03-30-2022, 11:32 PM
Good grief...the stories I could tell about animals are probably endless! Dogs, cows, other livestock, cats, birds, you name it, just endless!
Here's a short one about cows...
People think cows are stupid, but they're a lot smarter than people give them credit for. One of our breed cows is a Beltie-Angus cross (one of our best momma cows). Unlike most of our animals this one has an actual name, "Piper". Well, Piper is what we call a "jumper"; if she gets in something conjured up in that head of hers, she starts looking for an escape route, and this escape route usually involves jumping. Now, most people also don't think cows can jump, but let me tell you, they very much can jump! And, they can jump a heck of a lot higher than most people think too! Piper probably weighs around 1,700 lbs, but she's Michael Jordan when it comes to jumping. In fact, that cow can jump a hell of a lot higher than I can, that's for sure. Without going into a lot of detail here, cows get labeled by their behavioral characteristics so we know what to expect when we have to handle them, and so we can communicate these traits to others quickly. Once you learn the behavior of an animal, you also have to learn the signs which lead up to that behavior. In Piper's case, we know when this cow is getting ready to jump because she'll start sticking her nose up in the air and craning her neck like she's sizing up various barriers like fences and corral panels to figure out which one she can clear (and yes, Piper can jump over a 5 FOOT fence!!! Easily, I might add!). Okay, so now you understand some background; now onward with the story.
We do most of our own Vet work, but every now and then we have to get the large animal Vet out here to deal with an issue. Probably because of something which happened when she was a calf, Piper does NOT like the vet! (understatement of the week). However, Piper is as calm as a trusting old dog when we do vet work, but not when the actual Vet shows up. How she knows the difference is beyond me, but she straight-up does know the difference. So the minute the Vet shows up in her truck, Piper's nose goes up in the air, and I mean the very second that the Vet drives up! As a matter of fact, Piper can tell the Vet truck coming down our road even (and cows have notoriously bad eyesight), so it's either smell or sound, but she knows! Oh boy, does she ever know!
So one day we've got the Vet coming out to doctor a momma cow who's having nursing issues, and the Vet wants to check all the momma cows just to make sure whatever is wrong with the one momma isn't contagious. This means Piper too. So we get all the momma cows penned up, and the plan is to run them through the crowding tub, alley and chute complex one at a time, where the Vet will check each one for milk quality and quantity, and infection. We usually pen the cows up early so they settle down before we do anything with them, and that's what we had done on the day in question.
The Vet pulls up in her truck, and she hasn't even put her truck in "Park" yet before Piper's nose is up in the air. She looks like a flipping periscope with her nose stuck up in the air like that. By the time the Vet is out of her truck, Piper is in full-on "Eject!"-mode.
To make a long story short(er), she did try to jump the fence that day, but because of where she started her leap from she only made it halfway over the 5 foot steel corral panel, landing on top of it and crushing it (like an aluminum can). The aftermath is a whole other story, but everyone was fine in the end.
And that's the story of the cow with some kinda' ESP about the Vet.
Here's a short one about cows...
People think cows are stupid, but they're a lot smarter than people give them credit for. One of our breed cows is a Beltie-Angus cross (one of our best momma cows). Unlike most of our animals this one has an actual name, "Piper". Well, Piper is what we call a "jumper"; if she gets in something conjured up in that head of hers, she starts looking for an escape route, and this escape route usually involves jumping. Now, most people also don't think cows can jump, but let me tell you, they very much can jump! And, they can jump a heck of a lot higher than most people think too! Piper probably weighs around 1,700 lbs, but she's Michael Jordan when it comes to jumping. In fact, that cow can jump a hell of a lot higher than I can, that's for sure. Without going into a lot of detail here, cows get labeled by their behavioral characteristics so we know what to expect when we have to handle them, and so we can communicate these traits to others quickly. Once you learn the behavior of an animal, you also have to learn the signs which lead up to that behavior. In Piper's case, we know when this cow is getting ready to jump because she'll start sticking her nose up in the air and craning her neck like she's sizing up various barriers like fences and corral panels to figure out which one she can clear (and yes, Piper can jump over a 5 FOOT fence!!! Easily, I might add!). Okay, so now you understand some background; now onward with the story.
We do most of our own Vet work, but every now and then we have to get the large animal Vet out here to deal with an issue. Probably because of something which happened when she was a calf, Piper does NOT like the vet! (understatement of the week). However, Piper is as calm as a trusting old dog when we do vet work, but not when the actual Vet shows up. How she knows the difference is beyond me, but she straight-up does know the difference. So the minute the Vet shows up in her truck, Piper's nose goes up in the air, and I mean the very second that the Vet drives up! As a matter of fact, Piper can tell the Vet truck coming down our road even (and cows have notoriously bad eyesight), so it's either smell or sound, but she knows! Oh boy, does she ever know!
So one day we've got the Vet coming out to doctor a momma cow who's having nursing issues, and the Vet wants to check all the momma cows just to make sure whatever is wrong with the one momma isn't contagious. This means Piper too. So we get all the momma cows penned up, and the plan is to run them through the crowding tub, alley and chute complex one at a time, where the Vet will check each one for milk quality and quantity, and infection. We usually pen the cows up early so they settle down before we do anything with them, and that's what we had done on the day in question.
The Vet pulls up in her truck, and she hasn't even put her truck in "Park" yet before Piper's nose is up in the air. She looks like a flipping periscope with her nose stuck up in the air like that. By the time the Vet is out of her truck, Piper is in full-on "Eject!"-mode.
To make a long story short(er), she did try to jump the fence that day, but because of where she started her leap from she only made it halfway over the 5 foot steel corral panel, landing on top of it and crushing it (like an aluminum can). The aftermath is a whole other story, but everyone was fine in the end.
And that's the story of the cow with some kinda' ESP about the Vet.