There are ways to bond a mother to her calf, even when she wants nothing to do with it.
Animal behaviour specialist Joe Stookey has some old tricks and one relying on brain chemistry.
Normal maternal behaviour is both learned and stimulated by the hormone oxytocin, which is released by the brain in a part called the hypothalamus, and acts on another part of the brain, the olfactory bulb, says the University of Saskatchewan professor.
Oxytocin stimulates maternal behaviour and milk letdown, but is known as the trust hormone because it reduces fear and increases empathy and sexual arousal. It’s part of the suite of hormones that support the birthing process.
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“We know oxytocin is the hormone that triggers mothering behaviour, but an oxytocin injection doesn’t work,” says Stookey
“It acts on the brain, so injected hormone would have to cross the blood-brain barrier and it can’t do that, and oxytocin is only active for a few minutes.”
The nervous system is involved in both oxytocin release and activity, and so can be stimulated by the birthing process, cervical stimulation, and nursing. An experienced mother is more easily affected by oxytocin, or releases more of it – sometimes too easily, which leads to a cow claiming a calf that isn’t her own.
Pain, stress, or helping deliver a calf, particularly a C-section, can upset the release of mothering hormones. Stimulating the cervix by inflating a balloon in it after a C-section, to mimic normal delivery, helps release oxytocin and set up the cow for normal mothering, says Stookey. Stimulating the udder by massaging it to induce milk letdown can also help.
Anything that encourages the cow to lick the calf helps kick the mothering process into gear. A lively calf that moves, lifts its head, and flicks its ears provokes more licking by the mother. Stookey has seen the old farmer’s trick of putting grain on the calf work well.
Wildlife handler’s trick
But persuading an agitated heifer to look at anything except getting away can be tough, so he suggests taking a leaf out of the wildlife handlers’ book.
“Blindfold the animal while you’re working around her,” he says. “It’s the first thing wildlife people do when they capture an animal. It calms them down when they can’t see scary movement around them.
“We tested this on animals we were doing surgery on and they stayed much calmer in the chute when they were blindfolded. Just put a halter on them and tuck a towel under it. If the animal is calmer, there’s less cortisol in her system to overwhelm her normal maternal behaviour hormones.”
Nursing bonds a cow to her calf and so any tricks to help the calf nurse, or even milking the cow, can be effective.
Stookey has another trick he’s found almost always works.
“Smear birthing fluids across the cow’s muzzle,” he says. “Get it in her nose and mouth if you can.”
Stookey discovered the effectiveness of this trick when he and some colleagues were lambing a bunch of 300 newly purchased sheep not used to being handled.
“We had to help deliver a lot of lambs,” he says. “And, the moment we let the ewes go, they took off at a blind run.
“When we smeared their noses with their birthing fluids, they still took off. But, when they stopped, they’d pause and lick those birthing fluids off themselves. Then, they’d turn around and head right back to the place where they’d left their lamb to claim it.
“It works in cows and other animals too. It’s the most effective, easiest thing I’ve seen to get a mother and her baby bonded.”
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“Wetestedthisonanimalsweweredoingsurgeryonandtheystayedmuchcalmerinthechutewhentheywereblindfolded.”
JOE STOOKEY
ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR SPECIALIST
