Things that make you go 'huh'

[cowgirl8]

Every year we see something we've never seen before. No matter how long you've been in business there will be that one thing every year that will make you go Huh...I'd love to hear your this years "Huh"
Last year it was the hairless calf. This year has been very uneventful. Thought we'd go a year without saying Huh.. The cougar losses were new, but i'm guessing we've probably had them all along and i just didnt catch the maulings soon enough.
Yesterday i was riding though the herds, checking for this or that. Dalis grass is headed out, so i look for twitchers. We have a bull who's injured his penis, so i'm watching to see if its getting better or worse(not planning on keeping him and bulls are almost ready to remove so i'm not too worried about him not being able to breed)......So, i'm cruising by a herd sitting under trees. It was late in the day, but before they headed out to the pond. Saw in the crowd of cattle and i see a ear that was tilted wrong. Turned around and saw a calf, some grass sticking out the side of his mouth, drooling bad, ears not quite the right angle one drooped. Stood him up, he was drawn up, dehydrated, head stuck out..... Took husband out to look at him, herd by then was out in tall grass grazing. No one was laying down at this time, calf had left the trees with the cows so we headed out to look for the calf. Found him laying down, got him up, same grass sticking out the side of his mouth. He made a few motions like he had something stuck in his mouth.
Anywho, got them up, calf in chute. Pulled on grass and got a wad of grass the size of a nerf football out of his mouth. Didnt appear to be hung on anything, teeth looked fine mouth, no twine and throat clear after. We tubed him electrolytes and put him out. I'm guessing one more day as hot and dry as it is, he would have gone past dehydration and he would have died just because he had too much in his mouth.
I will keep an eye on him to make sure it isnt something wrong with his swallowing reflex or a tooth problem we couldnt see...but this morning he had nursed his mother dry and all seemed good...

 

[cowgirl8]

Here is the calf as we got them up...Very drawn up, nose out, slobbering....all because of a blob of grass..

 

[branguscowgirl]

Be careful, what if it's Rabies?! :shock:

My "huh moment" was when I had a heifer come in heat and she full on mounted a tie post in the corral! (She wasn't even tied to it!) I have never seen a heifer, cow, OR even a bull mount a post! :lol: :lol:

 

[cowgirl8]

Rabies was my first thought. I was at the school a few weeks ago to help daughter get her room ready. When i got there a rabid skunk was under a car. No one knew what to do, but they did call the game warden. While waiting, the skunk staggered around drooling , spraying sporadically and finally convulsed and fell over dead. I suggested putting a trashcan over it to make sure it stayed put just in case it wasnt dead. Of course, i volunteered someone else..lol Anywho, we've been vaccinated and if for some reason the calf does die, we will have it tested. Rabies is bad out here.
When my girls showed heifers, Skyla, a sim, mounted my daughter when she bent over next to her to grab a brush.....

 

[bigbull338]

well we had a 1st this year.had a calf born blind out of a reg cow.the cow is raising the calf. the calf has finally started moving with momma.

 

[cowgirl8]

well we had a 1st this year.had a calf born blind out of a reg cow.the cow is raising the calf. the calf has finally started moving with momma.

What will you do with it, eat it? We had a blind calf before and we ate him figuring he'd get hit at the sale barn....We had a young cow one time go blind. We thought she was just being difficult when we were getting them up...she'd run the wrong way, not like the other way, but just random directions....We got her in the corral, thats when i figured out she was blind...bless her heart. I dont remember what we did with her, i'm guessing hauled her to the sale barn..

 

[fenceman]

well we had a 1st this year.had a calf born blind out of a reg cow.the cow is raising the calf. the calf has finally started moving with momma.

My neighbor, also my cousin , has a blind cow. Had her for several years. She gets along quite well.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Yes, I have had them mount people also. I kept her back away from me while she was in heat. I figured that I was a bit softer than the post so I better be careful! :lol:

Bigbull that sux about your calf. What are you thinking that the cause is?

 

[branguscowgirl]

well we had a 1st this year.had a calf born blind out of a reg cow.the cow is raising the calf. the calf has finally started moving with momma.

My neighbor, also my cousin , has a blind cow. Had her for several years. She gets along quite well.

