Post by mollie on Oct 18, 2020 13:15:26 GMT -5
Hello,
I'm new but desperate! I worked a dairy a couple years ago and fell in love with cows. I bought two yearling highlands that had never been touched, one was incredibly aggressive, using her horns to run us down, even when we had grain. The other one was always very sweet, and would enjoy us petting her... so my solution was to get rid of the aggressive one, after reading how it is never safe to keep a cow intent on running you down with their horns. I thought in doing so, our other heifer would become lonely and start to think of us as her family, and also give me the opportunity to have access to her for halter training, etc. Well, the halter training is going well, she lets me lead her and still comes for the grain, but now she seems to hate being pet and has become decidedly less friendly and warm to us. Is it because we took away her friend? At least now I can be in my own pasture without being run down, but she's definitely not the pet cow I was hoping for. Its about to be November, and were on the border of Canada, so I don't want to risk getting the young calf I plan to in the spring. Will she be okay until spring? Do you think she'll become less friendly with time, or more? I spend at least a half hour a day training her, giving her treats, and talking to her and after two months of this, she still wont let me come up to her or pet her! If she does it's to eat the grain and then run. When I keep her in a smaller pen, she puts her head down and becomes defensive. Any advice would help, thank you!!!
I'm new but desperate! I worked a dairy a couple years ago and fell in love with cows. I bought two yearling highlands that had never been touched, one was incredibly aggressive, using her horns to run us down, even when we had grain. The other one was always very sweet, and would enjoy us petting her... so my solution was to get rid of the aggressive one, after reading how it is never safe to keep a cow intent on running you down with their horns. I thought in doing so, our other heifer would become lonely and start to think of us as her family, and also give me the opportunity to have access to her for halter training, etc. Well, the halter training is going well, she lets me lead her and still comes for the grain, but now she seems to hate being pet and has become decidedly less friendly and warm to us. Is it because we took away her friend? At least now I can be in my own pasture without being run down, but she's definitely not the pet cow I was hoping for. Its about to be November, and were on the border of Canada, so I don't want to risk getting the young calf I plan to in the spring. Will she be okay until spring? Do you think she'll become less friendly with time, or more? I spend at least a half hour a day training her, giving her treats, and talking to her and after two months of this, she still wont let me come up to her or pet her! If she does it's to eat the grain and then run. When I keep her in a smaller pen, she puts her head down and becomes defensive. Any advice would help, thank you!!!