your thoughts on horses being turned out with cows

my bfg

my bfg

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ive been given the chance to move ned from a 1 acre field with horses next to her, to a 15 acre field with around 20 cows in it

would you consider it? apart from tail nibbling has anyone experienced any problems turning out with cows?
 
Years ago I kept my first pony on my uncle's farm with 50 acres and loads of cows!

He was the only equine there, but was fine; thought he was a cow.

When it became necessary to bring the cows in and/or herd them; he was a dab hand (or should I say hoof) at herding them up in no time and was very nifty at it - saved everyone no end of time coz being turned out with them he'd got them really sorted!

It worked well and I'd definately do it again.
 
My old Fell cross and his mate were turned out with cows for a while. They were very happy and became very cow-proof but one of the cows ate my pony's tail! It took about two years to grow back.
 
I put my cows in the horses paddocks to eat the rough grass and keep the grass down all 320 milkers.
The horses just look and walk off and the cows are there for one thing and one thing only. To eat.
 
I used to have mine out with cows- no bother at all. Could sometimes be a bit tricky in the winter coming to bring them in when it was dark and the cows hogged the gate! But overall just worked out fine.
 
No problem at all, ours are turned out with cows, calves, the bull and followers all the time from when they are foals without any difficulty. As for eating tails I've two with eaten tails at the moment :( (eaten in the last fortnight) and they haven't been with the cattle yet this spring so it was obviously one of their companions! Sometimes you come across the odd horse that will chase the cows for fun but not usually the other way around and I've found that if you have a horse who has to be out on its own for some reason they are very happy to have the companionship of a couple of cows.:)
 
It's a great way to cow-proof your horse, but there is a downside: getting the poo out when they've rolled in it ;)
 
I brought a very under weight mare years ago and kept her on a friends dairy farm for a few months to build her up. Never had any problems and she never looked so good in the 4 years I owned her as she did for those few months of dairy life :-)
 
Tail chewing, rolling in cow pats and the occasional one who escapes leaving a 'pony sized' hole in the hedge is the problems that I've had!
They generally all get on fine. Minor issues with playful filly with playful calfs = upset mummy cows, but they get over that PDQ.
I like my cows to eat the grass down, too much for the horses they are a good thing all in all!
 
I had an old mare out with 2 young Dexters a while ago. She turned into a surrogate mother. She lay with them, guarded them if they were down and she stood over them and would put herself between us and the cattle if she thought we would hurt them. She loved those little cows.

The only problem I had was the big horse chasing a yearling calf to the point of exhaustion, which was very naughty, he can only live with them over the fence now as he cannot be trusted.

On a practical point, cross grazing is good for the land and your horses will get cow proofed quickly.
 
I used to keep a couple of beef steers with Zeus, had to move them in the end, they were meant to be fat not fit:( He kept working them, a natural cow horse.

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If the grazing will suit your horse I wouldn't worry about the cows, 15 acres is large enough for them all to find their own space.
 
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It's fine if you don't mind your horse coming in with cow at all over its face or minus its tail - chewed off by an ethusiastic cow.

Personally I won't - cow pats and ringworm and short chewed tails puts me off.
 
No real advice - more an amusing story....

My old horse (RIP Monty) was terrified of cows so I jumped at the chance to turn him out with the two pet dexters. He RAN - I mean terrified, galloping round and round the field with both cows in hot pursuit, to the point I was worried about all 3 having a heart attack. However, they settled down in the end so I went home. When I returned, they were lying on top of the hay, Monty with his head across one of the cows - wish I'd had a camera.

He still had issues with cows elsewhere though!
 
i'd do it, but then i livery on a beef farm so i'm halfway there already :D I've had a calf that needed hand rearing in my stable and then in the little paddock before now, horses didn't take any notice of him at all, and on the odd occasion we've had unexpected visitors of the beef variety it's not been a problem:rolleyes: don't like the ones with horns though, wish the farmer would dehorn the damn burgers:mad:;)
 
Ibblebibble said:
: don't like the ones with horns though, wish the farmer would dehorn the damn burgers:mad:;)
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We had a Highland a few years ago, bit of a character. I had no idea my OH could run as fast as Linford Christie and hurdle a five bar gate better than Big Bucks. It was very impressive indeed, even though OH never has forgiven me for failing to tell him I had moved the bullock.

There was a certain degree of satisfaction when OH tucked into his steaks for a while.
 
Yeah no problem. Never heard of this tail chewing business, have heard of other horses tail chewing though, just not cows.

Ours tend to keep species independent and actively avoid each others herds.. Within eyesight. It's only when we have one or two horses that the horses tend to intermingle... Safety maybe? When we turn out the 8 mares, they definitely band together although never a long way apart. It is funny, I was up the field once checking the badger holes I had ,asked out, and all of a sudden it tipped with rain (a few weeks ago) and all the cows and all the horses raced off in the direction of our tall hedges and a particularly large tree they like to shelter under... It was literally which species got there first had it! It was not the horses lucky day that day..l they had to make do with the hedge line further along... Made me chuckle.
 
Fab photo Enfys!

Ours had no problem with cows either.

One problem we had was that the cows flattened all the show jump wings that were out in the field!
 
my horse used to love the cows, she loved playing with the babies, chasing them around!

although im convinced one of them had ideas about killing me! it was a mini looking cow, with short legs, used to just watch me as i walked across the field, scared me a little! but the others were fine haha!
 
AdorableAlice said:
We had a Highland a few years ago, bit of a character. I had no idea my OH could run as fast as Linford Christie and hurdle a five bar gate better than Big Bucks. It was very impressive indeed, even though OH never has forgiven me for failing to tell him I had moved the bullock.

There was a certain degree of satisfaction when OH tucked into his steaks for a while.
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hehe, i've seen our farmer who's 60+ and not the slimmest chap move surprisingly fast when one of the cows has got a bit protective of a calf:D
 
Friend of mine put cows and calves out with his horses they chased cattle for some time then he borrowed our bull and they chased him out of field, but my horses fab with sheep lambs even newborn, and cattle just don't feed in same field as horses.
 
My youngster loves being out next to calves but they want lush grass and he definately doesn't. He licks each one on the face, and they all line up for the wash, so cute. I do also worry that some have ringworm, but they all get along fine.
 
My mare was kept with a load of young cows when she was a weanling. Apparantly they chewed her tail to bits and has a white streak down her black tail (could be completely unrelated tho)

She is now terrified of calves but is fine with the bigger versions!! Silly girl!!
 
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