.
And in T minus 2 weeks, Paprika's going to calve and Ellie is using her stanchion. So Fern will be gone and I will switch Ellie to Fern's stanchion and totally upset the apple cart. Maybe Paprika's calming nature will help?? Because right now Fern hates everybody. She tries to smash Ellie and her foster. Not sure what her problem is, but she's making it easier to keep her butcher date, for sure.
I know that underneath all that will probably be a really great cow, but help me find it please. Any ideas?