I got a call from a distant nieghbor, 10 miles, last night asking if I was missing a cow. Not a great question at any let alone after a storm like we had! He identified it as having a fresh brand and a brisket tag. Turns out it was a bred i had bought from another guy about 5 miles up the road from where she turned up. This seems very strange because its not like we trailed them home. She seemed to know she was going home. The snow had drifted up enough to let her cross the barb wire fence. Now I wonder how many more are gone, just waiting for light to do a good count. :???:
Lost cow in storm
- Thread starter Rancher3!
- Start date
Grassfarmer
Well-known member
I remember my Dad telling me when I was about four he bought a group of 5 year old sheep off a high hill farm about 25 miles from us as the crow flies. After about a week the old guy that was supposed to be checking them for us noticed about half of them were missing. They finally got all the sheep collected up - they were on about 5 different farms, all on a compass line back to the place they'd grown up. And people say sheep are stupid :?
efb
Well-known member
Grassfarmer said:
All the sheep I was ever around were stupid :!: I remember when I was a kid we had a few sheep, unless you pened them in the barn they would go around on the north side in the worst blizzard to lamb. But it never would freeze their tails off :?
Grassfarmer
Well-known member
efb said:
The biggest problem I see with sheep in North America is that most people keep terminal sire breeds only. If you did that with cows you'd miss out on a lot of the maternal instincts too. If you work with maternal breed sheep you would find in general they are way smarter than cows. Certainly they are able to fend for themselves with less help from man than cows when kept under conditions that suit sheep.
Faster horses
Well-known member
Cows will do dumb things when they calve as well. For instance,
heading to the top of a hill to calve when it is storming and/or cold.
I have heard they get a 'fever' and go to the top of a hill to cool off.
The lady we bought the Limousins from said once, "cows don't
have as many brains as chickens when it comes to caring for their
young". She never mentioned sheep.
heading to the top of a hill to calve when it is storming and/or cold.
I have heard they get a 'fever' and go to the top of a hill to cool off.
The lady we bought the Limousins from said once, "cows don't
have as many brains as chickens when it comes to caring for their
young". She never mentioned sheep.
Grassfarmer
Well-known member
Faster horses said:Cows will do dumb things when they calve as well. For instance,
heading to the top of a hill to calve when it is storming and/or cold.
I have heard they get a 'fever' and go to the top of a hill to cool off.
The lady we bought the Limousins from said once, "cows don't
have as many brains as chickens when it comes to caring for their
young". She never mentioned sheep.
I can see how someone with limo cows could come to that conclusion :wink:
John SD
Well-known member
One of the dumbest things cows will do especially on a warmer day is calve right next to a dam or creek. The calf's first steps sometimes prove fatal. 
Big Swede
Well-known member
When I used to winter calve it was surprising to me that during most storms most cows would stay up behind the trees with the group to calve. Instinct tells them to go off by themselves when the time comes but for some reason most would stay by the shelter to calve. Of course there were always a few that would wander off to the worst spot in the calving lot but not that many. Maybe the herding instinct was greater than the birthing instinct during those worst storms.
Calving on grass lets cows go off by themselves to a clean spot. Gives them a chance to bond with no distractions.
Calving on grass lets cows go off by themselves to a clean spot. Gives them a chance to bond with no distractions.
hillsdown
Well-known member
John SD said:One of the dumbest things cows will do especially on a warmer day is calve right next to a dam or creek. The calf's first steps sometimes prove fatal.
I had an old herf do that a few years ago, good thing I was checking on her at the time. The calf was in the water laying down and she was cleaning him. I pulled him out and moved him to level ground. He never became the brightest steer in the group that year. :wink: I wonder how long he was under water.
Northern Rancher
Well-known member
I found when we pen calved if a cow got out and took off to calve she'd go sometimes a mile back to the swamp and gave the yotes a treat. When we pasture calve they usually just go off the edge of the herd so they can rally the troops if need be. We have yotes in the calving pasture every day but they don't seem to bother much-they'll take an abandoned twin pretty quick. I guess if a cow shows too much dumb ash behavior there are auction marts that can solve it.