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I hate upset mamas

N

notjustair

Well-known Member
I have one old cow that's an excellent mother. Without the calf catcher she likely would have killed me tagging her calf this year. The little bugger was a month old and came up missing yesterday. I could tell that it walked about 20 foot onto the pond ice before falling through. Poor little guy. I feel awful bad for mama. She's spend two days at the edge of that pond bellering for her baby to come home. If the pond had enough drop I'd put in a waterer and fence it off, but I haven't had a causality in this pond in many years so I guess it was nature's turn. She came up for corn tonight with all of the other pairs. She must have realized little 44 is in a better place.
 
Every one that I've ever lost has broken my heart. I had a momma die a few years ago just about a week after she gave birth to a calf. I literally teared up as that calf tried to rouse her momma. I bottle fed the baby for a couple of weeks and then the little rascal latched onto another momma who already had a calf by her side. Momma wasn't too happy about having a stray calf on her, but she eventually accepted the calf and mothered it through weaning.

They touch our hearts don't they?

Tom in TN
 
I am sorry you lost a calf. It is sad to hear the Cows bawl for their calves. When I had ponds in the pastures I fence them all off. I either put waterers below the dams or used concrete hog slats turned up side down to make a solid walk way down into the pond at a fences off section. This way they can still get water but can not get out to the center top fall through any soft ice.
 
They sure do, I just posted on tales about things like this. I started working on a horse farm at 14, I would cut the grass, fix fencing, help with hay mow pasture ect maintenance basically. The next year i showed up for work and Something wasent right that morning I got there, no horses were out no tractor running to clean the barn, no workers outside. I was heading to the office and a girl was just coming out I asked her were the boss was, she pointed to the office, apparently a mare had a 3 month old baby die, that woman quit, so that's how I ended up helping in the barn with the horses, we went to the barn with the loader to get the dead foal out to Cornell for autopsy, when we walked the mom out of the stall you could see how up set she was, fright nervous ect, I still have that mare 26 years later.
 
Had a cow this spring that started showing a touch of cancer eye. She was to have a calf early this fall. She had the calf, but the calf was always hungry. Poor calf would take about three sucks and give up. Ten minutes later try again. Mama was a good mother, but not much milk. Started feeding it on the bottle. Finally turned the mama out to pasture because she was rubbing it on the fences and leaving a bloody mess. I can not shot my cows. Have to have a neighbor or my son do it with me gone.
 
I'll never forget about 6 years ago we had our first jersey heifer calf born. The cow had her on the back corner of the pasture the calf was drinking and the mother was licking the calf while she drank pretty near perfect picture. After I came back from breakfast there was no calf to be found. Turned out it followed her mother into a mud hole and the other cows trampled her into the mud and the poor baby calf drowned. Mother Nature can be so cruel sometimes.
 
I may get poofed. but cattle show more motherly love than some women. I think in the future there will be a lot of poor mothers with severe emotional problems.
 
Every Cow in my herd of just over 100 head was related. I swear they knew it. I had a cow killed when a tree blew on her. Her week old calf was "adopted" by another cow, after two days. I was going to bring it in to bottle feed it when I saw this cow get the calf up and nurse it along with its own calf. Heart-warming to watch.
 
Well at least the prices are low enough now that the monetary loss wasn't as big. :(

It's a proven fact that if you own livestock you will lose one once in a while. I've noticed that good mommas seem to mourn the loss of a calf. A few years ago a cow had a still born calf. I always bury the dead because of stray dogs and black buzzards. The cow left the calf and I wen to get the backhoe. When I got back there were 10-12 cows around the calf like they were having a funeral. I watched until the all left. I agree that most cows are better mommas than many of their human counterparts.
 
Reading the replies who says farmers don't care about there cattle? Unfortunately it's the bad ones that get the publicity.
I know with my cattle grandma would look over there grand baby. I can't help but wonder if that mother instinct is being breed out I know certain breeds are better than others. I found out the hard way don't mess with a jersey when she had a calf and I got the scars to prove it.
 
Ponds are bad for cattle Winter or Summer in my opinion as they get really nasty in the Summer with the cows standing in them and then drinking the water and such and if
there is a stupid thing to get into in a field cows will find it.
 
Been in the cattle business and it still breaks my heart when something like that happens. Dang it!

I had two kittens come up missing over two nights last week. Not that we need any more around here,but I was out after dark one night and saw an owl or a large hawk come swooping down over the driveway. I know darned well that's what happened to those kittens. It just tears my heart out and makes me sick to my stomach to think about them dying that way.
 
100's of lambs raised on this place over the years, they are always figuring out new ways to die. Had a 10 day old lamb drown in a 20 gallon water trough once.....nobody ever said they were smart.
 
Went out yesterday morning to feed, found one 4month old reg. Limousin heifer dead in the cow shed.. Don't have any idea what happened as she showed no indication of health issues.
Mom is still wondering what we did with her baby.
 
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