# curious?



## Pops2 (Jan 27, 2003)

i've never seen or heard it done, but has anyone run LGDs with cattle?


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## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

Ours had access to our Jersey milk cow and her calf. 

They did not bond and the jersey preferred the dog to stay out of her end of the pasture or at least maintain a good 50-75 foot radius around them.

As the dog grew, he would patrol their pasture but be sure to give them plenty of space. Every now and then he thought it fun to play the "how close before they notice and do something about it," they would shake a head at him and he would bound away. Goof. 

He was usual the first to "tattle" if the cows weren't where he thought they should be, outside the fence in the woods or temporary fenced in the backyard when allowed to graze the backyard.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Cows don't generally tolerate canines very well


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Also, cows aren't as helpless as sheep.


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## wendle (Feb 22, 2006)

I have cows running with my sheep part of the time. LGD is bonded with the sheep and will tolerate the cows in the same field, but I have not seen him protect them. He might if a calf was in distress, but the cow would probably do a fine job without him. A friend of mine lost a few calves and an injured cow to coyotes a few years ago. They purchased a couple adult lgd's neither one stays with the cows, but prefers to be near the house and barn area. I suspect they didn't bond well.


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## BlackWillowFarm (Mar 24, 2008)

Cows don't like dogs.


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## Pops2 (Jan 27, 2003)

Maura said:


> Also, cows aren't as helpless as sheep.


having seen a pack of coyote kill & eat adult cows and pull calves out as they're being born, i'd say they're helpless enough to merit a little help.


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## Pops2 (Jan 27, 2003)

BlackWillowFarm said:


> Cows don't like dogs.


i don't remember the cows & beeves in my family ever paying one bit of attention to them until the curs went to rounding them up. sure as heck none ever tried to run down dogs like the horses would.


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## Cheryl aka JM (Aug 7, 2007)

I think it depends on the dog, the cow and the situation. My dogs run with my cattle on occasion~ mostly the cows and the dogs ignore each other. But two of my cows I brought up from bottle babies and when I was bottling them my Anatolian was about a year old and she just fell in love with those calves.









Now that specific heifer has had her first calf this year and I bonded two others onto her so she is raising three Calves. She lets that Anatolian right in there with those calves, my Great Pyr and the Mongrel that were also here when she was a baby she tolerates near those calves. Our rottweiler pup...well I thought he was a gonner when she spotted him chased him across the yard and would have had him pinned but he was small enough to scramble under the electric fence away from her!


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## lockhart76 (Jul 31, 2011)

We run the sheep and cattle together and the dogs have learned to guard everyone after an adjustment period. WOrks fine now and has reduced calf losses to coyotes as well as lambs.


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## jordan (Nov 29, 2006)

Spanish Mastiffs have been successfully run with cattle in Spain, but nobody has done it here yet. There is a great video out there about it, but I'd have to find it in my files...
Much would depend on the demeanor of the dog and how the rancher introduced the cattle to the dogs.
One of my pups is going to a farm that has both cattle and goats, so I'll have a better idea of how she does with them in a year or two. 
Lois


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Pops2 said:


> having seen a pack of coyote kill & eat adult cows and pull calves out as they're being born, i'd say they're helpless enough to merit a little help.


You asked why LGD's are not seen with cows, sheep are more helpless. Cows are bigger and better able to take care of themselves, so predators that would take out your sheep may not take out your cows. Certainly, if my cows were at risk I'd try running dogs with them. We now have coydogs in our area. They take down deer, but not my sheep (two mini donks probably keep them away) or my neighbor's cattle.


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## longshadowfarms (Nov 27, 2002)

You'd pretty much need to start ALL cows as youngsters with the dogs or it's not likely to work. Most herds start with a few mature animals and most won't tolerate dogs. Almost lost one of my Pyrs to a momma cow when her year old XL bull "calf" touched noses with my Pyr just checking each other out. He'd have been fine with the Pyr, but momma knew that her job was to kill anything that came near her "baby".


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## jersey girl (Nov 21, 2005)

We left a small walkway between the cow pasture and the perimeter fence that the dogs can run. A neighbor had a very expensive cow killed by coyotes....they ate only her head. The cows and horses pasture together and dont mind the dogs, as long as they dont get too close.


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## Goatress (Feb 4, 2011)

Pops2 I just contracted litters of pups (Spanish Mastiffs :nanner: and Kangals :happy2: ) to a big livestock organization today for testing purposes. I've been asked to come to their meeting in February to make a presentation, and we are going to try it out on large range operations but operations that are still 'small' enough, such as a section, manned by a camp tender or cowboy in camp, to see how effective the presence of LGD's will be to deter wolves. And, if engaged, how a pack of these breeds will fare against anywhere from 4-16 wolves. This particular state is thick with wolves and experiencing huge losses of cattle, sheep and other stock. It will be interesting to see the results which we won't know for some time of course, but this will be the first time LGD's have been used here to guard cattle under these settings. I am hoping if Monster Malak has some Boz pups by then, to get them in on it as well. :cowboy: If it works it could really turn things around in predator control. We can only hope and try.


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## Pops2 (Jan 27, 2003)

roosevelt related two interesting wolf vs dog anecdotes about ranching in the badlands. in on instance a neighbor's female newfoundland was roaming & cavorting romantically w/ a wolf. at the same time she would kill any loafer that came too close to the home & barn area. another neighbor with two english mastiffs had both killed when they jumped a single wolf. in both instances the wolves in question were the medium sized natives of the region as opposed to the large canadian greys which are the problem out west right now. please make sure they understand that numbers is what will win against these monsters.


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## Goatress (Feb 4, 2011)

They are already keenly aware of that and when I talked about numbers of dogs they were on the same page as I was, thank goodness, as usually guys are all into running minimal numbers...but this guy is serious about seeing if it can work. Spoke with a breeder in Spain today who told me he runs 13-15 dogs with his sheep continuously there with very little loss from wolves. But again, like you said, these are not the Canadian Grays/crossbreds. Whole 'nuther game, there....


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