We always have cattle (cows and bullocks) in our care looking for life-long homes as pets.
Not many people are able to offer a life-long commitment to keeping cattle as a pet, although they are friendly and curious creatures with lots of character, they are large and needs lots of space, shelter, regular veterinary care and specialist equipment.
f you are considering offering a home, please get in touch with us. Points you need to consider at minimum are;
Registration – You will need to get a CHP (County Parish Holding) number and herd number before moving cows onto your land. Cows have a passport and every movement onto and off your holding must be registered.
Land – Cows require lots of grass, they are constant feeders, the land needs to have very secure fencing, cows are very string and often scratch themselves on fencing, soon flattening anything but robust fences. Electric fencing is not sufficient.
If you do not own the land where you plan to keep you cows, you need to have a long-term lease on the land so that you have tenancy rights, if you do not own the land and only have a casual agreement or rental agreement, if this is terminated finding short term accommodation for pet cows can be a huge stressful challenge.
Herd – Cattle are herd animals, they must not be kept on thier own, they need to live with others of their own species so two minimum.
Vets – They require regular veterinary treatment for worming, general health checks and mandatory bTB testing, so you’ll need to register your cattle at a farm vets that has 24 / 7 coverage.
Equipment – Vets will not treat on unrestrained cattle, they have to be safely contained in suitable area such as a cattle crush, this is required for any treatment and especially the mandatory bTB testing.
Also consider how you will move large bales of hay / straw and equipment. A cattle crush and hurdles cost around £1,500.
Diet – Over 80% of their diet needs to be fibre, therefore grass and/or hay. When there is sufficient grass, they won’t need much else, although its always good to give them a small amount of hard fed once a day, so they get into he routine of coming to you to be checked over.
In the late autumn and into winter when the grass stops growing and has very little nutritional value, they will need a constant supply of good quality hay.
Clean water need to be available at all times.
Housing – You will need areas where the cows can get out of the elements, if there isn’t sufficient tree shelter they will need shelters.
During autumn / winter when the ground gets wet and muddy, many land types are not suitable for such large animals as they cause a lot of land damage and so a cattle shed with hard standing is often needed to house them over winter and cleaned out regulalry.