Can I see your feeders?

canesisters

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Just kind of 'thinking out loud' and wondering if my girl is just being a spoiled brat, if this is 'normal', or if maybe something is up?

My Eva is a lone cow. She seems to do very well without a permanent herd, really doesn't seem to care. Every other year she has a calf that I raise up to about a year for beef.
The current calf is 3months old. In the last month Eva has become SUPER excited at feed time.
Bellowing as soon as she spots me anywhere NEAR feeding time - like in season. Energetically pacing and weaving in the stall to the point that she is tearing up the floor. Aggressively banging the feeder around as much as she can - it's tied to the stanchion. But the 1 day it was loose, she flipped it completely over - and it's HEAVY! She's even loosened the stanchion post from all the shoving against it while she's eating.

She's a mama cow - so of course she's hungry and anxious about getting that nice warm beetpulp mash. But this is over and above what has been normal for her.
I've considered feeding them outside in a shared trough. But I'm using feeding times to teach Blossom to come when she's called & will soon be adding in tying practice.
I've just done a complete cleanout of the barn and am open to ideas that include moving her feeding area or designing something different.

Who else has a cow or cows and feeds/handles them in stalls (like horses)? Can I see your feeder setup?

Maybe feed them outside in the mornings and inside at night? I hate to close up the barn since we seem to be stuck in a weather pattern of more cold rain than dry days.
I've seen where folks considered a panel & tarp hoop house for pasture shelter but the cows scratched and rubbed and tore it down.

Her condition is good. She's jersey/angus so I don't panic when I can see a bit more hip and catch sight of those last couple of ribs. She has a round bale of local grass hay available 24/7. That and 2x daily of soaked beetpulp & cattle cubes has kept her looking good all the way through raising her last 3 calves.

Any ideas?
 

farmerjan

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If the calf is 3 months or so, then it could be "heat" signs... but if she does it for days in a row then that is not likely more than a day or 2..... I don't know... other than she might just be needing more to eat???? I know as they get older, any jersey crosses tend to have trouble holding their weight..... I can't really say why her attitude has changed....How about trying giving her a flake of alfalfa hay after she gets her beet pulp? I know it is expensive... but maybe her system is craving more than the grass hay..... Ours will get very pushy when we feed silage..... Is there a way you can block her out of the "actual feeding " part of the stall so she can't push on it when she is not getting fed????
Hard to make any suggestions....sight unseen.....
 

canesisters

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here's the sight to see ;)

Eva with her head through the stanchion. That's a half barrel inside of 2 tires with (yes.... :rolleyes:) a wooden drawer on top. It's tied to the bottom of the stanchion.
Blossom on the left eating out of a rubber feed pan.
feeders.jpg



That's the barn's back door behind them. The section with the stanchion is where the alley used to be. Locking her away means closing or blocking off access to the barn.
I CAN make some kind of feeder in either of the stalls on each side.
That post in the foreground was the gate post to the 3rd stall that we tore down last week. I've considered setting up something where I let her out of that red gate to come to a feeder at that post... even thought about building a 2nd headcatch/stanchion between that post and the corner of the stanchion she's using - so I can 'lock' her in to eat ... or maybe use some gate panels to make a tiny little space at/around that post that she comes in to eat?

I have thought that she's just feeling desperately hungry - maybe is having trouble providing for Blossom since she is getting a little bit older? I really don't think she's 'being bad'. She's normally a VERY chill, sweet tempered lady. I was already planning to check and see what I can get at T.S. in the compressed bales. I was thinking that I'd toss a flake of alfalfa on the loose hay at the round bale for her to work on after the hot mash... thinking that it would encourage her to eat more hay if she's picking those tiny leaves out.
 

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