Spooky heifer?

[irishcows909]

Hi I've a show coming up and just wondering what causes a sudden behaviour change in a heifer ? She's a yearling heifer, normally this is a very very quiet heifer and takes everything in her stride , but yesterday she turned herself inside out at something she has saw 100 times , to the point she broke away. This is very unusual , a nothing has changed in the heifers diet or everyday schedule. She now is swishing her tail and acting on edge ? How do I regain her again?
Thank you for any advice

 

[Dale]

Your heifer may deserve a second chance? Our heifer group sometimes has been startled by tom cat fights and possibly racoons. We have coyotes, foxes, and other things that run nearby during the night and/or make terrifying noises. Someone who sometimes feeds them suggested that "something had been into a group" that changed overnight. Finally, our heifers went back to their previous normal.

On a different year a heifer happened to be in heat the day she was weaned--she very marginal in her behavior for only one day and then became just one of the girls. Now she is docile and will come up to me when I am there to do the chores.

An expert in the show ring, who had some of the Continental breeds several years ago, said that he used a rice root brush on a heifer for 8 hours one day while she was tied, until she learned to trust him.