The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Cattle => Topic started by: HappyHippy on March 11, 2013, 12:21:09 pm
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My Jack seems too ::) :innocent: (Shetland castrated bullock, hand reared since birth ;))
He's such a sook ! He stood mooing at me yesterday after I'd fed them and topped up their hay and water, I went back into his pen to check him over and as I was running my hands over him he started laying against me so I cuddled him for a minute or two and he went away quite happy. He's done the same thing this morning (Bruce was there to photograph it for me) mooing for a cuddle ::) :D
Is it all cows or just him since he's been hand raised ?
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just think in a years time when he's a couple of hundred kilo's of shetland beef...
and he still wants mummy cuddles!!!
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Ah, but I have thought about that ;)
He's being taught the 'halt' command (because he see's me walking out with the pigs' buckets and tries to bully his way in or dance with me all through the field in the hope of getting their sugar beet ::)) So far he seems to be respecting it and it's working :thumbsup: I'm training him kinda like a dog (or pig ;)) with food treats as a reward for good behaviour - I just need to figure out how to make the 'calf crunch' into nuggets/biscuits cos my pockets are getting very messy ;) :roflanim:
I have no idea if this will work, if cows are capable of this kind of training or whether he's just playing along for food, but I'll keep you posted :thumbsup:
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Cattle are herd animals, social animals, and spend a lot of time grooming each other.
When you are a member of their herd, they extend this to include you.
We pet calves who don't have their own mum - they need that kind of attention to make them happy and contented, and they grow better. And we like it too. ;) (I snuggle orphan lambs for the same reason - they do better when they have some cuddles!)
My top tip, though, is don't pet any calf on the front of its head. Discourage contact between the front of its head and any part of your anatomy. ;)
If you watch a mother with her calf, she spends a considerable proportion of the time licking upwards from its chest to its chin. So I do that too. (With my hands, not licking! :roflanim:) As well as cuddles just like you are doing in your pic, Karen.
As to training - they're not dogs, but they are trainable, yes. They love routine and learn sequences of events very quickly. Make them happy and biddable by keeping sequences the same - for instance, Plenty goes from cubicles to byre / milking stall, where there will be cake. (I may milk her while she's here, or not. She doesn't much care whether or not I do!) Then to the pen where her calves are; there'll be a bit of cake in a bucket there for her. When she leaves that pen she goes into the cubicles, where there will be some cake in 'her' slot in the feeding barrier. So all I need to do is open the door/gate/pen/neck chain and off she goes to the next place I want her.
And of course, oxen are still worked in some cultures and I am sure there must be someone somewhere in the UK working oxen. Adam Henson has a couple of Vaynols they use for displays, doesn't he? So oxen can be trained - I don't have any information on what techniques they use, mind.
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Ours like carrots - more portable than calf crunch ;)
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Most of ours like some sort of human contact - one in particular likes a full hug round the neck, and that one will reward the hugger with a sloppy lick - my 'farm coat' is very well washed at times. She also leans - that wasn't too bad when she was a small heifer, but now she's a full grown beastie, she's a bit heavy.
Do have to be careful of the horns though - our steer that's about 2 years old has quite large ones that stick out almost horizontally. It's OK if you're rubbing his tail end and he waggles his head in some sort of dreamy state, but if you're stroking his neck & he moves his head, you're likely to get jabbed.
Second the idea of carrots - we get ours from a veg wholesaler - they are rejects - not perfect enough for Tesco Organic, but the cattle (and the sheep) love them.
Sue
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My top tip, though, is don't pet any calf on the front of its head. Discourage contact between the front of its head and any part of your anatomy. ;)
Oh no, guess where he likes a scratch :o (though he doesn't object to any area being touched really so far :fc:)
Is this because of the butting issue mainly Sally ?
