I got up late today. My neighbour's cows kept me up all night.

In The Sticks

In The Sticks

Friend of Frank
Location
Central Virginia (Charlottesville/Richmond)
I didn't get out of bed until nearly 11AM today! It's be years since I've slept that late. Even in retirement, 9AM is pretty late for me.

The guy on the adjoining property just got some cows, and the damned things were mooing past 2AM!!!!! Aren't they supposed to sleep at night? What kind of cow is nocturnal??? And when I woke up this morning, they were still going at it!!!!! What the heck?????

This guy has raised cattle before and I've never heard a peep out of them. A couple of years ago some of them escaped, and he came pulling up my right-of-way asking if I had seen them wander by. I said "Calvin, if you don't see smoke coming from my grill, I haven't seen your cows!" Maybe he's getting even, pointing them at my house and then saying "Look out! ALIENS!!!" Gettin' 'em all riled up & such.

I like not having any sound out here when I sleep.
At least properties are far apart out here. But still. dammit
 

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That is weird; maybe some wild animal was stalking around upsetting them.

My sleep pattern is all screwed up with the anxiety/depression of the pandemic. I often toss and turn until dawn, which means I sleep half the day away. It was bugging me but I've decided to just go with it till the stupid virus dies down. It's not like I have anyplace to go.
 
Maybe a predator is creeping around. I haven’t been around cows much, but I do know that if they feel threatened, they will sound the alarm. Do they have a calf? Maybe they are calling their calf.
 
A few years ago, our neighbor on the acreage beside ours forgot to close the gate going to the creek and the cows kept going down there to eat the wild onions, which I think made them a bit "wild". They would wander up the hill onto our property. Called them and they would herd them back.

This happened a few times and finally I got tired of it so got a broomstick and went out to the herd, which was led by a Brahma bull and put the broomstick across my head, stomped my feet and roared at him...he took off with his tail between his legs, followed by the herd and trailing donkeys to the rear. They ran out our front gate, up the road and off onto the main road. That time, when I called the neighbor it seemed to be taken care of! They left a bottle of wine at our gate to say they were sorry...lol.
 
The first thing I thought of were predators, although they had been mooing all daggone day and evening. We have bear and coyote out here, but I don't know if they would take down a cow. It's possible that the bear would come around for the cattle feed. The guy told me that he used to put out scraps in front of his game camera to see what kind of deer he had. So one evening he puts out watermelon rind and goes inside.

He comes out the next day and puts the SD card in his computer:
-7:00PM there's a pic of him putting out the watermelon
-7:15PM there's a pic of black bear eating watermelon!

He said that's the last time he put out scraps. The thing was in the woods waiting for him to walk away!!

There are no calves to my knowledge. The guy is one of those industrious country boys who does whatever he can on any given day to turn a buck...in an honest way. These are beef cattle.

Who the heck can I call? I'm in the country.

Dispatch: "911. What's the nature of your emergency?"
Me: "MOO!"
Dispatch: "Sir?"
Me: "MOO! Make it stop!!!"
Dispatch: "Go home, city boy! Bless your heart."

Yeh, that'll work.
 
I too, know nothing at all about cows.
But hey, why should that stop me, or any of us, from hazarding a guess? :rolleyes::sneaky:

Perhaps it's because he recently got them? So they are displaced and confused with the new surroundings?


And therefore, might be "mooing till the cows come home?"
:unsure:
 
oldman said:
Are they males or females? If they are females, maybe they are in estrus and need a bull. Just guessing.
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I don't know. That's a good question. When people raise beef cattle, are they likely to be just males or just females? I think he's trying to turn a quick buck on them...probably gonna slaughter them for "friends & family." There's a meat supply bottleneck in Virginia caused by too few USDA-approved processors, so he's not gonna take them to market any time soon. These sound too mature for a Fall/Winter date with the butcher.

I can ask next time I see him. I'll ask why these are noisier than the last herd. It's not like either of us can do anything about it.

