Farm Talk Tuesday-Cow Psychology

This week's question is, "Do cows become emotionally attached to each other?"

I'm not going to claim to be an expert on animal psychology, because I'm not. What I can give you are facts about how cattle respond in different scenarios and let you form your own opinion.

1) Are mama cows protective of their babies?

Usually.

2) Will mamas and babies bawl (moo) for each other during weaning? Usually, but this only lasts for a few days and we let baby and mama have nose to nose contact with each other in adjacent pens/pastures during this time. After this period is over, they are pretty indifferent about whether or not they are in close proximity. Remember, most of us also wean our human children at some point and transition them to the diet they need in the next phase of life.

3) If mama and daughter end up in the same pen together at a later date, do they remember the mother-daughter relationship and hang out together all the time? No.

4) Do cows care about being moved away from their pen mates? Not really, as long as they have another animal to hang with. They naturally prefer to be with a herd, because "safety in numbers", but don't really care who their herd mates are. For example, you don't see two cows in the herd being "friends" and spending their time together.