Hi All,
I mentioned recently to a few of you that one of the cows is not very keen on me, not sure why but number 32 will seek me out, throw her head about, snort and spit at me whenever I go near the foldyard or have the misfortune of getting too near 32!
32 displays this behaviour whether she has a calf or not.
It is very strange behaviour as I am the one on the farm that spends time talking to the cows but for some reason 32 has taken a dislike to me. Mama named her "Ungrateful cow" which is very fitting!
Anyway it was lucky that there was a metal gate between me and 32 recently!
We turned 32 and her calf back into the foldyard and then one of the other cows was in bulling and so the cows and bull were dashing about the yard. I happened to be passing by just as the young calf was knocked down by the bull (accidently as the bull had other things on his mind!) and because it all happened so fast I thought the calf had possibly been stood on and I have to say I thought the worse as the calf was not moving!
32 saw her calf on the ground and saw me near the gate and charged at the gate - well actually she charged at me but thank goodness the gate was there! Thankfully the calf did get up, but had a very bad limp, we weren't sure how bad the calf was injured but luckily the limp has gone so it wasn't as bad as it looked. I just need to keep my distance from 32 especially when she has a calf!
By the way I call her 32 as that is the number on her ear tag.
It doesn't matter where the calf is in relation to the cow, the cow will always be keeping her eye out for her calf (and 32 always seems to have her eye out for me as the photo shows!) and if they get separated for too long they start to beal and if they think a human is getting to close to their calf they will soon come over to the calf. Cows are indeed very protective of their calves.
Just thought I would share this with you.
Kind regards
sara @ farmingfriends