SASKATOON – Cattle producers shouldn’t put up with violent cows.
The popular internet photos of cows taking on a black bear to protect their calves doesn’t necessarily mean they will react that way around people, says Joe Stookey of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon.
“They don’t have to be aggressive to people to be aggressive to predators.”
However, he said cows that are aggressive toward people should be culled.
He cited work by master’s student Brooke Akin, who surveyed 168 producers with herds of seven to 1,326 head. The producers identified six percent of their cows as dangerous but culled only 13 percent of the six percent.
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At the same time, they identified 1.4 percent of their cows for mismothering and culled 62 percent of them.
Stookey said cows injured 37 percent of the producers at calving time, but slightly more than half of them culled the cows that hurt them.
“It’s funny and it’s tragic at the same time,” he said.
“I think it’s a risk you shouldn’t take.”
