Ain't Ranchin' Fun

[Bird]

Ain\'t Ranchin\' Fun

The neighbor behind me had 5 donkeys (one of them a Jack) that ran with his cows. They were all 5 pretty gentle and no problems; however, about a year and a half ago, he decided the donkeys were just eating hay and grass that the cows could have, so he sold all 5 at the auction. Then in the Spring, when the cows started calving, he lost several newborn calves to the coyotes, so he decided that donkeys were a good idea after all. So he bought 3 more donkeys (one of them a Jack). Well, this Jack chases cows. He'll pick out one and nearly run her to death. Several times when the neighbor has seen the Jack chasing a cow, he's gotten on his Kawasaki Mule and chased the Jack, peppering his rump with skeet loads from a 12 gauge, but to no avail. Now these folks have an attached two car garage, but no door on it. Yesterday while the rancher was in the hay field and the wife in the house, a daughter-in-law drove up, ran in the house, and told the rancher's wife that there was a donkey and cow in the garage. Don't know how they got out of the pasture to get to the house, but the donkey had chased the cow into the garage; the cow ran around the car and instead of being able to get out, got jammed between the right rear quarter panel of the car and the garage door frame. She was stuck, couldn't get away and the donkey was still biting and trying to climb on her. Another neighbor drove up about that time, managed to get into the car (it was being rocked around pretty violently) and drive it forward a couple of feet which freed the cow and the donkey and they continued their fight on the front lawn. The rancher's wife got the shotgun and peppered the donkey again and drove him off, but the bloodied cow now wanted to fight anything that moved. The rancher got home and finally got them back in the pasture, and now they have a bloody Lincoln with a big dent in the right rear quarter panel./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif The rancher told me this morning that a friend had recently asked to borrow the Jack to breed his Jenny, but he said he was going to call the guy to come get the Jack and keep him, kill him, sell him, or whatever he wants to do with him./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bird

 

[kerr]

Re: Ain\'t Ranchin\' Fun

Bird , i watched a horse chase a calf in a pasture about 200x300 .This horse was having a big ol time being meaner than you no what to this calf for bout 10 min.that i seen.Poor ol calf running end ta end fast as it could muster up fer sure.Bout the time i had seen enough here comes that calf full blast to a corner and hit the binders!Ol big,mean and stupid horse hit the skids slipped in the mud and comenced ta having the god-awfullest horse wreck ya ever seen!I know it aint funny but DAMN it was .GREAT!!!I swear that calf winked at me as i drove off wiping tears out-a my eyes from laughing so hard .

 

[Bird]

Re: Ain\'t Ranchin\' Fun

Kerr, that sounds like the way I like to see things like that end./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif When I was just a kid, we had a half dozen horses that we just pastured for owners who lived in town, and had just one once that we had to tell the owner he'd have to move somewhere else because that crazy horse wanted to chase a calf we had at the time.

Bird

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

Re: Ain\'t Ranchin\' Fun

That funny Bird (for those reading it on TBN) I bet it will be a bit before your neighbor see's the humor./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I have a neigbor who had a BIG brood sow named Betty. Betty went to town one day and figured out how to get down a flight of stairs and into these folks basement apartment. Betty wasn't a real good guest, she destroyed the place and didn't want to leave. Took them a better part of day to convince Betty to come home.

Al

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

Re: Ain\'t Ranchin\' Fun

Today I had a tree topper guy cleaning up an old maple tree that was about ready to take the shakes off the top of my barn. He showed up with his helper and two of their kids, both boys about 10 years old. This is OK by me, my kids are all grown up and I get along with little kids. I showed these little guys my big swing, 70 ft rope way up in a big maple, out in the pasture. It's well done and provided a lot of enjoyment to every kid and most adults that every visited. The boys played on it most of the day. Just as their dads had finished and were getting ready to head out Robbie does a header off the swing, knocked him out for about 2 minutes, still breathing good pulse, 911. Ambulance shows up fast for here about 20 minutes. Off to the hospital Catscan ect. Little guy was Ok just big lump and grass stain on his head. Scared the heck out of me. All turned out OK but it sure could have turned out different. Up until now the worst thing that has happened is running into the dog. I'm thinking about taking the swing down, not for liability reasons just don't want to increase the odds something don't go right. What do you folks think?

Ain't ranching fun

Al

 

[LazyK]

Re: Ain\'t Ranchin\' Fun

TWINK...Take down the swing! Let stray kids swing in your shop on the over-head hoist or ride up and down on an overhead door or garage door w/ auto open/close. Just kidding. Glad all was simpatico in your instance. Seriously, it's getting to the point that I require ALL riders or handlers of horses to execute a "Hold-Harmless" release form before they are able to ride at Lazy K. We have postings at the entrance of the facility disclaiming responsibility for everything short of constipation. I spent some more money with my attorney to make sure I wouldn't have to pay someone else's attorney fees plus a judgement against Lazy K Inc. Ranchin's fun if you remind folks that they need to account for their actions when they come on to an active ranch situation. 25 years in the horse business so far, 15 in Alaska...10 here in Washington State. Had 3 runs at the jewels for minor injuries over the years.
Each time it was plaintif's failure to exercise reasonable caution and comply with the requirement to recognize the Corporate rule of "Hold-Harmless".

