Herd Instinct

[Jarrell]

The other day I noticed a new calf (black object lying on ground) had been born the night before to one of my brother in laws cows. As I took a couple of pictures of them...

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I notice the mother's attention was suddenly drawn to something off to my right. It was a large dog trotting by the edge of the pasture. In the picture below I've 'inset' the cow and calf...
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Immediately all the other cattle got up from their resting spots and gathered around the newborn and the mother kept glancing back at the newborn calf...
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To them all dogs are wolves. The dog kept going on its way but I thought the instinct the cows displayed was interesting.
Jarrell

 

[greyflash]

Interesting series of shots Jarrell. It is quite interesting how the herd instinct takes over when one of their young needs protecting. Hope the little guy is up and moving by now. Well done.

 

[Gale]

Never knew this of cows Jarrell.

Great photos also.

 

[Scott Sherman]

cool, for a city sliker, this is facsinating stuff. Thanks for sharing, really enjoyed it. Keep them coming.

Cheers

 

[PhotoDawg]

Nice shots Jarrell!!

 

[NeilCam]

Cool shots Jarrell.

The other fun behaviour with cows is watching them leave their calves in a kind of creche with just two or three mothers looking after a group of about 10 or so calves. That's when you can get really anthropomorphic about it as you see the calves acting like little kids - running, playing, misbehaving - and the mothers acting like harried, hassled mothers everywhere.

Neil