Cattle Tricks 101

22/01/2025

During winter weather we often look out across a pasture to see cattle covered in a blanket of snow. It can be tempting to take this to mean the cows are cold.

Instead this blanket of snow is serving as a literal blanket. It both helps provide an extra layer of insulation and is showing the cows own winter coat is working well. Snow will show us anywhere the cow is loosing heat. In those places the snow will melt leaving a bare spot. Like the roof of a poorly insulated house showing every rafter as the heat from inside melts the snow.

Wet melting snow or freezing rain is far harder on cattle than cold temperatures and unmelted snow.
As long as cattle have plenty of food and shelter from the wind they will be comfortable in temperatures well below freezing. Cattle, all animals, create heat through digestion. An extra ration of hay will be great help to help keep them warm.

17/01/2025

This is Bob.

Bob has been around cattle his whole life. That doesn’t make him a cattleman. It makes him a guy with cattle. There is a difference.

The other day Bob went out to feed his cow herd. He got distracted and instead of following the usual routine he took the tractor and messed around with other things first. Out in the general area where he usually feeds.

The cows who know their routine and usually stand around waiting in the usual spot lost their minds. They followed him around as best they could from inside the pasture. They took off to the other side of the pasture. They got confused and lost.

After finally managing to get the cattle fed Bob paused a moment. “I wonder what got into those cows?” He pondered. Even after a life spent with cattle Bob couldn’t see the simple cause and effect reason for the cow's behavior.

Cattle are creatures of habit. They like and are comforted by routine. When their routines get disturbed they don’t know what to do.

They know the tractor coming to the usual feeding area means food is coming with it. This morning he did the thing, gave the cue to the cows, that meant food was coming. Then he didn’t feed them. Not right away.

The cows were confused and upset. Where was breakfast? So they followed the tractor, the cue, the bringer of food. They went in search of feed. They ran circles in the pasture.

Breaking routine happens. Sometimes there’s just no way of avoiding it. But if you want happy cows it’s important to realize the cues you are giving them with your behavior, especially during and leading up to feeding. Know how they think. Pay attention to basic principles of cattle behavior.

Then don’t randomly do things that are going to upset the cows!
Don’t be like Bob.

15/01/2025

While cattle can generally handle extremely cold temperatures, there are times when they will need a little extra help.

Most of the time windbreaks, plenty of extra feed, or a barn if it’s available work great to keep them nice and warm.

When a cow is compromised by sickness, age, or lack of shelter, we need to offer all the extra help we can.

For quiet cattle, that are halter trained and used to being handled, a horse blanket can give the extra warmth they need. This is obviously not a solution for range cattle. Although seeing someone try to blanket one would be amusing.

Dairy cattle are usually leaner than beef cattle, they are also usually quieter. A blanket can be a great help in keeping them warm without the extra fat for insulation. Any quiet cow that is used to being handled can be taught to accept a blanket.

The measurement guides for horses apply to cattle too. A little extra added on for the brisket and figuring on the big side so the straps will reach across large bellies are the only modifications needed.

Don’t think your cow would wear a blanket? Starting training in the summer will have her ready for next winter!

08/01/2025

Big Bertha was born in Ireland on 17 March 1945, St Patrick's Day. Her breed has been given as either Droimeann(a native Irish cattle breed), or Friesian. Although she sure looks Shorthorn to me and in no way Friesian (Holstein). She was bought at a cattle fair by farmer Jerome O'Leary and lived at his farm near the market town of Sneem in County Kerry, southwest Ireland.

Big Bertha held two Guinness World Records: she was the oldest cow recorded, dying just three months short of her 49th birthday, and she also held the record for lifetime breeding, having produced 39 calves. However, by 2006, the categories had been dropped from the Guinness Book of World Records.

Due to her record-breaking status, Big Bertha became a local celebrity. Her appearances at cattle fairs helped raise $75,000 for cancer research and other charities, and she would lead the St Patrick's Day parade in Sneem to aid with fundraising. Before her appearances at the noisy parades, O'Leary would feed Big Bertha whiskey to steady her nerves. After her death on New Year's Eve 1993, a wake was held for her in a pub, the Blackwater Tavern at Raycoslough, Blackwater, in County Kerry. On Big Bertha's death, O'Leary still had several of her offspring in his herd, the oldest of whom was then 35.
Following her death, Big Bertha was stuffed, and now resides at a farm at Beaufort in County Kerry.

03/01/2025

Hope everyone got everything they wanted for Christmas!

If not, you can still get yourself a copy of Cow Trick Training. Learn how to build communication with your cows and help them to want to work with you. Ticks are wonderful to help milk cows, show steers, or riding animals start out their carrier in a way that is easier and more fun for both of you!

Link to purchase your own downloadable ebook in the comments.

01/01/2025

Dancing the year away
Happy New Year!

20/12/2024

18/12/2024

I do love playing dress up with my cows 🤣🐮

13/12/2024

💜🐮💜

05/12/2024

My heart leads me to the pasture

04/12/2024

It's surprisingly easy to train a whole herd of cows.

28/11/2024

Happy Thanksgiving!

26/11/2024

Look at that. It's this years Guinness World Records book.

But there's something unusual about this one.

Why look at that. It says Ghost's very own copy! Sure 'nuff. She's in there! She got one whole sentence 😆 But, she's there. Right along side our friend Noeline's horse. But not her sheep! Where's the sheep!

I'm still proud of Ghost, even if she didn't get a picture in the book. Not every cow gets their very own copy 💜

21/11/2024

Cows love produce! Have a little left in the garden that needs cleared out? Don't toss it before giving the cows a chance at it.

19/11/2024

If you want a neatly kept house, fancy food on the table, or a beautifully turned out woman with nicely manicured nails, on your arm, I am not her.

If you want sweet and docile, good smelling, able to host a fancy party, and decorate the house, with plenty of throw pillows on the bed, I am not her.

The rules and requirements of domesticity are beyond me. I can cook and will clean. Enough to get by.

If you want a hand, someone working beside you to get the job done, no matter the weather or difficulty, I will be there to do my best.

If you want someone who can pull a calf and is willing to take the night check, I’ll do that.

Someone who will enjoy being out in the crisp night air, who stares up at the sky in wonder at the stars shining over head and with just as much amazement watches the new born calf struggle to take that first step, I’ll take that shift.

If you want someone who would rather be outside, getting her hands dirty. Hands that never will take any sort of manicure and quickly destroy any attempt at nail polish, I can do that.

I am feral. I want to be free, to be outside, to work with my hands and the muscles of my back. To battle against nature with all the cruel twists she likes to throw at us as we attempt to farm and raise livestock.

I take joy in feeling the heat of battle as I fight to save a new born calf or walk into the teeth of the blizzard to make sure my cattle are as warm and comfortable as I am not.
I will never be domesticated. My house will never be spotless. My food will be prepared with hands freshly washed and still carrying some traces of the dirt left from the work I’ve been doing. I carry the perfume of the horses, cattle, and garden when I finish my work, good earthy smells.

I am feral. I am woman. I will never be a domestic house wife.

14/11/2024

This is the way to be greeted when you go to check cows!