We are downsizing and have sold our small flock of sheep that shares our barn with a horse that we've been keeping for a friend. She's trying to find another home for the horse as soon as possible but in the meantime we're worried about him being alone. Our neighbours are dairy farmers and I'm wondering if we could use one of their bull calves as a friend for him until we can find him a new home? Just not sure if it would be worth the trouble or if the horse will be just fine on his own for a while, although I'm not sure how long re-homing him will take.
Using a calf as a horse companion.
- Thread starter NachoFarm
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sawfish99
Loving the herd life
It largely depends on the horse. Some horses are fine alone. Some go nuts. Some would accept a calf as a companion. Others would be terrified of the calf. If this were my situation, I would focus on rehoming the horse instead of trying to mitigate the interim period.
sawfish99
Loving the herd life
BTW- there are a lot of FB groups out there now solely oriented towards rehoming horses (free and otherwise).
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sawfish99
Loving the herd life
No. I'm in CT and the groups I am in are very region specific.
Azriel
Loving the herd life
Most horses not raised with cows/calves do not like them, and will chase and bite them. Mine will charge the fence between them trying to bite the calves. I think the horse will be just fine alone till you can rehome him
Lara Oaksfield
Just born
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I had a pony, and one time she got into our cow pen... it had two rather large bull calves, a small one who was just the sweetest thing, and a heifer. They got along great and became good friends... as far as I know she had never been around cows before. the only downside was that one of the calves, in attempt to groom his equine friend's tail, trimmed the tail to about half... and it was nice and long... lol. But the same pony (after our heifer died, and we ate the calves) does fine on her own. she has occasional company from our goats when they come up to the fence, but otherwise, it's one of my siblings or myself that offers her company. So, she may do fine on her own, or if your neighbor is okay with it and the horse doesn't mind, the calf should be fine... but if the calf gets a bond with the horse, and the horse goes away, the calf may become depressed.
