I might finally be getting a milk cow!!!!

[farmerjan]

Leave the tag in, it doesn't hurt her. If she should ever get out into a neighbors field, on the road anywhere, and doesn't have a halter on, it might help to identify her more quickly. Do not leave the halter on her in any pastures where she can even remotely get it caught on anything....It won't "break loose" if she gets it hung up. That is why I use the cattle neck chains with the slip ring ....like the way you put keys on a key ring...but they are made that they will pull apart if an animal gets hung up and really fights it. It's a safety thing. The cattle neck chains are available from nasco catalog. Our local co-op doesn't even carry them anymore because "no one puts neck chains on cows anymore" . The chance of anything like that happening are slim to none; but it only takes one time....freak accidents are waiting to happen on farms.....
Yes they can and do overeat the salt and can/do get "loose" from it so don't panic as long as she is eating. Best thing is to use some loose salt/mineral , give her less than a handful a day until she seems to "get her fill". Or use just a red salt block, trace mineral, and put it out for her for a few hours a day until she no longer "wants" it as soon as you put it out. They will usually "overeat" most anything new you give them. Make sure she has warm ears and a cool nose and is eating/drinking and you will be good to go.
SHE IS CUTE.....

 

[WindyIndy]

That's actually a good idea, hopefully she doesn't get out, but you never know

I was thinking about only keeping the halter on until I could consistently catch her, the last thing I want is to be chasing a calf all over the pasture. Our pasture is pretty bare except for a few shade trees, but they lost all their lower limbs from our beef cows I'll look into the neck chains though, thanks.

Great news! I did give her some of my loose multipurpose mineral, she just sniffed it.

Thank you!! I think so too!

 

[farmerjan]

If you are only going to keep the halter on her til she gets easy to catch then you are probably fine, especially if there are no lower limbs she can get caught on. As soon as she associates you with food, be it a small piece of apple or a handful of grain or anything, I doubt you will have trouble catching her. Until she starts to feeling her female hormones and then when she starts coming in heat.... One thing, do not push against her head/forehead or in any way let her think that any kind of head butting is okay. Scratching ears is fine, rubbing under the chin or the neck or anything is good; just not to where she thinks that head to head is a game. She will learn a bad habit, you can get hurt, and it will be next to impossible to break her. Head to head is one way a cow/bovine establishes pecking order. You can't win that one when she gets big (even as a small size cow) don't start it so she never tries you.

 

[Bossroo]

Keep the ear tag in as USDA wants to know where the bovine lives as well as where it came from in case of a communicable disease such as mad cow, etc. . In cases where there is no ear tag if the animal shows any signs of illness, the USDA Vets. just may have it put down immediately. Also, if there is no tag while you are transporting it and a law officer stops you, the law officers may have it confiscated as stolen . Then you will have to prove the ownership in court. etc.

 

[farmerjan]

@Bossroo ; I don't think that Windy 's heifer has an "official" ID tag. It looks to be a simple plastic number tag like we put in each of our calves when they are born to identify then and match them to their mother when we move them around. If she has a metal tag or an official ID button I didn't see it in her ear. If she is of beef breeding; which is what I would claim this heifer to be if I were stopped for any reason; and under the age of 18 months she does not have to have an official ID nor does she have to prove ownership unless she is stopped for suspicion of theft. It is better to not be in a position to get them to want to stop you and to go out of state there are rules for a vet certificate. All the guys I know here that transport cattle in the big trailers have bills of sale from the buyers to prove ownership but they mostly all are crossing state lines. And unless she is microchipped or is branded or has an indelible tattoo, there is no way to "prove" which animal this is. DNA testing can be done and many registered breeders are doing it. This is one of the reasons that so many of us cattle producers have fought the whole Official ID as even the electronic tags and the "official" tags that the USDA has "approved" have been known to come out. I deal with this constantly with the registered animals that my dairy farmers have; as it is now, the law states that all animals of dairy breeding must have an official ANIMAL ID. Tell that to the registered holstein breeder that uses the official tags at birth and then as a yearling all of a sudden 2 out of 20 don't have any tags in their ears. It happens more than you think. And the rigamarole to go through trying to explain why you have now "issued" her a new "official ID" as "BY LAW" they cannot have 2 official ID"S. Honestly, this is not REALLY so much for disease control and all that that they have led you to believe. It is more to be able to be more intrusive into your personal lives and down the road to BE ABLE TO TAX you on your animals as personal property....
For example, with an official ID , I sell a 450 lb. dairy breed calf; it goes to a backgrounder who has it for 30-60 days; then it goes to a grazer who runs it for the winter on wheat; then it goes to another feeder who runs it on summer pasture; then it goes to a final feedlot to be finished. If they find anything wrong with that animal they go to the last owner and then trace it back to the breeder. I HAVE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT ANIMAL FOR 18 MONTHS, BUT THEY WANT TO COME BACK TO ME?????

