Devon Milking Cows (New Pics 1/29/14)

[Debby]

The girls, they are a'growin. They look decidedly more dairy now that they are weaned. They weigh in at 300-350 lbs. Here are some updated pictures.

I want to worm them and have some 10% Safeguard wormer. I have found two doses on line: 5mg/kg (or 11.5 g/500 lbs)
AND 1.67 mg/kg.

Have any of you had experience with this? FYI they were wormed two months ago before coming to my place with ivormectin pour on. My place has never had any cattle on it.

Thanks for you help.

 

[Forgotten Orchard]

Just a comment on the horn thing (since there aren't enough comments on it yet )

From what I understand the horns are left on the milking devons mainly because of their third use as oxen.

When the team is yoked together it works a lot different than a harness on a team of horses that distributes all the weight and force of the item being pulled across the body of the draft animal.

When an ox is yoked he is pulling with the weight of the cart on his shoulders. This works fine until he needs to back the cart up, or if he is going down a hill and holding the carts momentum back. At that point the yoke slides forward and is held back by the horns, instead of slipping over the head, or harming the head of the ox.
So there is a utility for keeping the horns on them (even though it sounds like you are probably not using them as oxen).

 

[MissJenny]

I need to jump in with my opinion about the horns because... because of no good reason.

As a kid I raised horned Hereford. The prevailing attitude then was to have steers dehorned, breeding/show stock not.
Most of our herd was the latter -- I've been showing cattle since I was nine and never heard of anyone being injured by horns. (Kicked, stepped on, dragged yes, Gored, no.) I kinda thought that was what paying attention and fast reflexes was all about.

Our cows regularly rubbed their heads against our legs, backsides and shoulders -- sometimes warmly, sometimes not.

So I am wondering, when did the Anti-Horn League step up to the plate?

Jenny

 

[jhm47]

Well, Jenny, I've been an EMT for 21 years now, in cattle country. Twice I've had people injured by cattle with horns, and one was a small child. I've also had calls where people were injured by cattle without horns, and the difference is striking. When cattle get agitated and know how to use horns, you're looking at an animal that is at least twice as dangerous as one without horns. Believe me, if you could have seen one of the calls I had about 15 - 16 years ago, you'd know what I'm talking about.

I also remember the beautiful horned Herefords grazing in pastures around here. And I will agree that the horns did add a certain ambience of beauty to the cattle. Now, however, it's very rare to see cattle with horns, although I do have a cousin who raises Corriente for roping purposes, and they obviously have horns.

The horned Herefords of old also usually had weights attached to their horns to turn the horns downward. This should have helped to make them less dangerous. The cow that hurt my neighbor so badly had untrained horns that curved up and out. They penetrated his torso, and punctured his stomach and a lung. He lived, but it was definitely nip and tuck for a long time. The stomach contents contaminated his body and caused massive infections. Pneumonia was also a big problem for him. If he hadn't been a very big strong man, he would have died at the scene. He wasn't big and strong 6 months later. Bet he lost over 100 lbs.

Dehorn those cattle. Especially if you have elderly or children around. It just isn't worth it.

 

[jhm47]

Here is a video of what bulls can do. Granted, these are not the run of the mill bulls. An entertaining video nonetheless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGJws5B-luQ

 

[laughingllama75]

I watched about 2 seconds of that, and I couldn't stomach any more. THOSE people get what they deserve. Son of a gun.

 

[BDial]

DO NOT DEHORN!!!! I am waiting till spring to go get mine and I have been on the phone a ton of times talking to my Devon breeder. He said not to dehorn. The association pretty much shuns it. From what he said you dont have to worry about the horns with this breed like you do with others.

Edited to add sorry didn't read the whole thread before posting.

 

[Debby]

DO NOT DEHORN!!!! I am waiting till spring to go get mine and I have been on the phone a ton of times talking to my Devon breeder. He said not to dehorn. The association pretty much shuns it. From what he said you dont have to worry about the horns with this breed like you do with others.

BDial!!!!!!!!

