Calving question

Wife was helping me feed hay and we watched a cow calve, nothing unusual, then one of my protective type mothers who is already with calf went nuts trying to get the after birth from the new mother. I hadn't seen a cow go after it with this kind of dedication before, I assume this response is to keep predators away. Wife is curious if there might be some other reason for this behavior. Thoughts please?

Yes natural instinct to eat it to keep predators away, maybe a
little to obsessive but it's ok. How is that cow, a good mom??

Afterbirth is very high protein- most cows eat it quickly after calving, not just to keep predators away.

(quoted from post at 18:11:16 02/26/12) Wife was helping me feed hay and we watched a cow calve, nothing unusual, then one of my protective type mothers who is already with calf went nuts trying to get the after birth from the new mother. I hadn't seen a cow go after it with this kind of dedication before, I assume this response is to keep predators away. Wife is curious if there might be some other reason for this behavior. Thoughts please?

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Ya...My cows go nuts over the after birth also.... Could never see why till one day i try ed some myself....
Its really very tasty and good for you to..
We like ours fried with taco seasening....[/list]

I agree, but a dash of chilli powder and black pepper also is
good.

If this picture comes through. It is our Austrlian Sepherd cleaning up baby goats. This nature at work and is the way to reduce loses to preditors. I have seen him hide the babies in te weed. It is a wonder to watch.

Our cows used to eat the afterbirth too, never would tell me why however. Asked the vet about it, he didn"t have a reason for the behaviore either... But he said it"s not the best thing for a cow to do, said it makes "em sick.

Pretty much a natural instinct to keep predators away. Interesting bit about the other cow going after it- I would suspect she has some good mothering skills. We had a good old cow that was near a heifer that had just calved. The heifer just left the calf, never even sniffed it, but that old cow took right to it, cleaned it off, and raised it as if it was her very own. But those kind of cows are few and far between. Things like that make the cow calf business rewarding on so many levels....

Best of luck,
LonM

The cow who calves did a fine job but the other girl was the
one who amazed me, she came in with some cows I bought
last spring and is by far the best mother in the herd both
with her own and any other calf in the pasture.

Not all our cows clean up the afterbirth. Some do, some don"t. The magpies, eagles and ravens do the job if momma doesn"t.

I alweays felt that it was an instinctive thing for the cow so that the usual predators wouldn"t be attracted. But that"s conjecture on my part.

Where I live we have lots of predators. I've
never bought cows or heifers and brought them in
my cow herd. So I have what I call a cow family.
Buzzards are the most common problem here. If they
catch a cow down having a calf they will peck her
eyes out first and then start on the rear end and
work their way up. If my cows see a shadow of a
buzzard flying they start getting excited and
bunch up. If they smell a bear or bobcat they will
sometimes run and get out of that area of the
pasture and come near my house.

Two years ago I was out in the yard and could
hear the cows and knew something was wrong. Went
to check and one had just had a calf. Six other
cows came to her and they all ate the after birth
and then licked that calf clean while mama was
going nuts. Calf got on it's feet and they all
started out of that field to get away from what
ever they smelled.

A few years back I lost a twin calf to a bear.
The cow would hide one calf while taking care of
the other and the hidden calf was found by a bear.
We have a bear season now and the population is
growing. May get tough to have cattle here in
years to come.

I have read that it is high in nutrition that the cow needs to produce the first milk (colostrum), and that she needs it, besides the predator consideration.

Mark

Hi I never liked my cattle to eat the afterbirth. Regardless of what others say, I didnt let it happen if I could stop it. I had all my cattle in dry lots to calve out, where I could keep an eye on them etc...... Its not good for cows to eat it, from the vets Ive talked to and they have been known to choke to death, and die of stomach problems etc.... according to the vets. I didnt let them eat it because of that and ease of mind. just my 0.02cts

(quoted from post at 11:48:53 02/27/12) Its not good for cows to eat it, from the vets Ive talked to and they have been known to choke to death, and die of stomach problems etc.... according to the vets.

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I don't know what College the vet that you've talked to graduated from but I don't want him/her doctoring on my cows. I learned in FFA and in animal husbandry classes in College that cows eating placenta was natures intended way. Evidently you've never watched any nature shows on TV either.

Ditto. Just because the guy graduated from Vet school, doesn't
necessarily mean that he makes the best decisions.

I know there are excellent professionals out there, but my personal
experience with them in the last 30+ years is less than stellar.

Mark