Friday Farm Fun- Spaz Cow

My husband is always trying different things when it comes to farming. Sometimes it's interesting crops, sometimes a different breed of cattle. A few years ago, he thought he'd like to introduce some limousine cattle into our herd.

Her don't mess with me look. 

He purchased some heifers and brought them home. As soon as he opened the trailer door, one of them took off and jumped three fences. We eventually got her home but over the years we've ended up selling all but one.

The one we kept raised good calves and doesn't jump fences, but... She acts like a cow high on meth when you walk into the field. No matter how far away from you she is, her head goes up, her eyes get round and wild looking, and she keeps her nose pointed your direction at all times, making sure you aren't sneaking up on her. But she is also the first in line when we move the herd to new pasture. I think she takes the lead with the comfort of the whole herd between her and us.

Wednesday, she had her calf. My husband has been dreading this because she's been known to knock us around when we try to tag the calf.  We decided to run her and the calf into the corral. Which actually went smoothly. It was when we tried to separate them by chasing the spaz cow into the smaller corral that I let out a blood curdling scream and ran for the fence.

While trying to herd her into the smaller corral, my husband got behind her and she decide to go my way. I did the usual wave my hands and crow, "Hawh! Hawh!" Only that just made her mad!  Her eyes widened, her head dipped ever so slightly and she picked up speed! That's when I waved my arms once and screamed like a little girl before kicking up dust as I raced for the fence. Boots, the border collie, nipped her heels right before she reached me drawing her attention to another target.

Spaz cow pawing the dirt.

We finally ran her into the smaller corral and vaccinated and banded the calf. We were out of ear tags so we left the two in the small corral until hubby brings some more tags home. As we stood there watching from the outside of the corral, the spaz cow looked at us with wild eyes and pawed the dirt, flinging it high in the air.

Yes, just another day at the Jager Wild Cow Days!

Friday Farm Fun- Fall Calving

Fall is not only my favorite time of the year because of the colorful foliage and crisp air, but because it's when we calve. We had it in our minds the calves would start coming October 1st. You should have witnessed our surprise when we arrived home from haying in Princeton and found six calves cavorting around in the field. Hubby rechecked his records and deduced we did indeed put the bulls in with the cows December 1 of last year so nine months is September.

A couple of the calves, the first born, were a little harder to catch to vaccinate, ear tag, and band. Especially the calf belonging to a red Angus cow. Every time the cow sees us, she heads for the trees, and using the trees as cover sneaks around us to keep her calf hidden. We have to match wits with her to figure out how to get in front and behind her. But we managed to catch her calf.

Guard cow Cori on the chase

We have a young man who is staying in a camp trailer on our place and he helped catch the calves. It was his first experience doing it and having a mother cow breathing, literally, down his neck as he held a calf. We're used to it and know that if you ignore the cow and not try to wave it away or bop it, she'll just breath on you, but if you show any aggression she'll try to butt you with her head. This group of calves are also more vocal when we grab them which gets the mothers riled up big time! If a calf doesn't bawl then the cow stays calmer.

Guard cow Cori being vigilant

To add to the chaos we stir up when trying to catch the calves, Cori, the Corriente cow my hubby purchased in the spring, has relegated herself to herd protector. She runs around bawling and chasing anything four-legged other than a cow. She kept Boots, the border collie, out of the field the whole time we were chasing down calves and tagging them.

Herfy and Myrtle

Thursday morning when I did my usual early morning walk through the herd looking for newborns, I had a fun time watching Herfy and Myrtle. They made such a cute couple walking side by side all around the field. I think it's real love! Herfy is the little Hereford bull we purchased this summer and Myrtle was the young cow hubby purchased and we had to watch to make sure she didn't have any complications when she had her calf .

We've had most of our cows long enough we know which ones have problems, which ones to be wary of when they have a new calf, and which ones could care less if you touch their calf. That's the fun part of having a herd, you get to see the different traits in them and enjoy their quirks.

Friday Fact

Since we're in the middle of calving I thought some Cow Facts would be fun.

Cattle only have one stomach but with four compartments to help digest grasses and grains.

A cow grazes for about 6 hours every day and chews their cud for 8 hours.

Cows regurgitate their food and re-chew the cud to help digestion.

A calf weighs about 80 pounds at birth.

 It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs, because a cow's knees cannot bend properly to walk back down.

Cows have almost total 360 degree panoramic vision and are able to see colors, except red.

The first cow in America arrived in Jamestown colony in 1611.

Twin male and female calves will result in a sterile female calf.