Well you may have found her….
….hiding in the weeds on the wrong side of the fence (and tagged her)….but she’s still mine and you can’t have her.
Q18 kept looking the other way trying to mis-direct us, but we finally found her new heifer and got it back on the right side of the fence. Then mom came right over and retrieved her baby. The heifer is by Thistle Hill Reality…our third calf of the new class.
4 Comments
mike ortwein
I have had repeated trouble with new born calves skidding under my perimeter barb wire fence that is on a steep hill. This spring, the calving will take place on flatter ground and no barb wire fences. we try to learn from our mistakes.
David
True…but I’ve had them go through and under just about any fence except woven. This was high tensile; about the worst for calving. In this case, she was born a good distance away. By the time Wooz got me out there to tag, Mom had moved the calf several hundred yards and placed her in undergrowth along the fence. It took me quite awhile to find her, particularly since the cow kept giving me head fakes in the wrong direction. I wonder if she encouraged the calf to go through for the cover of the woods. We’ve had some coyotes around.
When we were pushing the calf back through to the proper side, Mom was right there, not interfering but licking and comforting the calf. When she was free, they then moved slowly away together and stopped for the picture. This is a veteran cow who consistently produces “winners” without any fuss; including our herd bull “Jackpot”. She knew exactly what she was doing. She doesn’t need a number to tell her who her baby is.
wooz
Best bet is frequent checking. I sometimes think the cows depend on us humans to be their nannies. They will do fine in open country but the fences we put up sometimes cause a problem and sometimes they can be absent minded and just forget where they left their babies. Sometimes they are too young and sometimes too old….just like people! So keep checking!
mike ortwein
As I said above, Wooz is a smart lady.