Why do they chain a cows two back legs together?

Question

I was in Cumbria a few weeks ago and was surprised to see a cow in a grass field with some others, but which had its two back legs chained together, via a 'manacle' on each leg, located just above the hoof. It was free to walk around with the others. Then, just the other day, my mum was out rambling in North Yorkshire and she saw exactly the same thing! Both were black and white Frisian cows, otherwise free to walk about in the field, and in the company of other cows which were not chained.

Weve never seen or heard of anything like this before. Anyone know why they are chained like this?

Answer 1

it is so they can catch them easier if their legs are chained together they will trip when they run and it will teach them to stand still  my uncle has a cow farm so i know this well  and it doesnt keep them from wondering unless they are chained to the ground as well

Answer 2

This method is called hobbling. The same thing is done to horses while they're in the trailer to prevent moving around too much, in the pasture to prevent jumping fences, and also used during breeding so the female won't injure the male.

From Wikipedia - A hobble is a device for restricting the ability of a human or an animal to run or to walk by limiting the motion of the legs.

Cattle hobbles are a strong strap with a metal keeper in the middle and a buckle at the end. They are used on the hind legs for a short period when capturing feral cattle.

Answer 3

this is not done in the US

Answer 4

They can be used to stop a cow kicking out at other cows. Some cows, are well cows to others!! A kick from one of them can cause a huge amount of damage and being shackled prevents this from happening without splitting the offending animal from the rest of the herd.

Answer 5

They are called hobbles and the name speaks for its self, it is to stop them wandering

Answer 6

To stop them jumping over the moon.

Answer 7

I've only seen it done on cows that have a habit of escaping pastures, so that they don't get too far before they are recaptured.

Answer 8

I have never seen this done before either, but I think it would be because they have a habit of kicking. Maybe other cows, but I would guess they kick at the people that milk them. I've seen horses hobbled to keep them from wandering away and that was done on the front feet. They were also given very little slack so they hade very little freedom to walk about. If the cows could move about and stay with the herd, the hobbles would be to keep them from kicking. Probably they wouldn't have to wear them for too long before the habit was broken and they could be released from the hobbles.

Answer 9

We used hobbles on our dairy farm on cows after they calved if they had nerve or muscular problems from the calving process.  The cow could not control the muscles in the rear legs and would have a tendency to do the "splits" when they were taken from the maternity pen to the parlor.  The concrete was slick and the cow would have difficulty walking.  We would use the hobble to keep the legs from sliding out from under her.  Hobbles were also used as a way of trying to keep a cow from kicking when she was milked.  Certain bulls used through the artificial insemination process passed along good production traits yet at times passed along a "wild hare" in which they were nervous animals and did not like to be handled.  As a kid milking cows on the home farm, one bull named Astronaut was very popular among the Holstein breed and the offspring milked very well, yet were excellent "kickers" when the milking machine was put on her udder.  We would try ropes, hobbles and at times a few choice words, yet all this did was just excite them more.  So hobbles had a marginal effect in their effective use.

Answer 10

It is done instead of fences.

It's fairly cruel in my mind, but it prevents the cattle from wandering off too far.

Answer 11

to stop them jumping over the fences

i dunno really thats my guess though