Abnormal Maternal Behavior in Beef Cows with Dr. Joe Stookey

Dr. Joe Stookey, professor emeritus from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine joins the podcast this week.  Joe has spent his career researching various aspects of animal behavior with a focus on beef cattle.  He joins me to discuss the problem of mis-mothering in calving cows.  It can be a frustrating situation and Joe gives some practical tips on how to deal with these situations.  Just a quick heads up, there were some technical difficulties in recording this episode and there are a couple of segments in the podcast where the sound quality is not great for my microphone.  Hopefully you can get the gist of the conversation, but apologies for the segments where the sound isn't great.

00:00 – 02:32 Introduction

02:33 – 3:37 How common is mis-mothering in cows and heifers?

03:38 – 06:28 How does the maternal bond form?

06:29 - 10:22 Risk Factors for mis-mothering

10:23 – 13:40 How does calf behavior contribute to maternal behavior?

13:41 – 15:32 Dealing with cows that claim calves from other cows

15:33 – 17:07 Genetic inheritance of maternal behavior

17:36 – 21:25 Cross-fostering calves

21:26 – 23:05 Minimizing mis-mothering behavior

23:06 – 24:00 Closing comments