I had a young horse do quite well blind also. He had hit his head pretty hard on a low branch in the field, which damaged the optic nerves behind his eyes. I took him to UC Davis for testing. They felt that he was completely blind in one eye, and could maybe see shadows in the other. He was still rideable also.

 

[Muddy]

I have a blind cow here, she did fine out in the pasture with her third calf right now. I even showed a blind steer for 4-H show, won second place few years ago. Of course we ate him.

 

[bigbull338]

as far as i know it was born blind or mostly blind.im planning on butchering her at weaning.weve delt with blind cows due to pinkeye.but i dont want to keep her.i have no idea why she is blind.i just hope it isnt genetic.blind cows will get you hurt quick.

 

[talltimber]

Dad and I just had a conversation today about that. He told me he had a calf born blind and in a couple of weeks he could see. He didn't know what caused the blindness or the recovery. He said he guessed the cow was a pretty good momma, and the calf could find the teat ok after he was big enough to get around good. Maybe you'll have some luck come your way also.

 

[Nesikep]

I had a month old heifer this spring that would lay down and kick at her head, kinda roll over on her side, seem uncomfortable, then get up and be just fine.. a few minutes she'd lay down and do it again.. I don't know if it was a colic or something? She seemed to get bouts of it once in a while... she's been fine for months now... really nice heifer too.

I've had several heifers get frisky with me, and even a decently grown cow.. can bruise you up pretty good if you aren't careful, but at least it wasn't a bull!


Yesterday I had a "huh?" moment while working on the bedroom renovations in the house... my dad had drawn up where he wanted electrical boxes on the wall, and I was going to put them in.. There was about 20 layers of paint, wallpaper, and thin pressboard paneling, and we had originally thought to just drywall over it, but I decided to just tear it out and screw to the shiplap that was behind it.
My dad had drawn an electrical box RIGHT OVER where there was a cutout for one in the shiplap, but wasn't visible because of the paneling!!! I couldn't believe it!

 

[branguscowgirl]

My dad had drawn an electrical box RIGHT OVER where there was a cutout for one in the shiplap, but wasn't visible because of the paneling!!! I couldn't believe it!

Nesi, I would call that some ghostly guidance from a past owner/builder of the house! :nod:
My house was built in 1910. And during renovations I get swayed like that all the time. I had a gal stop by that lived here in the 70s. She said, "oh the same tile is in the bathroom." I said no. I have completely remodeled the bathroom and there was no tile here. Yet I chose tile that she said was there originally! :shock:

 

[Toad]

My 'huh' moments often come when I sit down and read through the posts on CT. op: :compute: :shock:

 

[chippie]

My huh moment happened at a small county fair while I was doing the evening feeding.

A woman with a toddler on her hip walked into the barn and said, "Look honey, a horse."
Her husband said, "that is a cow."
She giggled and said, "I didn't know what you called it."

 

[Nesikep]

Wow.. and lemme guess.. these are the people who had a huge issue with some ground beef being contaminated with horse meat?

 

[branguscowgirl]

My 'huh' moments often come when I sit down and read through the posts on CT. op: :compute: :shock:

:lol: :lol: :lol: Sooooo true!

Chippie that is very sad that people don't even know the difference between a horse and a cow! Even city kids learn this from their story books at a very young age.

 

[chippie]

branguscowgirl,
I wish that it were true that even city kids learn this.
They don't.
I help my husband with his job. He is a mobile dairy classroom instructor. We take a milk cow in a trailer that is set up like a milking parlor. During the school year we visit a different school every day. Our target audience is 2 grade and older. I have heard 4th graders say, "Look a horse!" when they see the cow. They honestly don't know. It doesn't matter if they live in the city or suburbia. When families go somewhere in the car, the kids are watching videos or playing games on a phone or tablet. Hardly anyone watches the scenery.
he also does the dairy demos at fairs, stock shows and Ag in the Classroom. I love it.

 

[Williamsv]

Chippie, the mobile dairy classroom is great! I am so glad that you and your husband do this. We live in a rural area, and I believe all our students can recognize a cow. It is sad that so many children are busy with phones, iPads, and all these games that they play that they cannot look out the window on a trip, but around here in Middle GA cattle farms are getting fewer and fewer. Not many dairies either. We have a big one not far from us. They furnish a dairy cow for the mobile classroom.
When I was teaching, I enjoyed the mobile dairy classroom myself. Thank you for doing this for students.