What animal to keep with pet cow

[cookinmom]

Quote:
Uh-oh! That would be just too cute to have! I'm having a hard enough time restraining myself from a mini-donkey!

Around here, people have goats & donkeys with their cows. And sometimes we see geese & turkeys, but they're wild. They just drop on in.

 

[Picco]

Miniature cows are expensive and hard to come by and aren't all that much smaller than the regulars (mini zebus are an exception). Goats are major escape artists (if it can't hold water it can't hold a goat). There is one breed of goat, the angora, which is calm and easily contained. Sheep also would work well as they are easy to contain and are cheap. Nothing wll be quite as good as another cow but I think sheep or angora goats would work best.

 

[tysonandperdue]

I've thought about sheep. Male or female?

 

[tysonandperdue]

Goats: Do I need to have two goats or can I just get one? Is a male or a female better to have? I heard that males smell. Do they? Are both genders sweet?

Sheep: Do they need to have their feet trimmed? Do they need to have their coat trimmed?

As you can see, I know nothing at all about sheep or goats.

Thank you.

 

[Picco]

You can get just one if you want it to bond with your cow. Two would be better for the goat, but then the cow would have less of a companion since goats would rather hang out with goats. Both sexes of goats are fine to work with as long as the males are castrated. A castrated goat or sheep is called a wether. Wethers are also cheaper than females. If a male goat was castrated while he was young he will not develope the stinkyness of intact bucks. Sheep goats, and cows need their feet trimmed regularly. Hoof health is very important when raising livestock. Sheep and angora goats will need to have their wool/fiber clipped at least once a year, while regular haired goats will not need this. I suggested sheep and angora goats because they are very calm and relaxed and have less of a tendency to break through fences. If you get more than one goat you might as well upgrade to a smaller breed of cow to use as a companion. Jerseys are a smaller breed of dairy cow that are very beautiful and very available.

 

[tysonandperdue]

Thank you Picco.

My cow is half Jersey and half Holstein. It was hard to find that mix but I succeeded. I love the looks of the Holsteins (the black and white) but wanted the cow to stay on the small side. Well, I wound up with a very large cow with dark brown and white coloring. She is a real sweetheart.

Her hoofs have never had to be trimmed. I always have my blacksmith check her hooves to make sure they are okay. She has huge rocks near her manger and in her pasture that keeps them trimmed naturally.

A vet lived at the farm prior to my moving here and he placed many rocks in the the pasture area for his cow so the hooves would be trimmed down naturally. It really worked. I also have my regular vet check them from time to time and he agrees "her hooves don't need trimming". She is almost three years old now and has never had them trimmed yet.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[BeckyLa]

I vote for the minidonk myself. They make great companions.

 

[TexasTerry]

Mini donkeys are great but I like the full size ones myself for cattle. They protect better from large preditors and they really take care of ferrel hog problems,too!

 

[res]

There are many mini breeds of cattle - Zebu, Dexter, Scottish Highland.... and there are "mini" versions of Herefords, Angus and Jersey to name a few. But *sometimes* the minis can be much more expensive than the full size cattle breeds. But they are generally calmer, and easier to house and feed due to their size.

Our family raised Herefords for close to 100 years before selling the herd and downsizing to Dexters. The cattle that had only known cattle really freaked when I moved my horses to their pasture. So you'll probably want to make any introduction of a new species a slow process. On the flip side, my "pet" Hereford that was bottle fed and raised with my horses and NOT cattle, freaked when I tried to put her out with the cattle. I tried for months, and she would never bond with them, so she lived with my horses her entire life.

If you just go slow, you might find the cow adjusts to whatever you introduce her to. BUT!!!! Keep in mind if she truly is a COW (or heifer - cows aren't cows until they freshen), and is a female bovine, and not a steer, she WILL go into heat on a regular schedule. And SHE WILL try to mount whatever she feels attracted to. Horses, goats, dogs, wheelbarrows, humans... I've seen it all. It can be a major problem if the "mountee" is smaller than the "mounter". You can damage backs and hips.... So keep that in mind. If all else fails, you may need to seperate the in-heat animal for a few days, until the mounting urge passes.