Magic 8-Ball says...??

"Outlook not so good"

Was the response I got on the ol' Magic 8-Ball. So I'm not sure what that means this time.

The question - 'I wonder if our little Miss Houdini the calf will get out again today?' She's managed to escape over 7 times in the past 3 days. Yesterday we went out for the 2nd time to look for any holes in the fence. We were armed this time with fence stays and T-post clips, and even fence wire, along with additional T-posts even. There wasn't a single spot which looked even remotely possible to escape from when we got done. And yet, this morning she was out again!! None of the other calves escape, it's just her, every time.

So why is she trying to escape? Well, she wants to get back to her momma (it's, weaning time). Momma doesn't want to have anything to do with her, but her mission in life is to get back with momma and apparently she's now learned magic to accomplish this goal. She manages to get within one fence of momma, but she can't get all the way there. She bawls constantly for momma, and momma bellows at her to go away, but she won't.

If she gets out today I'm going to string a dang hot wire up about 2 feet off the ground! We rarely ever have to use a hot wire with our cattle, but if this calf keeps it up she's gonna' get in trouble with the coyotes which are already sizing her up. A hot wire will curb that behavior in a NY second!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I'm going to string a dang hot wire up about 2 feet off the ground!

This is likely the answer. It's the only thing that'll at least keep deer out for sure. Those #ers can weasel their way in through the sturdiest of fences. Should work on a precocious calf.

a reply to: dug88

I don't mind the deer getting in the pastures so much, it's the antelope you have to watch for. Deer don't contaminate your pastures like antelope do. And this is the only reason I don't like stringing up hot wires down low like that. Deer will go over the fence, but antelope only go under a fence. I mean I've seen antelope jump fences, but it's pretty rare, they'll usually go under. With a low hot wire the antelope won't leave the pasture.

ETA - For those wondering what I mean by "contaminate a pasture"; antelope are like goats, they'll eat anything. So what happens is, antelope eat noxious and invasive weeds somewhere, but they don't digest the seeds. Then the antelope come into your pasture and poop the seeds and the next thing you know you have a weed eradication problem. Deer are far more picky about what they eat, so they don't cause this problem.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Don't have antelope around here. Just deer and bears to worry about getting in. The deer love the veggie garden. They can decimate it all in one night. Bears killed all the chickens one year and the dog scrapped with a young one once, so they're not the greatest to have roaming around. They love the fruit in the summer though.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

That's a determined and clever calf!

Weirdly enough, your story just reminded me that just a few days ago I saw a video of how smart cows can be.

I found it...




If your calf gets any smarter you're going to have to send it to a veal school!

a reply to: dug88

Not a lot of bears this far east in CO. We do get occasional cougars though. The biggest pressure on the livestock is coyotes. They run in packs like wolves, and they'll chase a young animal down and hamstring it, then it's all over.

We get both deer and antelope on the place. Lots and lots of deer. In fact, we've got a resident herd of mule deer on our place. We've got tons of rabbits so we have to rabbit proof any gardens which pretty much keeps the deer out too, because you're right, they will decimate a garden in a single night.

a reply to: Encia22

HA!! That's exactly how you do it too!! Ours figure out how to open regular chained gates. They do it with their tongue. The adult cows hardly ever try to escape, they've got it too good inside the fence. Life's a lot tougher outside! When they do get out they usually don't go far. Bulls though, are a completely different story!! Last time our herd bull got out he went about 4 miles away and got in with a herd of hot 2 year olds. He was in 7th heaven when I found him. Getting him back was a royal PITA! He did NOT want to leave those girls!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Hence forth she shall be named MOODINI

understanddolphins.tripod.com...

Cows are smarter than we give them credit for I suppose.

I don't know how cows come to be in the evolutionary chain. I heard they came from dolphins and became land mammals and the back to dolphins or vice versa. Cows are related to dolphins, deer, camels....

Origin of modern cows.
www.wired.com...

The research has implications for the study of the history of domestication. Mark Thomas, geneticist and an author of the study, said in the release: "This is a surprisingly small number of cattle. We know from archaeological remains that the wild ancestors of modern-day cattle were common throughout Asia and Europe, so there would have been plenty of opportunities to capture and domesticate them.

In the end I believe cows are smarter than we give them credit. Ol Bess use to frequent near the school yards.

Thanks for the story and mental images as always good sir.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk


Try setting up a camera

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

The next time you have to chase her, after you get her back in, whisper this in her ear....