I'm so excited there is someone else here who will have Devons. You might be interested to know that there was just a gathering of breeders in NY state. Here is a link to the report of it.

http://www.milkingdevons.org/gather.html

I had a wonderful time meeting other breeders and got some good ideas about picking a bull for the girls and what the challenges are for AI-ing Devons.

Do you know where you are getting your Devons yet? What are you going to do with them? How many are you going to get? Are you experienced with cows?

Forgotten Orchard, thanks for the interesting information on oxen. I have a wonderful picture of a team with the yoke actually strapped to the horns by a very handsome rig. I don't a have way to scan it at the moment. But I will try to do that. I thought the team would have a hard time pulling like that, but now I guess it is related to the point you are making about putting on the brakes. Here's a picture I have from a calander of a devon team. Sorry about the poor quality.

As far as the horns go, only one of the animals I saw at the gathering was dehorned. He was replacement bull that was kept in a pen when he couldn't be with the herd. The owner complained that the last bull used his horns to demolish the pen. I've seen many other bulls that weren't dehorned. Here is my heifers's sire, Snowman:

The breeder who owns him is very sold on his temperment and loans him to other herds where he goes and lives for a few months. (Good work if you can get it.) I'm not so brave about having a bull with or without horns. Thus my interest in AI.

My girls are total pets. They get kissed on the face, hugged, groomed and handled ad nauseum daily. They lead, tie, lift their feet and allow every inch of their bodies to be handled. They are extremely docile and tolerate my attention very placidly. Now that I've jinxed myself, I'm sure I will get hurt by their horns tomorrow!!! The only question is will I have the nerve to admit it here if I do.

The girls are now 400 lbs and counting.

Thanks for checking in on Devonshire. I'll try to keep the pictures coming so.

 

[laughingllama75]

Wow, thanks for sharing those pics. that bull is really nice looking, he has docile looking eyes. Those teams are pretty neat too.....I love watching draft animals work. we have a neighbor that pulls his oxen, and he has chianina and chianina crosses. HUGE cattle, and really neat.

 

[pitchfork]

I have to give my two cents on the horn, no horn debate.
I grew up on a subsistance farm, loooong time ago. We had about ten head of cattle that we milked by hand and used a cream seperator to collect cream, which was then sold. Most of our cattle were dairy mixed breeds. Guernsey crosses with what ever bulls we could rustle up from neighbors etc. Down through the years many had horns, most I would say. Dad liked the horns because the horns helped hold the cows in their wooden milking stantions.
I say that just to let you know I have some experience.
The way I see it there are basically four ways to get hurt with horns.
Cattle are prey animals and usually will not intentionally try to hurt you, but of course two of the ways you can get hurt are by a bull, and by a cow trying to protect a calf. I don't have any hard statistics but would be willing to bet that a majority of serious injuries come from these two things. Another way to get hurt is by animals trying to escape what they precieve as a bad situation, they are prey animals and will run right over you if they are scared enough, this would include trying to get out of the way of another animal that is higher up in the pecking order and decides to run one animal away and you are in the way.
Finally they could accidentaly whack you while you are handling them. They go to knock some flies off their back and you get smacked as they swing their head, that sort of thing.
So you can minimize your chances, by, not keeping bulls, spending a great deal of time with your cows and knowing their desposition before they ever calve, and then watching them closly when they do. And finally, watch yourself when working with any herd of cattle, don't put yourself in a position to get tramped on if the boss cow wants to run the others away from the stock tank, that sort of thing. Obviously don't try to head a cow that is determined to get away from you etc.
So I say keep the horns, because with two head, no bull, no herd exactly, you are not in much danger. Just be heads up and don't get yourself in a spot to get head butted.
As a kid all of our cattle were handled in the milk barn everyday. They were sprayed, and miked and very comfortable with people.
You could walk up to any of them in the pasture and we never really thought too much about the horns one way or the other. So personally with only two animals I would not hesitate to keep the horns.
Also want to commend you on trying to preserve this breed. I was shocked to learn recently that even Guernsey cattle are now in decline. When I was young there were dairy farms all around us that raised Golden Guernsey cattle. Now everthing has gone Holstein. Small dairies are another piece of American gone.