# Teaching cow to come



## Po Boy Rancher (Feb 6, 2011)

Does anyone have tricks to teach a 3 year old Dexter to come to you? I have tried hay, grain, and grass. She is out on pasture and I bring her in twice a day for milking but that varies from a non-event to chasing her around the pasture for an hour (like last night). I leave a lead rope on her to expedite the process but yesterday the lead rope broke off the clip so I got to chase her for an hour before I got her cornered enough (and tired enough) to let me give her some alfalfa and clip her with another rope.

I have had her for just over a month when I picked her up from a breeder. She has an 8 month calf that is fence-line weaning right now. My other cow walks right up to me and asks me to scratch her, but that took me months to get her to that point, she is 1.5 years old.

Any suggestions on how to expedite this process?


Thanks in advance.


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

Keep her calf close to the barn and maybe that will entice her to come up for milking. If the pasture has a lot of good grass, then she is probably full and that is the reason she won't come up for hay or feed. If she is eating hay in the pasture, move it to a lot next to the barn. Keep the gate closed until a couple of hours before milking and then turn her in to eat and close the gate behind her. You might also keep the salt and mineral up next to the barn. Cows love sweet feed, try a little of that and she may decide a trip to the barn is worth the trouble.
When we were breaking our newest heifer to milk, DH put a halter on her and fastened a lead rope to that. He let her drag that rope around until she was broke to lead. Having a drag rope on her would at least make it easier to catch her.


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## genebo (Sep 12, 2004)

Start by reading this web site:

http://www.grandin.com/behaviour/principles/flight.zone.html

Check yourself over for jingling coins or keys or anything else that might spook her. Don't wear scents of any kind.

Feed her for a few days in the milking stanchion. Soothe her as you work, with a low voice. Stroke her and experiment with different treats. The sweet feed that Linn suggested works for nearly all cows. Try stale bread slices, too. Those are my Dexters' favorites.

Be patient (as much as possible). Everything takes time for a cow to adjust to. She may be missing her calf a lot and if you don't need all her milk you might delay weaning until you have established a better rapport with Mama cow.


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## bugsbunny (Mar 15, 2011)

Give her a little grain when you're milking. You'll probably have to chase her down for a few weeks until she gets used to everything. Once she does get used to it she will come running when she sees you carrying that bucket LOL.

I can whistle loud now and they come running from wherever they are LOL.


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## arcticow (Oct 8, 2006)

The drag rope will make her easier to catch until she does begin to break over. Cosisitency with how and when you bring 'er in will help.


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## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

try a bag of 12 % sweet feed for horses....when you milk give her a scoop full...put it in a 5 gallon bucket and ALWAYS SHAKE THE BUCKET BEFORE YOU POUR IT IN...and all the time she is eating say a WORD...I use BESSIE.you can use her name or anyone you want ..do not use that word unless she is EATING for the first week..AND REPEAT IT LIKE EVER MINUTE..in a loving voice......then try it when she is 10 ft from the feed and the whole time she is eating.then 20 ft.....get the picture...she will start coming from all the way across the pasture.....you can also feed out in the pasture in a bucket but make her come to you..raddling the bucket with feed in it when she get close say your word...if you take time it will work if you are milking and she is eating the sweet feed....she will get to know the bucket raddle and the word and she gets sweet feed...DO NOT CHANGE THE BUCKET COLOR OR THE WORD...


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## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

Are you sure she isn't part horse?


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## Oakshire_Farm (Dec 4, 2008)

I am pretty lucky all my cows come when their name is called. I am getting ready for a heifer to calf for the first time... So we are practicing coming to the barn. Every morning and evening, after I finish milking Annabelle I would call her to the barn. I bring her in and give her a little scoop of grain. Because she was bred out in the pasture I am not 100% sure of her due date? I know she is getting very close.... It took about 2 days for her to come running when I call Annabelle, she knows the routine! Make as happy of a experience as you can. If she likes to be scratched, then give her favorite spot a good rub, if she has a favorite treat, give her a handful. What ever it takes but keep it happy


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## Sherry in Iowa (Jan 10, 2010)

I know how frustrated you must be. Actually, if we are outside much time at all, the Dexters can't help but come see us. But, our oldest cow has always been standoffish, and that's okay with us as we raise Dexters mostly for meat.

Dan Butterfield always has such a tame herd, and he always told us it was because when he was out with them, he gave them alfalfa cubes. As I say, all these years..we never made much of an attempt to tame anyone down. They just gradually get that way.

