Never allow a bull calf to push his head up against you. It is cute when they are young but very dangerous when they grow up. Raising bull calves on a nurse cow will imprint them more strongly to their own kind and further reduce the tendency to attack. To further reduce the danger, dairies that use bulls should consider raising bull calves on a nurse cow. Any mature bull that charges a person, should be removed from a commercial dairy because he is too great a safety risk to the dairy personnel.

If there are no bull calves available for pen mates, a young bull should be raised with steer calves that are older and heavier. When dairy calves are six to eight weeks old, they should be put in group pens. There is no such thing as a totally safe bull, but the risk of an attack can be reduced with proper management. When they are raised with their own kind, they know who they are and they are less likely to think that people are part of the herd. Bull calves raised on a cow were the least likely to attack. This can result in dangerous attacks on people.Įd Price at the University of California found that bull calves raised in groups were much less likely to attack people than bull calves raised in individual pens. If the bull calf has been raised alone and has not had the opportunity to interact with other cattle, he thinks he is a person and he wants to exert his dominance over the 'herd'. When a young bull calf becomes mature at age two, he needs to challenge the top bull in the herd. The most dangerous dairy bull is a bull that has not been properly socialized to his own kind. Preventing Bull Accidents Preventing Bull Accidents (Updated June 2006)īy Temple Grandin, Colorado State University

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