All Things Livestock...

[Spiveyman]

Just got a call from my partner, ole' jumpy went AWOL again. She goes in the barn tonight, on a trailer Wed, in a cooler on Thurs and it's pay day. Then we can go shopping for a better cow! Oh, and next week we'll hang her skull on the fence where she's been crossing as a memo to the rest of the herd.

 

[texasjohn]

Suggestion... why not put the photo of her on ebay... and sell the head that way?? I don't know if this has ever been done..just hit me.

Sorry she did not learn her lesson... bad habits, hard to break!

You have identified a market and it's working for you... so, now it's just a matter of proceeding forward... Best wishes!!

I like your quote... and, here is one I like, too

"experience is a hard school, but some fools will learn in no other"

 

[Spiveyman]

Ebay huh? You mean like a live picture of her, we're going to kill her who wants the head? That's hillarious. Might just work!! I have seen skulls on ebay, but sadly most of them were polled skulls with horns plastered to the sides and the plaster covered up with rope of some sort. It's easy to spot the fakes if you know what to look for in the bone structure of skull.

Incidentally my partner couldn't get her in the barn tonight. So, after work tomorrow I get to head over there and do some cowboying. We love a good challenge. She's got a calf on her still (though he's old enough to wean) so we're figuring on using him somehow. Rope him and get him in the barn maybe. Then she'll probably follow suit, although she'll be cantankerous by then. This is where a nice well thought out handling system would come in handy. One of these days....

I collect western sayings. We use them on some of our promotional material for the business. People seem to appreciate a little humor here and there and with the western motif it can help set the theme we're going for. You know, try to create a little Texas where ever we are. Here's a word file with some of my favorites:

 

[texasjohn]

When your pen setup is not sufficient to accomodate an unwilling critter, you gotta be smarter than she is and make her think it's her idea to go where you want her to go.

First thing is to keep her from getting spooked if at all possible, so work her with kid gloves... verrry easy!! It may be too late for this already.

Remember, you won't be able to outrun her unless on horseback...and then the horse better be able to jump fences, too.

If she will eat cubes, maybe you can lead her into the pen with a bucket and get your buddy to hide, OUT OF SIGHT somwhere that he can shut the gate once she goes in the pen. If there are other animals in her neighborhood, see if you can entice,with feed, the whole group to come into the pen, drawing her along with them. One person leading with feed bucket, another walking, slowly, behind the group to encourage the spooky ones (her) to stay with the group. Don't push the group too much, they will just booger off. USE your friendly cow...keep the group together... if some split off, JUMPY will certainly join them...then you are messed up... all the gentle stuff is in the pen... the wild stuff is boogered and teaching each other to be even wilder.

Typically, calves stick with their momma... however, if perchance you DO get the calf penned...as a last resort you can leave it in one pen and hope that, give time and the pressure of a taunt bag, the cow will come to the calf (hopefully bawling calf) and enter a pen adjacent to where the calf is. Then, if you can shut the gate, grand. If you only have one pen, rope the calf by those wonderful horns, tie it to the pen fence farthest away from the gate and leave the gate open so the cow will come in. Don't let the cow get next to the calf on the other side of the fence where it is tied. Make a big deal of leaving the area... but remember cows don't count... and leave one of you hidden behind to shut the gate when the cow comes in. It may be midnight before she does it...so, settle in with some OFF for a long wait. Treat your cow like she was a deer... avoid sounds, she MUST not see you waiting for her around the pen... wait until she is well inside the pen before seeking to get it shut... tie a rope to the gate so you can swing it shut from afar,if at all possible.

You can tell that I have only limited experience with these things.... so I am sure there are other approaches that work very well. Final idea... it may take several days to get her penned up... and, if this doesn't work, there is always lead poisioning. Now, if you don't yet have any FRS radios, it is a good time to get some..for you,your buddy, maybe even a 3rd or 4th . Being able to talk to another person when you are dealing with spooky stuff across distances and when you may not be able to see all that is going on is a big benefit... (gosh, I love telling other folks how to spend their money)

Good luck in getting her in the pen!!

