Cashtiller keeps on giving….
….it was love at first sight when I first saw Tilbrook Cashtiller in the yard at Gavin Hunter’s Tilbrook Grange. She became the foundation cow for a partnership with two other breeders that we named Traditional Devon America.
TDA now has seven of her cows on the ground here in the States thanks to embryo transplant; three more are on the way; and eight embryos remain in the canister.
Cashtiller is 13 years old now and this is her latest calf, a heifer. Gavin says this one was a little tougher for her and he’s not sure he wants to breed her again. As Wooz commented, “This is what she is meant to do; all she wants to do.”
I think I agree. I have seen mama cows on the ground, nursing a calf with her last breath. The baby even continuing to nurse after its mother is gone. I think that was a far happier cow at the end than almost all others are permitted to enjoy.
6 Comments
mike ortwein
If she dies with a live birth, do you bottle feed it or get another cow to accept it?
David
In the two cases I’ve seen (back in my Angus days) the calves were old enough to make it on their own. But I would certainly try to get a cow to adopt it. Failing that, and depending on the calf’s mood, Wooz would do her bottle-feeding bit.
mike ortwein
Back in 1975 I had a heifer reject her calf, and being new to ranching I called my wife’s great uncle Roy Miller who raised Herefords, he told me to tie the cow at close quarters and let the calf try to nurse it, and when she kicks it away, crack it over the head with a rubber hose–do this till it stops kicking it off. About 3 hits and she let it nurse. During this same time another heifer lost her calf, so I did the same thing to her with the same calf–it worked and now the calf had two cows to nurse off of–it grew quite well.
Regina Tesnow
The cows from Thistle Hill Farm that we have do not need encouragment to feed theirs or anyone elses calves.
When we were trying to wean, we removed the calves from their mothers and put them in with different herds. Those cows in that herd would nurse the calves and console them. Finally we had to seperate cows from all calves. and we tried the method of across the fence weaning, these cows would hang off a cliff and nurse through the fence. Good mothering instincts from THF
mike ortwein
I do not wean, I let the cow decide when is the time, and when she is ready to birth again she will kick her older calf off. Who weaned the buffalo?
Regina Tesnow
Sometimes there are circumstances which require intervention. Otherwise I agree, Mom knows best.