Lazy K - Chip

 

[cowboydoc]

Re: Ain\'t Ranchin\' Fun

Bird,
Those jacks are just downright awful! I had one one year that got into our fence with my horses. Had my good roping horse by the throat. Had to literally beat him off my horse. They are no good. Not being cut they are way worse than a stud.

As to horses chasing calves they are bred to do just that. Just like there are bird dogs so there are cattle horses. They are bred to chase cows and stick to them like glue. That's why you just can't take any horse out and make a roping or cutting horse out of them. To be any good they need to have the breeding in them. So don't get on the old horses too bad. They're just doing what they were bred for.

BTW, ranchins fun???? NOT TODAY. We just got back from putting up 1200 square bales and 110 round bales. Normally ok but today was 102 and 80% humidity. I don't think I've ever sweated more in my life!!!

 

[Bird]

Re: Ain\'t Ranchin\' Fun

Richard, I found out you can't even trust those Jacks if they have been cut. About 5 years ago I bought a young gelding at the auction and put him in the pen with my 9 goats. For a couple of days he paced back and forth at one end of the pen trying to figure out how to get out to join some other donkeys he could see in a neighbor's pasture about 500 yards off. Then he went berserk, grabbed an old nanny goat by the neck, slung her back and forth and broke her neck. My wife beat me out there and he dropped the nanny, grabbed one of the baby goats by one hind leg and took off. I guess we were quite a sight that day; I was chasing the donkey with an ax handle (wishing I had my .38) and my wife was trying to get all the goats inside the barn. He finally dropped the kid and my wife got the goats inside while I kept him beat off with the ax handle. The next day, I took the donkey and all the goats to the auction./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bird

 

[RJohnson]

Re: Ain\'t Ranchin\' Fun

Bird,
You might tell your neighbor to try a guard llama to protect his calves. A grown gelding male will make a great guard against coyotes. They are not good against a pack of dogs but are basically a gentle breed that are relative easy to rear. You will have to do a barrel cut in the spring as they can get over heated and will need some type of shade in the heat of the day. If your neighbor is interested drop me a line.

Randy

 

[Bird]

Re: Ain\'t Ranchin\' Fun

Randy, there are a number of people in this area who have the llamas; however, I already know this guy's opinion of llamas, so no need to suggest that to him./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bird

 

[kerr]

Re: Ain\'t Ranchin\' Fun

Its hard to beat an ol jenny.She aint too bad with the lab. we have but the j russel she tries to mow down evertime it dares ta go into the pasture.Your rite about the jacks fer sure!It coast 50 dollars ta get one cut the aint worht 50cents far as protection goes,i have givin 2 away.They will take pleasure in mowing down a goat and causing trouble at every chance.A jinny is a lot smarter than a horse also.

 

[cowboydoc]

Re: Ain\'t Ranchin\' Fun

Kerr,
Just curious as to where you get the info. that a horse is smarter than a jenny is alot smarter than a horse? Is this personal observation or fact? If you're talking scientific fact I would suggest that you look at reserch from Colorado State University and Iowa State University Veterinary divisions. Both have done extensive testing on animal intelligence. Horses are very high and mules and donkeys are way below. Pigs and dogs are above them and cows are below.

 

[kerr]

Re: Ain\'t Ranchin\' Fun

Well i have been told thats all.A donkey if ever tangled even slightly in fence,rope wont move till ya go and get her,Seen this myself.Wont walk on ice that wont support em.Wont eat nothing thats gonna make em sick.I dont know,heard it my whole life,our jinny is just a big ol pet.

 

[cowboydoc]

Re: Ain\'t Ranchin\' Fun

Kerr,
Horses will do the same thing. Every try and train a horse and then try and train a mule or a donkey? That will surely change your mind about who's the smarter of the bunch or the dumber for letting themselves be trained so easily. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[glennmac]

Re: Ain\'t Ranchin\' Fun

I've always been curious about these supposed studies of animal intelligence. It all sort of depends, doesnt it, on what you define as intelligence. There's a never-ending controversy about how to define and measure human intelligence, with some people arguing that intelligence is such a large suite of different behaviors that the measurements are meaningless.

I would think it is even harder and more arbitrary to define intelligence for animals. I suppose you could find some behaviors that donkeys pick up quicker than horses, and vice versa. What is it that makes a pig so smart.

All I know is my daddy is smarter than your daddy.

 

[Bird]

Re: Ain\'t Ranchin\' Fun

glennmac, I agree that I don't know just how they measure "intelligence", and I know hog pens stink, but did you ever notice that pigs don't crap all over the pen like most other animals. Whether you have one or a bunch in a pen, they'll pick one corner and that's the bathroom. Seems to me to show a little more intelligence than cows, horses, mules, etc./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif And pigs really are quite easy to train. The first one I raised as a kid was also trained to ride. I got a lot of attention riding him around the fair grounds.

Bird