I have a cow that I have threatened to sell for the last three or four years, but she is still here.

She is a nice looking, red Salers, born into the herd from a good, productive cow. I have never had any problems getting her in-calf and that is probably one of the main reasons the animal is still here.

Very excited

When she first calved she got very excited and pushed the calf around the pen. Every time that the calf tried to get up she would knock it down and would roar like a bull. It was so bad I had to take the calf away from her.

Once she passed the afterbirth I put the calf back in and all was fine. The calf sucked and the problem seemed to be over.

The next day I had another cow calving, so I put her in the pen next to this cow. That was a big mistake. Once she saw the other cow calving she started going mad again and tearing up the straw in her pen. I had to move her to another house. For the next two or three weeks she was at the same carry-on when any cow was calving.

I really don’t know what to do now

She eventually settled and went on to rear a good calf and went in-calf again, so I thought that I would try her another year and see how things would go.

However, the next year she went through the whole procedure again. The calf had to be taken away for a few hours after calving and then they both had to be moved into a house with no other cows for a few weeks. I was more prepared this time and it didn’t seem as much of a problem.

Again, she reared a good calf and went in-calf. So, being a typical farmer, I kept her for another year in the hope that the behaviour would improve.

Sadly, the next year she was as bad as ever (maybe even worse) and this time I had no separate house for her. So she went on to torture me for the next couple of weeks.

Story

I remember telling the story about my cow to a friend. He told me it was time for her go. I protested that she was a good cow. His response was to ask me if I could hear what I was saying.

I often question other farmers’ idea of a good cow and now I was being questioned about my own judgement.

He was 100% correct and it was time to send her on her way.

She went out to grass and my intention was to put her in-calf and sell the cow and calf as an outfit at the mart. But she reared a super bull calf (the best that year) so I hated the thought of selling both together.

So I decided to keep the calf and to calve the cow for one more year – then sell her on. By doing that I was going against everything that I had said and believed.

Twins

That was last year, and this year was definitely going to be her last one on this farm.

However, she was one of the first to calve and had twins. There was no roaring or pushing the calves around. In the end I think she was overwhelmed with having that second calf.

She was like a different cow. Also there were no problems when other cows were calving. I left the calves on her and she is doing an excellent job with them.

I really don’t know what to do now. She has got more chances than I would normally give, and after all that plotting against her maybe she has come good in the end. Or perhaps she will return to torment me again?