Minis and Cows? Help please!

[flmiller]

Hi! I have a question that I'm hoping someone out there can help me with! I'm leasing a stallion this year but not ready to geld mine. My cousin wants to take my little stud along with one of my mares to his farm for his kids this summer. I'm fine with all of this, but my minis would be sharing a pasture with some cows. I have no idea if this is a good idea or if the cows won't mix well with my kids? I'm totally green with cows and would GREATLY appreciate any wisdom ya'll could throw my way.

Mini Thanks!

Liz

 

[jrox]

Well I can only speak from our expericence at our home. And we have had our mini donkeys, mini mules, and mini horses all in a LARGE pasture, and we usally have only 1 or 2 cows in with them, (yet they had horns), and I have to say they ate side by side. The cows never attempted to hurt the minis. and if the minis didn't like them that close they just put there head down and he ran away. so we will keep doing it, but only with 2 at the most. Are his cows agressive at all? Maybe it will work out. and then maybe others have bad expericence with it. I guess just make sure to talk to alot of people before you make that leap.

Good Luck

Roxana

 

[Sandee]

I have no personal experience with cows but my parents did. They said it depends on the type/breed and the cow itself. Just like any other animal. I do remember that they never like the black angus - saying that they were more aggressive than others.

 

[chandab]

I don't know if I'd put a mini in with full-size cows. We have had our full-size horses out with the cows with no problems. But, I kind of feel, minis and cows are a bit like minis and full-size horses; it's ok until it isn't (the size difference is just too great). A cow usually won't bother a full-size horse, but I don't know about a mini. One or two cows probably wouldn't be a problem, but I don't like the idea of a whole herd.

[i know I won't be putting my minis in the same corral as our 150 cows].

 

[Little Wee Horse Farm]

I hate to say this, but I have a friend who had a Belgian mare mowed down by a Jersey cow a few years ago. Just ran right into it. The crash was fatal for the mare. :no: I don't know anything else about cows/horses together, tho I see it often here in Amish country. But minis, I really don't know. Either way, I think it would have to be a B-I-G pasture. JMHO

 

[littlearab]

I have pastured minies with cattle.

And we have had no issues with it at all. Thye pretty much stay away from each other.

If there would be any problem at all i would think it would be the miniature bugging the cattle.

:

Cattle are pretty mild mannered. have never had one bother any horse big or small. But have had to pull a horse out of the pasture due to chasing the cattle.

 

[ponyboi09]

ours pretty much ignore each other....except every now and then when the calves and minis have play time. :bgrin but NONE of our cows have horns....all the experience we have had with cows that had horns is that they know they have horns and know they can push everyone around...but we havent had a cow with horns in years. The cows are actually a little scared of our minis, expescially the boss mare and she puts the moo moos in their place mighty quickly.

:

 

[Levonsa]

We had mini zebu at one time. We raised several calves on a bottle to start our cattle herd. We had three heifers and a bull. They were raised in the same pasture with the horses that we had. As they got older the bull got to be more and more aggressive. We had a mare that had her side punctured, we couldn't find anything in the pasture that she could have gotten hurt on. Several weeks later we were trying to catch a nervous mare, and the bull kept coming up, I tried to run him off. He quickly showed me how fast his horns could rip my leg open. It took 14 stitches to sew it up. After that we were sure that he was what injured the mare. We sold him shortly there after, and kept a younger bull. We later decided to concentrate on the horses and sold all the cattle. We only had that one injury, but if I dreamed it could have happened, I would have kept them seperated. I would pay close attention to where they will be fed as all animals get aggressive around food. I hope, I haven't rambled too much.

Levon

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

We have angus and ours are not pastured together. I just wouldnt trust it, especially if horns were involved. I have seen Jrox's cows and horses all together and they do get along,and her cow has some awfully long horns on him, but I think hers is a rare exception..I would just be too afraid to do it, all it would take is one good poke! Corinne

 

[Little Bit]

When we had our Longhorns, I NEVER let the minis and the cattle together! But we no longer have the Longhorns, we have a couple Hereford heifers and they are together with my miniature horses and do just fine together! They really don't pay any attention to each other. A big plus with running cattle and horses together, is that the horses will eat where there is cow manure and the cows will eat the rough areas where there is horse manure! So you end up not having any rough areas of wasted pasture grass. Plus horses and cattle do not pick up each others parasites!

 

[Minimor]

We have some Minis we wouldn't put in with cattle, just because the horses would harrass the cattle too much. I wouldn't have much concern about the cattle bothering the horses. Some bulls I wouldn't want to mess with, especially if they have horns, but in general I'd be expecting trouble from the horses rather than the cattle.

 

[flmiller]

I just wanted to say thank you for all the advice I received about my COW / MINI dilemma. This is the first time I've ever used the forum and I really found it to be very helpful. I have decided that the best for all is to keep them separate. Knowing my little stud, the temptation to harass the cows would just be too great! I think I'd worry too much too! So, I'm entering the unknown land of the joys of managing two studs during breeding season...which will probably lead me back to this forum!

Thank you everyone so very much and good luck this season!

Liz

 

[wildoak]

I'm entering the unknown land of the joys of managing two studs during breeding season..

Ah, it's so fun having boys LOL. I'm currently rotating two 2 year olds and another stud in and out of one turnout until I get my big mares back out in the pasture. Just assume that hormones are raging now, and they would probably like to get together and discuss the dominance issue. :bgrin

Jan