Farm Dogs Force Cow To Protect Rejected Calf in Viral Clip: 'Job Done'

Every farmer quickly learns the tricks of the trade and one in Wales recently shared an incredible video to TikTok showing how he got a cow to accept an orphaned calf as her own. "Cora and Max teaching a cow to protect her adopted calf."

In the video posted by @rhysgriffs, which has been viewed over 1.5 million times, a cow and calf can be seen in a pen, while the text explains, "mother was nasty to her adopted calf, so we got her mother instincts to kick in to protect."

The two border collies, Cora and Max, can be seen gently charging the mother cow, until she eventually stands in front of her adopted baby, protecting it from the "attacks."

"Works every time," the text reads.

Border collies, or working sheepdogs, are one of the most intelligent canine breeds and are used to great effect in pastoral farming for herding and protecting animals.

In 2021, Guinness World Records reported that the record for the most expensive sheepdog sold at an online auction was a female called Kim, who sold for £28,455 ($35,178) in Gwynedd, Wales on 3 February, 2021.

She was sold just one day before her first birthday.

In another video shared by @rhysgriffs, a sheepdog named Bryniau Celt can be seen impressively rounding up sheep in the Welsh fields.

One user commented on the video, "That's my uncle's dog he bought it off you," to which the OP replied, "Yess that's right! I'm glad to hear he has settled in!"

In an article in the Powys County Times, they report that a dog called Bryniau Celt was sold by a man called "Reece Griffiths, of Ty Coreswyntoedd" for £8,000 ($9,890)."

Newsweek has reached out to @rhysgriffs via TikTok, and is currently unable to confirm whether he is the Reece Griffiths mentioned in the article.

While this farmer was able to use sheepdogs to shock this cow into feeling maternal instincts, ranchers in the U.S have historically used a slightly more sinister method.

Occasionally a cow loses its mother at birth, whether to complications or possibly predators. That calf needs another mother to survive and often farmers use a cow that has lost her own calf.

"It can be challenging sometimes to convince a cow to adopt the substitute calf," says the American Hereford Association. They report that according to Dr. Mark Hilton, Purdue University clinical associate professor of beef production medicine, "the most reliable way is to skin the dead calf and put the hide on the substitute."

"The cow knows the smell of her own calf (even if it was dead at birth—if you gave her a chance to smell and lick it before you took the body away)," they continue, "This 'smell-bonding' can trick the cow into thinking the substitute is her calf."

If the hide is not available, Hilton suggests using molasses or salt on the calf's back to encourage her to lick it and accept it as her own.

The American Hereford Association spoke to one farmer who has moved on from the "grafting" technique.

"Buddy Westphal, Polson, Montana, has grafted many calves (usually twins) onto other cows," they report. "We generally have about 15 sets of twins or more, out of 600 cows.

"We calve 100 heifers and there are always a few problems and we need a spare calf," said Westphal. "For decades we did the skin-the-dead-calf trick. For the past 15 years, however, we have been using a combination of a little tranquilizer (for the cow) and some powder sprinkled on the calf. We use the commercial product O-No-Mo (Orphan-No-More) that smells terrible."

Westphal explains that they give the mother cow a little tranquilizer to calm her down and reduce any instinctive rejection of the calf. "When she wakes up, she wants to lick the O-No-Mo off the calf and the pair is bonded," he says.

Users on TikTok loved the farming video.

"I am a farmer too—I didn't know you could have them teach that to her. I'm floored," commented a user.

"Never seen a cow get guilt-tripped before, but I love it," said one user.

"Love seeing them working dogs get the job done," commented another user.

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