Do cattle have sensitivity feelings?

[reno1014]

This may sound absurd to some but I wonder about cattle and their personal feelings.
We have a new Heatwave calf that cries.  I am not talking about bawling with his lungs.
I am talking about tears rolling down his cheeks.  Anything we do that is new to him he cries.
At first I thought it was the dust.  Or alergies.  But I started taking note that anything we did for the
first couple of times made him do this.  It takes my heart, because he actually looks sad.
Has anyone else ever had this happen?

 

[Dusty]

I had a heifer once that in order for her to come in heat-you had to light some candles, play some soft music, and tell her she was prettiest one I've ever seen....LOL

 

[chambero]

We bought a show heifer that was around a year old once.  She had been showed up in Oklahoma and when we went to get her she had a stall mate that they bawled at each other when we loaded her up.  That heifer never did like us and wouldn't breed.  We actually sold her back to the original owner when we got done showing her.  He said she bred right back on the first try.  I don't think it was a thing other than that heifer was homesick and didn't like us.

I screwed up on a big steer this spring.  We sold the other steers in the barn and kicked a heifer to the pasture and he was the last one left for about a month.  This particular set of calves had been born in the same pasture and had literally known each other since birth.  This last steer was miserable for the month he was left in the barn by himself.  He would only eat about half the time, bawled constantly, and actually turned a little hostile.  We put babies in stalls beside him and it didn't help a bit.

I've got a white cow that just loves her babies.  She's had three calves and all have gotten weaned early and shown.  So, she is more than a little suspicious of me around her babies.  She had a shorthorn calf this fall and we couldn't tell if it was still alive or dead for the first two weeks because she kept it hid out.  I had to sit and watch her for two hours with binocular one Sep evening to finally find the calf.  Needless to say she moped around for a lot longer than normal after I "stole" her baby from her back in Jan.

So, I definitely think cattle have just about as many emotions as we do.  I could name a million other examples that make me reach that conclusion.

 

[minimoo38]

oh absolutely. nobody can tell me that they don't have feelings. especially when they know when you are trying to help them.

for example: my heifer this year had subsolar hematomas, or blood ulcers in her feet. she went to the ISU vet med clinic and she was just a peach while they worked on her.
                     last year we had a cow lose a calf, and she was depressed for the entire summer. she stayed off by herself, nor did she come up with the other cows when we fed them.
                     this year one of our cows calved outside and it froze. for 1 week, that cow layed exactly where that calf was and she bawled herself hoarse.

so, i wouldn't really be too concerned about this. just love him more.   ;D

 

[jason]

I had a heifer once that in order for her to come in heat-you had to light some candles, play some soft music, and tell her she was prettiest one I've ever seen....LOL

;D

 

[shortyjock89]

Oh yeah, I definitely think that cattle have feelings and emotions.  Our show heifers loved to be petted, and when we pet one and not the other, the one who didn't get petted gets jealous and will bug you until you give her a pat.  Also, my favorite cow thinks shes a person I think.  She grunts whenever one of us gets close to her.  When you talk to her, she will grunt right back.  I think she must have taught her calves to do it too, because all three of them have, this latest one the most.

 

[reno1014]

I had a heifer once that in order for her to come in heat-you had to light some candles, play some soft music, and tell her she was prettiest one I've ever seen....LOL

;D

And people wonder why I am not married?

 

[garett]

O absolutely, my steer acts like a little kid sometimes.
If I havent been out to the barn for a little while he will come up to the fence and occasionally bawl and just watch the barn waiting for someone to come out and catch him. But what I dont get is after I take him in the barn and feed him and such, he is so happy to get back out to the pasture. After he gets turned loose he will walk back up to the fence and watch me leave like he wants me to come put him back in the barn.

 

[renegade]

O absolutely, my steer acts like a little kid sometimes.
If I havent been out to the barn for a little while he will come up to the fence and occasionally bawl and just watch the barn waiting for someone to come out and catch him. But what I dont get is after I take him in the barn and feed him and such, he is so happy to get back out to the pasture. After he gets turned loose he will walk back up to the fence and watch me leave like he wants me to come put him back in the barn.