I've been hungry for veal.

originally posted by: Alien Abduct
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk


Try setting up a camera

I'd pay to see that live feed😆

a reply to: butcherguy
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk
Yeah, tell them you dying to make a leather Satchel 👍😉

a reply to: Bigburgh

LOLOL!..."MOODINI"...ROFLMAO!!!

Now that's funny stuff right there, an' I don't care who ya' are!

a reply to: Alien Abduct

A camera?

Where???

There's like 1,500 feet of fence on just one side of that pasture, over 3 hills and through 2 draws (one of them so steep I can't even get my UTV through it). It'd take about 10 cameras.

originally posted by: Encia22
Weirdly enough, your story just reminded me that just a few days ago I saw a video of how smart cows can be.

What? How??

We used to have those style gates, and I'd get shocked even when those handles/ends were completely dry. To the point I'd turn off the fencer first!

Figures a bovine could grab it with their big slobby mouth and not feel anything.

a reply to: gb540

Even more amazing, she was standing on a good earth ground too! I could understand it if she was maybe standing on a sandy patch, but she's standing in snow! She knew exactly how to grab that thing too.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Oh hahaha!

Well....get to it!

Yeah, cows can be pretty smart and talented sometimes.

I was standing in the pasture feeding the girls some cow-cake (we use cake to move them places they don't want to go sometimes...we trick them with it). I had the cake in a bucket in the back of the mule so 'cookie-monster' couldn't get it (because she will step on your feet trying to get some if you're not carefully watching your feet, which is hard to do when you have 20 hungry cows all around you).

I reached around behind me to grab some more out of the bucket, and the bucket wasn't there. I turned around to look and the bucket wasn't in the back of the mule at all. The cookie-monster had come around the other side of the mule and walked up behind me (I didn't see her) and sneakily stuck her tongue under the bucket bail and lifted it out and set it on the ground. She was on the other side of the mule with her face rammed in the bucket mowing down on cookies! **nom-nom-nom** I go to grab the bucket away from her and she intentionally spills it out on the ground. "HA! I'll show you, mister!" She knows I'm not going to stand there and pick up all those cookies.

Cows can be fun sometimes, and they definitely do have personalities. Cookie-monster is just one example.

ETA - The cookie-monster can hear me pour cookies into the bucket inside the barn (with all the doors closed)...from 200 yards away! Walk out of the barn and she's running in the direction of the bucket like a homing beacon! Cookie-monster is also the cow we call "Jumper" (her real name is an unromantic "#237") because she is also the one who will jump 5 foot tall steel corral panels (which I've told the stories of here on ATS previously).

a reply to: Alien Abduct

Well, as of 4:53pm today, "Moodini" is still in her designated pasture. So, she must have forgotten how to perform her trick. I'm beginning to think she may have had an accomplice. Probably wasn't a team effort, but rather more of a...one calf got his head through the fence and she saw daylight and jumped through.

In any case, she's still in, as of this post...knock on wood!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

So, baby girl cow still wants mama.
I get that.
Mama gives the kid the cold shoulder/udder.

How does mama signal it's time for grownup cow food?
Is it only a food thing?

At what age do the youngsters get told they need to fend for themselves?
Does it have anything to do with the female getting ready to come into season?
I assume these are cows you have that are never used as dairy cows?

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Great question!

So normally momma will kick a calf off the teet around 6 months, but the normal weaning time is 4-5 months. The reason is because momma is already pregnant again, and we don't want calf taking energy away from momma. Anything before 4 months, and the calf's rumen is not well enough developed to eat hay. Even at 4 months exactly you have to break the calf over with "milk replacer" feed, which is a feed which satisfies their milk urge, but also gets their rumens working. At 5 months, calf's are ready to go, but the bond between momma and calf is still very strong. So, there is separation anxiety, which is what we're going through now. Calf is completely bonded with momma, and wants her, but doesn't "need" her to survive. It's a stressful time for both momma and calf, more so for calf.

Back to "kicking a calf off". It's literally that. As momma gets tired, and starts drying out, she will literally "kick" the calf off of her teet. Now, all cows are different, and dairy cows are MUCH different. So, people wonder where "veal" comes from. Generally, all dairy cows are separated shortly after birth from momma. This is for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is milk. Dairy cows never dry up. The more milk you pull, the more they produce (up to multiple gallons per day). Beef cattle are different. Once they've been bred they dry up. Junior is no longer welcome. And, they "kick" him/her off, but it takes time, longer than most will wait. So, you have to wean them, which is where "Moodini" comes in.

Hopefully, this answers your question.