We have a brand new white calf at the farm! Nabisco finally gave birth last night. We don't know yet if it's a boy or a girl, we haven't been able to get close enough and I don't want to get hit by those horns! We'll probably handle the new baby more this weekend to tag and check him. I hope it's a heifer!
I am happy that it is white because here, in Ontario and Quebec, Canada, white cows or bulls are worth much much more than red, brown or black cattle. I can't explain why exactly, but it's just the way it is. When we bought our steer for butchering purposes... we paid much more for the beige / white one than for the red one and they only had about 100 lbs difference in weight, but we paid about 0.10 $ a pound less for the red! Plus the white one turned out to be the nastiest, most aggressive thing on four legs! I've seen calmer bulls!
If it's a heifer, we'll keep her and she can give us more white babies down the line. If it's a bull, we'll castrate him and probably keep him for meat. It's the whole life of a cow, but home raised beef is probably the best thing ever! You know what they eat, what they have eaten, if they were sick and how you finished them before sending them for meat.
It's a buy/sell business. I think all farmers love their cows (except for the few bad seeds, just like in the horse world), I haven't seen one farmer not care for a cow that was in difficulty or sick. We go out of our way to help them and treat them as best we can. I really love my cows and Nabisco is my favorite, she was my first one, is of really good lineage and is friendly, she'll eat out of your hand! I don't know how she is when she has a new baby at her side, but we'll see. I love them and often bring them a pale of oats and grain as a treat.
I will post pictures of the new baby soon too! I'll have to spend a whole day taking pictures!!! LOL! We have limestone to spread on our fields this weekend, but I'll try to escape from it to take pictures of all these new arrivals.
I hope the mare won't be too much to handle, but I plan on having help around when I'll put that lead on her halter. I'll have someone with the lunge whip to correct her when she shoots backwards. I am not yet sure how I'm going to go about it. I am not taking any crap from her as is but she is now keeping her distance and getting even more b**chy as we go along.
What I think happened with her is that, as a foal, her owners tryed to halter break her, halter went on ok, then the lead came in and all hell broke loose. I'm thinking she kept pulling back and they kept giving her back her head, then they just gave up on her and parked her in a field. The only thing she knows is to pull as hard as she can against pressure. But she is 3 now and much bigger, so this will be somewhat of a challenge. I will not take rearing, bolting, kicking or shooting backwards. She will get a smack on the butt for shooting backwards until she can understand that walking with me is a good thing and much less hard. I will not take crap and I really need to step it up... except that I don't want to scare her so bad and lose the little trust I have... but I will not be able to build trust until I can work with her... get it... it's a vicious circle! I certainly have my work cut out for me and I might need advice, but the only thing I am aiming for is to get her walking forward with me without pulling back or rearing up... I think I'll need to get tough with this one and I only got tough briefly when training Dandy at first, when she was kicking... it's not my thing, but I tried being gentle, calm, focussed, patient and nothing worked!
I think I'll need as much advice as I can get! This reminds me of Mugwump's Cupcake story... I might ask her for advice... the situation is pretty similar, except that I don't think that my new girl is mad, just scared and confused. I need to make it clear to her that she needs to follow me; I just don't know how to go about since she is so explosive!
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Congrats on the baby! You are so right....we raise our cattle for beef also, but we care about them, and treat them very well. We make sure they are healthy, not sick or injured, and if they are, they are doctored just like our horses would be. We watch every single cow very closely around calving time, just in case she has any problems. Sometimes despite your best efforts you will occaisionally lose a cow or calf, but that's just part of farming. You have to ensure that your herd is healthy and happy to raise the best grass fed beef which is healthier for the consumer. Plus, losing a cow or calf is losing money, so from a business standpoint..it pays to take excellent care of the herd!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the mare, yeah it sounds like someone got scared of her, and just gave up. The bad part is that by acting like a bully and a b***h, she got her way and that's how she has survived. Just take it nice and slow and don't let her get the bluff on you, right from the beginning. I know what your saying though about trust...you don't want her to get worse, but at the same time you have to let her know that the rules have changed, LOL... I think once she understands that you mean business, she will start to submit and allow you to become the boss, and gain your trust. But, it sure is a delicate balance, you have to be tuff on her, but not so much as to defeat the purpose, so I wish you the best of luck, just be careful!
http://horsefilleddays.blogspot.com/
Good luck with the new one! And congrats on the mini moo.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear Dandy isn't doing so well. That really sucks. One thing I have heard of is putting them in a bare as possible feild with a mate who wears a bell around their neck. That way they can follow the noise.
Thanks Horse Filled! It is a very fine line to walk, but she's going to have to learn the ropes! For the cows, we get up in the middle of the night to check on the ones that are close to calving... we just want to make sure they are okay... they cost a lot of money and I would be very upset to loose one.
ReplyDeleteThanks Raven! Dandy isn't completely blind yet, but she is losing a bit of sight... now I don't know if my vet is just incompetent or what but I've read that cataracts can be removed. I felt very annoyed when she kept averting my questions! I'm ready to go for surgery, my horse is worth much more than that to me!