Same here.  Also with the jealousy thing my red steer just craves attention and god forbid i pet someone else, we have a hereford like that does this too - they come up and lick me.  My red steer will also put his face on my chest and blow on my face like a dog. 

 

[common sense]

I say most definitely!  I feel silly even talking about why I believe this but I most definitely have links to many of our cows including the bull, Joe.  It's when you hold a the head of a dying retired show heifer in your lap and she looks you straight in the eye that you know there is something there.  It's raising your voice in a scolding manner to a 2200 lb bull (Gigolo Joe) and having him back down and pout like a school boy.  Cattle love affection and positive attention...I can't help but believe they have feelings.

 

[shortdawg]

I admit it ! I love my cows and they love me.

 

[renegade]

I say most definitely!  I feel silly even talking about why I believe this but I most definitely have links to many of our cows including the bull, Joe.  It's when you hold a the head of a dying retired show heifer in your lap and she looks you straight in the eye that you know there is something there.  It's raising your voice in a scolding manner to a 2200 lb bull (Gigolo Joe) and having him back down and pout like a school boy.  Cattle love affection and positive attention...I can't help but believe they have feelings.

OMG your bulls do that too.  You scold them and they act like you beat them. There is no reason that they wouldnt/couldn't/shouldn't have feelings.  Some of them are pains in the butts and others are like puppy dogs and you can see the diffrent personalities of each.  Sometimes you (I :'() get really connected to a steer and I have to remember that at the end of july I am going to have to load him on a kill trailer.  Its sad  :'( :'( :'(.  like the steers i have now will follow me around and if I let them out in the field they will jump around me and we will stand off or they will chase the horses, etc.  This post makes me think of all the diffrent animals I have had and those special times with them. It may sound dumb but they always wind up being a part of the family.  And commonsense if you keep talking like that your going to make me cry!

 

[kimbaljd]

This is crazy that this topic got posted on here. I was working with my daughter's heifer this weekend and when I tied her up in the barn and started to take care of the chores. When I came back to brush her out, she had tears rolling down the sides of her face. I had the same thought as this topic at that moment. I have also noticed that she seems to like to play games with me. She makes me laugh all the time.

 

[red]

Oh yes! My red cow would sulk & stand in the corner if she didn't get the attention she thought she should have. I still have a former show heifer that is now a cow that thinks she's a lap dog.
Had a Jersey cow that each time after breeding wouldn't let me touch her. She's just stay as far away & pout.

Red

 

[knabe]

I had a heifer once that in order for her to come in heat-you had to light some candles, play some soft music, and tell her she was prettiest one I've ever seen....LOL

;D

And people wonder why I am not married?

you are not willing to do this?  that threshold is pretty low.

 

[red]

OK, don't laugh but I showed my cow the picture of the bull we were breeding her to. Also sent the breeder her picture so she could show her bull. They sent each other love notes1

Yes, a sign of a sick mind w/ too much time on her hands!

Red

 

[SWMO]

OK Red I did chuckle. 

I feel that all animals have feeling.  Our cows know what time of year it is.  When it gets close to weaning time they are much much harder to bring in to the corrals.  Any other time of the year they are much easier to handle.

We had one cow that would come to the barn every year to calve.  Never quite knew how she got to the barn some years but she was quite athletic.

 

[minimoo38]

she put herself in?  (clapping)  (clapping)  you must have trained her well.   

 

[Zdog]

I agree 100% when you walk into the pen with a halter they will never get close but when you go without one the heifers will come up and rub on you.

 

[showgirl2010]

Yep, they do have feeling too.  I had a commerical heifer once that fell into the creek and was half froze so we put her in out bath tub and she came out of it.  Later she developed punomeia and on the last night that we drenched her their were tears running down her face.  The next day she was gone.  After that no one could ever prove to me that cattle dont have feelings. 

Jamie