Serves me right. When I first moved here I was at the County Board of Supervisor meetings to shut down the requests for noise ordinances that other transplants to the area wanted. They didn't like the sound of agricultural equipment early in the morning and they didn't like the sound of gunfire. *sigh*

I can live with the mooing. But I've never heard it at those hours of the morning.
 
Kaila said:
I too, know nothing at all about cows.
But hey, why should that stop me, or any of us, from hazarding a guess? :rolleyes::sneaky:

Perhaps it's because he recently got them? So they are displaced and confused with the new surroundings?


And therefore, might be "mooing till the cows come home?"
:unsure:
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I think they're afraid of "The Grays."

WIMANcow_keh1.jpg

I come in peace.
Eat mor chiken.​
 
hollydolly said:
Are they Dairy Cows?... perhaps they are used to early milking.. and were distressed at not getting it..
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My thoughts precisely. When I first moved to the burbs, there was a guy at the end of the block behind us who kept a cow so he could only pay farmer's taxes. Well, I was a young teenager and loved to sleep in those days and in the summer, that cow would start mooing about 5am every day and I wanted to kill it. He finally got up and milked it and she shut up.
 
No cows near us, but quite often, if we have the windows open, we are woken up in the middle of the night by a big Owl that decides to set up camp on the deck outside our bedroom window....or the cardinals that do the same at sunrise. But, after several years of this country life, such sounds are of minor concern.....far better than the endless traffic, sirens, and even gunfire, that exists in some of the cities.
 
In The Sticks said:
Eat mor chiken
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Good point, there.

Perhaps if he got some flocks of chickens, that might calm/reassure or settle them, and quiet down the herd.
(If they then assume that the chickens will go before them)

But perhaps not, so don't suggest it. It might just add more noises.

Btw, I thought your idea of the 911 call, sounded like a productive way to go. :ROFLMAO:
 
Don M. said:
No cows near us, but quite often, if we have the windows open, we are woken up in the middle of the night by a big Owl that decides to set up camp on the deck outside our bedroom window....or the cardinals that do the same at sunrise. But, after several years of this country life, such sounds are of minor concern.....far better than the endless traffic, sirens, and even gunfire, that exists in some of the cities.
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Funny you should mention that, Don.

I moved here 10 years ago and used to hear an owl all the time. I think my presence scared it off (the place is remote and had been vacant for at least 6 years.) I get to bed very late, and the other night walked out on my deck at 2AM before turning in. Not too far away I hear an owl, real loud, over and over. Made me smile to have one back. From what I gather by internet recordings, it sounds like a Barred owl.

The birds that wake me up in the early AM (besides the usual songbirds) are the hawks and the pileated woodpeckers. I have a couple of pairs of each around me. Very distinctive cries.

I grew up in Indiana and then northern Virginia when it was still rural. This stuff is home to me.
 
Becky1951 said:
Most times if cows are bawling like that its because they have (owners) taken their calves from them. If he just bought them they probably have been separated from their calves.
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Becky, that very well may be. I love the comments here...they make me go learn more.

I just discovered that cows have a 280-290 day gestation period (I had no idea it was this long), and that timing their breeding for them to calve in April is the most common.

Now I fell bad for them.
 
Don M. said:
No cows near us, but quite often, if we have the windows open, we are woken up in the middle of the night by a big Owl that decides to set up camp on the deck outside our bedroom window....or the cardinals that do the same at sunrise. But, after several years of this country life, such sounds are of minor concern.....far better than the endless traffic, sirens, and even gunfire, that exists in some of the cities.
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Neighbor has chickens, cluck, cluck. We are in the suburbs, allowed to chickens, yards right up against each other. cluck, cluck, roosters not allowed.
 
I heard the mooing, too. I investigated & found out what caused all the noise.
The cow was mooing because the owner brought a good-looking bull that was making a pass at the cow & she wasn't interested, even after the bull brought her some nice corn & hay.
 
win231 said:
I heard the mooing, too. I investigated & found out what caused all the noise.
The cow was mooing because the owner brought a good-looking bull that was making a pass at the cow & she wasn't interested, even after the bull brought her some nice corn & hay.
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Farewell, little darlin'
I'll be on my way.
My cattle are restless
They won't eat your hay!
 
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