 

[Spiveyman]

You gotta love dealing with contrary cows. Yeesh! We tried the luring in with feed deal. Just like you said, the good ones were on board, Jumpy was too skiddish to follow. The problem is, right now we don't have the right set-up to deal with this. Actually it's perfect timing because it's making us think about what we're gonna build.

In short we waved off this afternoon's wrangling session. My partner talked to his neighbor and she's not going to call the cops anymore. He's going to take a little time to let her calm down, and start teaching her to come up for feed again these next couple of nights. We put another animal in the queue so that we don't HAVE to kill her Thurs. I'm going to go over Sat and actually get started building this corral system. Given how late we're getting in the year we may do something a little simpler to get the smaller one's tagged so we can move them to better grass, then come back and finish it up.

That deal about being smarter than her... that's certainly the plan, but man is it humbling when you miss that mark!

We're still going to win, although we may have to change the game a bit. This is all great experience for us though.

 

[texasjohn]

Sorry it didn't work... can't say that I'm amazed, however... but, you've got the right attitude and are working on the solution.

Ideas for you to consider:

Tranqualizer? Your vet may have a pistol/gun... if so, you can pull her into a trailer (use heavy plywood for a ramp) when she goes down.

Are there any team roping competitions locally? If so, you might be able to get a couple of cowboys to come over and capture her just for the challenge of it. I, however, recommend you watch them rope a few times to make sure they understand how to do it... don't ask me why I recommend this.

What are the water sources... if only in the pen, then you can shut it off and wait until she is thirsty and then she will come in, although cautiously.

Final solution: 30-30 bullet between the eyes.

Best wishes on your pen setup!

 

[Spiveyman]

No worries, we'll get her in there alive and ready for the abattoir. Our new slogan around the farm is "cowboy's always win." We are stubborn, patient, and tenacious!

We don't have a tranq gun yet, but are likely to invest in one soon. We had to do that recently with a bull. Tranq'd it, waited for it to lay down, then backed the trailer up to it and chained two gate panels around the bull in a "V." The bull started coming to his senses, got up, and walked right on the trailer. We'd like to avoid that, but want to have the option as a last case scenario.

As for the roping, I have a cousin who's a header on a team. He and his heeler have roped ornery cows for my uncle before. He's been teaching me how to head this summer. My business partner wants to start roping in competitions. He used to ride bulls, but is getting to old for that. I'm not sure we would pass for real cowboys yet, but we could play them on TV.

Lots of water all over the farm, so we can't use that as motivation, but that's a good thought.

 

[texasjohn]

OK... you've gotten enough sweat behind your ears to figure out the next plan of attack... again and again until you win... got it... and, for sure, everybody who messes with stock from time to time runs across a "challenging" one.

 

[Spiveyman]

I appreciate the ideas, I wasn't meaning to shush you or anything, just chatting. On this one it will probably be stubborness that wins for us more than finess, but I don't want that to be the case a few years from now. That's where your experience is very valuable to me. As an engineer I'm always looking for a better way to do stuff. This is kind of my brain storming forum, so keep the ideas rolling! I'm taking note of all of them for when the right situation comes up to use them.

 

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

Wow you guys are going great guns!

Bulls - TexasJ I've seen simmentals breakdown on their pasterns and be too post-legged due to breeding up in size too fast. I always look at bones pretty closely. Other than that I think we're pretty much on the same page.

texasJ you comments on antagonistic traits is right on. All breeds have them but high weight gain (mostly end weight) is definitely antagonistic toward birthweights and is probably the most common one.

As for that problem cow - if you have the patience and the understanding of cattle mentality of a Temple Grandin I've no doubt you could herd her in on horseback for sure and likely on foot as long as she isn't mean. Start experimenting - approach different animals from different angles and at different paces and watch their signs and how they react. You'll soon learn that often all you have to do is approach from the right direction at the right speed at the right time and they do exactly what you want. The trouble is that doing this is often too slow and people usually don't have the patience - but it does work. It may not be for you but I enjoy doing it sometimes.

-Ed-