The Sunday News
Mhlupheki Dube
WHILE a cow is a domestic animal and it naturally has the docility in most cases that comes with domestication as opposed to the wild instinct obtainable from being domiciled in the bush, there are certain traits that should be always alive in a cow for it to measure up to its expected performance.
One important trait that is considered by any serious farmer when looking and selecting for a future cow from his replacement heifers, is the mothering ability. Mothering ability refers to the natural instinct that a cow has for protecting its calf from any possible harm and rearing that calf to weaning.
While this instinct is natural as defined above it does not follow that every cow has that instinct in the right dose. Just like any inherited attribute even in humans some will have it less, others more while others may not have it at all.
However, it is important to point out right away that while mothering ability is a natural instinct, it is also significantly influenced by the environment.
A quick illustration is obtained from observing cows that are raised in an area that is full of predators and those in areas with no predators. One is likely to notice that cows in predator infested areas have acquired a fighting instinct to protect themselves and their calves from predators while those from non-predator zones may be weak in fighting to protect themselves and their offspring.
A cow’s mothering ability is also influenced by genetics and it has been determined that there is a correlation between the mothering ability of the cow and the growth rate and weaning weight of the calf. One important indicator of mothering ability in your cows is the milk yield of the dam. Poor mothers are unable to yield enough milk to sustain the growth of the calf.
Farmers will know that there are some cows which will hardly produce 500 millimetres of milk even in the best of veld conditions.
The cows are natural low yielders and this becomes a problem as the calf grows and its demand for milk grows.
Therefore, good mothers are those that can produce sufficient milk yield for the calf from birth until weaning.
This has a positive bearing on the weaning weight. Calves that are starved of milk because their mothers are poor yielders will tend to have low growth rates and poor weaning weights.
Another important consideration when looking at mothering ability of cows, is the willingness to nurse. This is very important as some cows tend to neglect their calves soon after calving down. A good mother will lick the calf clean of birth fluids and membranes. It will also make sure the calf suckles and this is called nursing.
A good mother will be seen hovering around the calf providing all the care and nursing while poor mothers will drop the calve and immediately continue with their routine as if nothing happened. This is more prevalent in first time calvers as they tend to neglect the calf soon after calving down.
This is why it is important for farmers to ensure that cows calve under supervision especially first time calvers as these may need to be inducted into proper mothering procedures. The hormone oxytocin drives the natural instinct for cows to nurse their calves and hence a low release of this hormone may cause the instinct to delay to kick in for first time calvers.
There are ways however of jump-starting the instinct on your heifer which has just calved down if you see it showing signs of wanting to neglect the calf. You can physically smear the birth fluids from the calf on the heifer’s muzzle. You may also put some enticing feed like stock feed on the calf so that when she licks the feed, she invariably licks the calf and, in the process, learns the smell of her calf and how to identify it. This stimulates the bond between the calf and the dam. Another important indicator of good mothering ability is the willingness to protect the calf as indicated earlier on. This becomes paramount in predator infested areas. You don’t want a cow which will fail to protect her calf even from the weakest of predators.
However, an excess of this trait may become a management nightmare for your handlers as the dam becomes very temperamental, posing a danger to the handlers and even kids if they walk close to the calf.
I hope this article will help farmers to select replacement heifers for their herd understanding that good mothering ability in a cow is an essential trait.
Uyabonga umntakaMakhumalo.
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