I'll stop doing it right away :thumbsup:
Didn't cross my mind about carrots :dunce: much less mess than calf crunch :roflanim:
Jack's horns are still quite little Factotum, but I'll keep a close eye on them - don't worry ;D
Thanks guys :-*
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Yes, they love the front of their face scratched. So then they bring that up to you and butt you with it. ::) Not so much fun when they get bigger - or when it's a small child they approach ;)
Don't worry, he'll soon learn to relish scratches elsewhere.
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Thanks Sally :thumbsup: I thought it would have been for that reason, but thought best to check !
Jack is just a year now (birthday was 25th Feb) and is really quite chilled out and calm (except at bucket dancing time ::) but I just shut their gate when they come in for breakfast so I can do the outside pigs in peace and let them out again afterwards :thumbsup:
The kids are all well warned NOT to go in with them - but are encouraged (under supervision) to give them a stroke or scratch over/through the gate - even Kaitlin manages to stick to this rule :relief:
I'm really loving cow ownership :love: :cow: :love: they aren't half messy compared to the pigs, but on the plus side they don't seem to need the same colditz style fencing to contain them (or maybe they're lulling me into a false sense of security :innocent:) Starting to think ahead to later in the year and AI'ing Molly........ oooooooh, baby coo's - muchos excitement :excited: :excited: :excited: and milking and dairying after that :thumbsup:
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3 or 4 of the fresians at work are just like that :)
they will come and find me in the yard every morning and wont leave me alone until they have had a good cuddle :)
They will lie down and let me sit on them, Im sure that if they were any tamer they would start woofing!
although they are about 4x bigger than your little shetland!! and some have horns that do hurt if cuddling gets rough!!
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I had no idea cows could be quite so soft. That's lovely. I guess every animal responds to affection and contact. Very nice to hear of such examples.
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You're a big softy Karen xxx loved the photo xxx perhaps you can start cow therapy as well as your pig experiences.
I'd come
Love Jo xxxxx
Ps good advice about not petting his head. They say that about rams too. Our pet, Lamby, has had me on my backside a few times xxxx
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You're welcome here anytime Jo, as is anyone else who'd like to visit, the kettle is always on ;) Jack wouldn't object in the slightest if you wanted to cuddle him for a couple of hours :innocent:
I've been talked into putting a video of Becca brushing him onto facebook "Please mum, I want to be on the world wide web" ::) :D So here's a link which hopefully will work :fc: https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=541889505850574&saved (https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=541889505850574&saved)
I'm afraid I might be developing a bit of a cow 'thing' though :-\ It's ALL Rosemary & Sally's fault ;) :thumbsup:
I met some little calves yesterday - Jersey cross Belgian Blues - they were absolutely gorgeous, one looked almost exactly like a jersey and the other was brown and white :love: :cow: :love: Before I knew it I found myself asking the owner if he was planning to sell any and how much he'd be looking for :o but Bruce was thinking exactly the same thing, so it's alright ;)
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All my cows, calves, bullocks liked a fuss. The milking cows especially. They particularly liked the tassels on the ends of their tails combed and their tails brushed, and any of the softer bits of skin stroked. Most would reciprocate with a good licking on the back of my jacket.
You will soon find their favorite spots
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why dont you try and work him a wee bit? shetlands are triple purpose after all and it might be fun.
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why dont you try and work him a wee bit? shetlands are triple purpose after all and it might be fun.
What could I get him to do ? and how would I start - is it the same as with horses ?
Interesting stuff :thinking: :excited:
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Shetland cattle were traditionally triple purpose - draft, meat and milk. There's a book published by the SCHBS called "A dander trowe" that has photos of Shetland cattle in harness.
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yes, you get them to pull loads or plough the field. if his temperment is placid, im sure he'd let you have a go.
would be fun to find out. :excited:
http://tillersinternational.org/oxen/resources_techguides/YokingandHarnessingSingleCattleTechGuide.pdf (http://tillersinternational.org/oxen/resources_techguides/YokingandHarnessingSingleCattleTechGuide.pdf)