Cow Attack

So we have had yet another adventure here with the cow.

The adventure requires a little back story…

We were upfront and honest with the farmer we got him from about our inexperience with cows and
trusted that he has the best intentions for the calf in mind. While I admit fully that we should have done
more research on our part BEFORE getting a cow, we did trust that the farmer would give us the correct
info on the calf and that his instructions on how to care for him were correct. We were wrong.

We were told this was a 10-week-old calf, that he was weaned from mom and eating grain, that he
would be fine eating only grass, that he needed nothing else (other than water of course). We were told
our pasture was more than sufficient for him.

We noticed that this calf was not grazing. We noticed that he had diarrhea. We noticed he was getting
weaker. I dove into research, trying to find out anything I could. Problem was, Jerseys are primarily dairy
cows. All my research was coming up for a milking cow, which have different nutritional requirements
than a steer. I could not reach my feed mill for advice as they were closed until the next day. I was
stressing out. I knew he needed something more, but no idea what to do for this little guy.

I visited my feed mill the next day. I was told there that this poor young cow could absolutely NOT
survive on grass alone. His stomach cannot even process grass properly yet! We basically, in our
ignorance, had been starving this little guy. My heart breaks with the thought! The feed mill got me
squared away with the correct feed that he needed. I was also informed that the diarrhea is called
scours in cows and can be just from the change in diet or something more serious. Scours can take a cow
down very quickly if not treated. I was given a syringe filled with probiotics and electrolytes to help his
stomach feel better and help the scours. I was advised to give him this before he was fed.

I came right home, went into the pasture, and gave him a dose from the syringe. He took this like a
champ, just like he was eating from a bottle. I was surprised. I had thought it might be a challenge. This
is where the next problem started. I tried to take the syringe away. I was NOT prepared for what
happened next.

This little cow, smaller than my dog, who is very weak, went absolutely crazy. He wanted more of that
syringe and he was determined he was going to get it! I had been sitting on the ground feeding it to him.
He tried to go after the syringe and was repeatedly head butting me, almost knocking me over. Now, he
does not have horns, but he has the buds where they should be. And I found out that they can indeed
still hurt when a cow is head butting you at head level. I managed to get up, but he did not stop. Then,
then… he started biting me! He bit me right in my rear end! At this point the cow was full on attacking
me, ramming me, head butting, and trying to bite at me! There was really no way to get away from him.
I was out in the open. His shelter does not have a pen, it is open as well. I try to move away but he is
relentless and continues to come at me. I know he wants the syringe, but I cannot drop it and run. I do
not want him to chew on it, eat it, and hurt himself further. Honestly, I panic. My instinct was to scream
for help. I realized this would be useless because I live in the boonies now and no one could hear me,
not even the kids in the house. I am all alone. In a field, with a crazy, aggressive, biting, cow. Of course,
this would happen, of course! I come up with the best I can do. I hold the syringe out behind me and run
like hell to the gate. It works. He is hot on my tail the whole time, biting the syringe. I get to the gate and

I figure since Tank is on the other side that the cow will back off since he is afraid of tank. Wrong. Cow
don’t give a crap about Tank. I open the gate best I can, and cow gives Tank a look that screams “come
at be bro” and tries to charge through! Now I have got an angry cow trying to get out (as well as myself)
and a giant challenged dog trying to get in! I manage by the grace of God to get out and keep those tow
where they belong.

It is over. I am out. I am safe. The cow is glaring at me through the gate. My whole body is shaking. I
almost died. By a cow. Almost eaten by a strictly herbivorous animal. Not even a huge fat cow, but a
little baby cow! I tell Tank “Thanks a lot, for not jumping that fence, which I know you could have done
easily to save me!”.

I walk, shaking, back to the house and call CJ. I recount the story and he laughed at me. I yell a little, he
laughs some more. I do not think he understands that the cow was aggressive and biting me. I reiterate
several times that he BIT ME IN THE REAR END! More laughing. I declare “no more animals”, ‘I’m never
going in there again” and we end the call with more laughing from him.

I do have to go back in there though. I must give him the feed. UGH. He is going to eat me; I just know it.
I go back in but have Lil CJ stand by the gate. I dump his food in his bowl. He eats a little and then comes
at me again! Here we go. I’m a tad more calm this time and hold the feeding cup out over his snout and
back towards the gate, yelling for Lil CJ to open it. Lil CJ opens the gate too far and Tank comes running
in, straight for the cow as if to say “Wanna talk smack now?”. The cow darts in the other direction. I do
scream this time, but somehow manage to grab Tanks collar as he runs by and swing him around. We
both run for the gate. We make it out fine.

Once I am calm and thinking clearly, it hits me, that he thought it was a bottle. The poor thing is here
starving to death and he thought I was giving him a bottle and then taking it away! No wonder he went
berserk! I would have too!

I do the best I can and dive back into researching calves. I join a Jersey cow group on Facebook and post
pics and describe the whole situation. I get a lot of help from these people, and spend hours sorting
through the comments/advice, but I also get conflicting advice. Do this, nope do not do that. I get a
message from a lady who works on an all Jersey cow farm. She sees all the conflicting advice;
instinctively knows I am stressing out and offers to call me. I gladly accept. I am so glad that I did!
We talk and I send pics. Her job at the Jersey farm is taking care of over a hundred baby calves. She is
very knowledgeable and helpful. We talk a great deal. I find out that she is from upstate NY. She even
offers to drive down this weekend just to look at the cow and help me out! Wow. We come to the
realization that:

1) We were overcharged for the cow. This is not as important as his health, but lets just say it was
highway robbery.
2) This calf does not in any way look like it is 10 weeks old. He looks much younger. More like a 2 or 3-
week-old calf.
3) He was too young to be taken from his mother and not weaned. He should not have been taken off
milk yet.

4) This was basically a back-yard breeding situation with cows. Someone looking to make a buck, not
caring at all about what happens to the animal. (This infuriates me!)

We work together to come up with a plan on how to get him back on milk. It must be done correctly.
Since he went for a while without milk, jumping right back on the bottle would upset his stomach even
more. He needs milk, free choice of proper calf feed, and of course free choice of water. I run out and
grab the milk replacer he needs, but they do not have any bottles. Crap. They do have a bucket that
hangs on the gate with a nipple. This, this is God answering my prayers because he knows I do not want
to go back in that fence!

Get home and thank God, CJ can come home early to help me. I prepare the milk replacer (which smells
delicious, just like a vanilla bean milkshake). Go out and it will not hang on the fence. Crap. So, we hold it
for him and good lord this cow is violently attacking it. Sloshing milk everywhere. I can hardly hold the
bucket! He falls into the fence while drinking and almost falls through the fence! I feel so bad for him, I
know he is starving. I promise him there will be more. He does not like when the bucket is empty, and
we must take it away. He contemplates coming through the fence but stays put, thankfully.

Later, CJ and I go in the pasture together, upon his promise to save me should the cow attack. The cow
has a full belly of milk and feed. He is already showing improvement. He is coming out of the shed,
roaming, and even lets me pet him again! Yay! Oh, my heart is happy! Demon cow has been dismissed
and my sweet cow cow is back!

I promise him again, that more food is coming, that there will always be food available and that he will
never have to go through that again. He will never have a need to fight for food. I promise that he will be
healthy.

I also may have thrown in a reminder that he no longer needs to eat me, just in case.