Anyone successfully dealt with a milk thief?

[littlecowfl]

A cow that nurses from other cows? Or a bull that steals milk from a cow? I saw a poky nose ring you can use. Anyone tried it? I have too dang small a herd to cull anyone right now.

[otf]

I haven't had that occur here but if it did, I think I'd have to separate the thief from the group. Makes life difficult, especially if you need the bull to breed the cows and don't have enough 'companions' to go around. Haven't ever had to use a weaning contraption; some of them look downright medieval, don't they?

The closest I came to that was a calfless cow trying to steal a newborn from a first-calf heifer. I had to separate them also to ensure that the first-calf heifer learned how to care for her calf.

Sorry, wish I had better advice for you.

[carragheendexters]

I have never had a milk thief either, but I think that if I wasn't able to cull the culprit I would be separating them from the rest of the cows.
Once a habit is formed it is really hard to break. You could try a weaning ring like the EasyWean with the spikes pointing towards the nose of the culprit, but many learn to suck around the rings.
2 main reasons you don't want it happening, the culprit will drink all of the milk that should be going to the cow's calf, so the calf suffers, and also if the culprit sucks on a dry cow or one you are trying to dry up, you may end up with a dry cow mastitis which is hard to treat.
I often wonder how they learn this habit, I am suspicious that they learn it as a calf to steal from cow's other than their mother, and that perhaps they were never weaned cleanly, that is "stopped dead never to suck again" as a calf rather than now and then stealing a drink from their mothers who are supposed to be drying up.
Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

[littlecowfl]

Thanks, guys. By the time he joins the herd, I will only have one nursing momma cow that I can keep in the barn with her calf until I can attach the nose ring and watch carefully. It is the same momma he stole milk from, so if that works, I might be fine. I think the idea is to have the bull poke her with the outward facing spikes when he tries and she can kick him, as she ought to do.

[cddexter]

Alicia, the same nose ring with plastic spikes used for weaning might work? c.

[littlecowfl]

Here's what I got:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW5QBGn8CjY

[otf]

Comments on the video are certainly interesting.

Are you going to use it on the cow thief or the bull thief? Or both?

[littlecowfl]

I only have one thief. A young bull. But I know cows can sometimes be thieves, so I wanted to see if anyone had experience with either.

[carragheendexters]

Remember though that these rings are only for short term use. You have to do them up fairly tight to keep them from falling out, and if left in for too long they can start to bury and dig into the tissue in the nose. They are only meant to be used for a few weeks. Watch your bull that it is working, as many calves learn how to suck around weaning rings, and it may only stop him from sucking on cows while it is in, may not actually break his habit.
These are the same as the ones that I have used for weaning, I didn't like them very much as a weaning device, using them really drags the weaning process out.

[littlecowfl]

Thanks.

[littlecowfl]

I have a good update. It seems to have resolved itself. I'll watch him with that particular cow, but he is showing no interest with another cow who recently calved. I think a little mama cow justice was dealt out and changed his attitude.

[legendrockranch]

Well that's good news. Thanks for the update.