Welcoming home our first cow

[BeanJeepin]

So Leonna is coming home to our house within the next two weeks. She's a 16 month old cow who has lived with a family since 6 weeks of age as a pet (with no other cows - dogs, chickens, ducks). She's been tethered on a post and housed in a stall overnights. In our house she'll have a lean-to shelter, an electric fence/pasture/woods to live in and goats as companions. We will use our moveable electric fence to hold her in a different area when she first comes to worm her before putting her into our regular area. The vet will come out in her first week or so here to dehorn her and look her over (what's the best way to hold her for vetting - a cross-tie?).

She's very friendly and used to people right now and we'd like to maintain that. She'll be traveling 3.5 hours to get here which we know might stress her along with the new environment. We plan on keeping her nightly scoop of grain, hay, routine as similar as possible for her so she's able to feel more comfortable. Ideas to make the transition easier for her? For us? What do you wish you'd known when your first cow came home?

 

[BeanJeepin]

Also, silly question. She's been called Leonna all her life. I don't love the name and am considering changing it - maybe to Fiona so it doesn't sound very different to her. Would you change the name of an already-named animal?

 

[BrownSheep]

I would say go ahead and rename her. We get stray dogs at our house that all had names at one point. They all got new ones. We even renamed a puppy that shared a name with our other dog. It's your voice shell learn to recognize keeping the name similar may help her a bit.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Congrats on getting a new cow (or heifer, rather, since she wouldn't be called a cow until after she's had a calf)!

Nothing wrong with changing the name of an already-named animal. This happens LOTS of times with adopted dogs and cats (name change so that it's completely different-sounding than the original one), so it shouldn't be any different with cattle.

Keep her in a smallish corral (where she's not tied) with food and water for her to stay in for a week or so. Make sure the corral is NOT temporary electric fence since she obviously wouldn't be trained to respect it and doesn't know much about fences, seeing she's been tethered since she was a calf. The corral should be sturdy panel fencing that's enough that she won't decide to go through it. When you get her in a bigger corral (not electric again), you can start training her with the electric fence before you start doing rotational-grazing with her.

To make the transition easier for her, just let her be, especially if you have other cattle around. She has to transition on her own, no amount of pampering or showering of affection will ease her state of mind in trying to get used to her new home. Just feed her regularly and keep things as normal as you can without getting her too excited.

Oh....and can you post some pics of her please? We'd love to see her!

 

[BeanJeepin]

Right, heifer, oops!

Hmm. We have no non-electric fencing. She might have to be tied for a bit. Not ideal, but she's very used to it.

There's no other cattle around, just goats. And dog and chickens and human kids.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Hopefully you can get some sort of non-electric fencing, or think about building some fence to make it easier to manage her and to keep her in when you have to confine her for health reasons like vaccination and such. But I've no problem with tethering her if she's used to it, though, IMHO, it's nice to have animals that are not tethered.

 

[BeanJeepin]

Right, it's definitely not our goal at all to have her tethered long-term (or really, even short term) but if it's necessary for a short while, at the very least she's used to it already....

 

[redtailgal]

I think that she'd learn the electric fence thing pretty quick at such a young age. If you end up tethering her, please make double sure that she cannot reach the electric fence while tethered. A tethered cow in a panic is just bad news!

I'm not saying Wildrose is wrong, she's a pretty smart gal, but I am saying that like you, I dont keep any non electric fence around here. It's sink or swim here, we put a new heifer behind electric and she just gets it figured out. I just stick around and keep an eye on things until she gets popped a couple times. We've never had a problem, never had one bolt thru the fence......they go the other way, lol. Just dont make the mistake a friend of mine did and have her on a lead rope when she hits it......it leads to a dislocated shoulder. I'd just put her behind the electric and stand back for a while.......she'll be ok.

As for transition, at her age, I expect she will take it pretty good. You may want to give her a dose of probios when you get home (you can find that at your local farm store) to help if the stress bothers her digestion. If she has never loaded before, plan on a little extra time in your travels, in case she balks at loading. other than that, Wildrose is right, just let her be, dont try to coddle her thru it. Cows are usually very quick to adjust once they realize that there is food, lol.

It might not hurt to stall her for the first couple nights if you can.

I agree with everyone else, a name change shouldnt be a problem. Just call her by her new name each time you feed her for a couple days, and she'll understand.

As for making the transition easier for you, just keep in mind that she is bigger than you, and stronger than you, and she may test the waters a little with you for the first couple days. If you try a tug of war with her, you will lose. Be patient and compassionate, but consistently firm with her on your rules, such as no head rubbing on people (esp since you have kids around).

I DONT recommend cross-tying cattle. When they freak, they freak BIG, and if they are in cross ties....its dangerous for them and for the people around. If you dont have access to a cattle chute and/or press, be prepared to pay the vet for some good sedation for her when he comes. It shouldnt be costly for that sedation.

I think I covered all your questions. Good luck with her, and keep us posted on how it goes!

 

[BeanJeepin]

Hm, our trailer to borrow may fall through. My husband is talking building something onto our 6.5' x 10' landscape trailer like he did for the goats. Thoughts?