It is a smoke screen to being able to trace more of your personal information than anything else. Have already known one farmer who had to get a lawyer to deal with an animal that was traced back to them and they had to prove who they sold it to...when...and how the drugs could not possibly have been in the animals system that long to show up positive, and that they had never used that drug in the first place.

All that said, I bangs vaccinate all my heifers, which gives them an official ID for 2 reasons. By being vaccinated for brucellocis(sp?) they can be sold anywhere in the country. There are states with a bangs problem as it occurs in bison and is contagious. Also it gives me a positive way to identify my heifers if they get into someone else"s field because they not only get a tag or button, but they also get a tattoo. It proved my ownership of 7 heifers that wound up in someone else's field one time, and they were not going to let us have them back. I had the papers to prove they were mine and was prepared to get the sherrif to force the issue. So we just do it. It's a one time vaccination, has to be done by a state vet but it's done and that's it. Has to be done between 4 and 12 months here in Va.

Another aside note; they wanted to force all poultry breeders to "identify" every bird on their place and keep a record and prove where that animal went if it was no longer there....tell that to the fox or hawk or eagle or owl or raccoon that takes it off...But the big commercial poultry "factory farms" of confinement birds only had to have one number for the whole house....so how does that identify the individual birds that maybe were sick????? It got vetoed...for now.

 

[Baymule]

government %$^&%^^ corrupt ba$tar%$#@#$%

 

[WindyIndy]

Morning everyone! I'm happy for the time change because now I get to spend more time with the animals before I need to go to work!

Farmerjan, thank you for those tips about her head, I knew that for sheep, but not for cows. I will definitely be mindful of that now.

As for the tag discussion, yes it's just a simple tag to identify mother's/babies or within your own herd. The government is no fun sometimes, I'm sorry for all the trouble then can cause.

Luna seemed to get though the night well, she ate all her hay, corn, and drank about a 1/3 of her water. Her stool was getting firmer last night but is soft again this morning. Her tail is covered in fresh and super dry stuff, I'm going to try and soak it in warm soapy water when I get home and see if I can't wash some of it washed off. For the most part I'm trying to raise grain free animals, I do feed a little whole corn as a treat and for "bucket training". The lady I got her from said something about giving her a grain mix to help her stool. Would that make a difference? Could I just keep giving her corn instead? I only have whole corn so it takes longer to digest and stays in the system longer, but being Luna is a calf should I get her cracked? I gave her a little more corn this morning and she even licked some out of my hand!! She didn't want to take anything from me last night so I was very surprised and happy!

Bottom line, I'm head over heels in love

 

[WindyIndy]

What do you all think of this halter for Luna?

http://www.statelinetack.com/item/weaver-original-adj-halter-w-snap/E001015/

 

[Baymule]

That looks nice.

 

[SustainableAg]

Congrats on your first milk cow! I must admit I am green with envy, as a milk cow is a few years away for us. However, Dexter's are my favorite breed - and one I am strongly considering if I can find a breeder nearby.