In an attempt to figure what we will feed for hay next year, we decided to try alfalfa cubes and see if anyone wanted them. Oh my! The cows just love them. I am feeding that "standoffish" cow by hand now!

It does seem to take some time to get them to eat one and know what it is. Our bull Sammy, bless his pea-pickin' heart, still won't put one in his mouth. But all of the cows and calves want them and want them now.

Just thought I would pass on the advice that was given to us. And enjoy those Dexters!


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

I would cease to give her any treats for about a week. However I would give treats to the other animal. Get the horse sweet feed as suggested above. Go as near her in the pasture as she will permit and put a couple of handfuls of the sweet feed on the ground and leave. Do this daily and each day get closer to her. Do not put your hands on her initially. Repeat the routine. Within a short time she will start getting closer to you and should start coming to get the treat. When this happens have her to follow you toward the barn to get the treat. When she will do this start just getting her attention by calling or banging on the bucket. Slowly get the lead rope and do nothing else. As she settles and wants the sweet feed begin to lead here around and then give her the feed. Always be calm and talk to her. I have calmed a wild range cow doing this.


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## Ken Scharabok (May 11, 2002)

I have about a dozen momma cows. I can call them up into the catching pen by just hollering out "Come Cows - Come On - Come on." I always have a treat for them when they do. The corral is off of the catching pen so any cow which goes into it gets extra feed.


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## KOHL HAWKE (May 8, 2010)

Some cows are always harder, my baldie and gurns. come no problem but my holist. is a "when she feels like it" kind of girl, even if she misses a feed because of it. We are also a very hands on all the time small farm so all the animals must be tame like pets. Just what ive noticed, curious to see what everyone elses expriences are too!


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## Vickie44 (Jul 27, 2010)

What Agmantoo said has always seemed logical and worked for me~ Vickie


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## genebo (Sep 12, 2004)

A trick to try with the sweet feed is to mix it up with your hands. That gets your smell in it. Cattle have incredibly good noses. Once they associate the sweet feed with you, you're almost there.

It may take a while, but when it happens, it happens suddenly. One day she'll come right to you.

Genebo
Paradise Farm


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

How is the cow training coming along? Keep us posted.


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## Po Boy Rancher (Feb 6, 2011)

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am sorting through them and thinking about what will work for me. One thing I want to do is keep grain to the bare minimum because it affects several things including e.coli adaptation to high acidic levels, and ruins the omega 3/omega 6 ratio.

Right now I have been giving her a very small handful of cracked corn when she gets through the headstock and just before I release her after her milking.

As I said, some of the things will take time and I have to bring her in twice a day right now...so that will exclude some ideas, but I am thinking about all of them and will report back soon.

Thanks again.


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## DJ in WA (Jan 28, 2005)

I'm assuming if you can milk her she isn't a nutcase.

High acid levels in the rumen do not happen unless alot of grain. Feedlot and dairy rations are mostly grain - here we're talking about feeding a quart or so. You can't feed zero grain, as seed on grass could be called grain - contains carbohydrate.

If your cow doesn't learn to come to a quart of sweet feed, then she has a problem. Maybe there was a reason she was sold?

By the way, I've got a couple heifers that go crazy over the carrot culls I got.


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## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

what she said^^^^


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## navygirl (Oct 23, 2005)

I've got the beef cows trained to come when I call. I used to go out to the water trough when they were drinking. I kept small rubber tubs next to the trough. I would call them and pour out the feed and back off a small distance. Now I just go outside and call them and they will come running. It doesn't matter where I am or what I am calling them for. Sometimes they even follow me around begging for more sweet feed. I haven't even fed them any for at least 6 months. However, they don't like to be touched. Still have to load them into a head gate to work on them.


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## shagerman (Apr 10, 2008)

i trained mine when they were babies. with sweet feed, by hand, my bucket was there, but i would take a hand ful out and they would sniff and try to taste it, and in weeks later they would see me coming with the bucket. and here they would all come running, i have only chased 1 down. and that was because she knocked down a fence and had a lag bolt in her foot, i did get it out. finally.now if any one of them see me with a bucket. i have a stampede on my hands,my new babies this year will be done the same way,so that there new owners will have no problems.


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## Cheryl aka JM (Aug 7, 2007)

I re-use kitty litter pails and coffee cans as buckets and feed scoops. The blue plastic coffee cans with a handle are perfect.......

But I sure get some funny looks when people see me out in the pasture banging a coffee can on the side of a kitty litter bucket to get my cows attention!


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