cantankerous pig

[3RRL]

Bird,
In thinking about it I think that Rob probably did get some 4H training at the "Reform School". He would have to use his head, protect his heart from knife wounds, use his hands to work out with weights so he could be tough, and stay healthy so when he got out he could put his dipstick knowledge to use. LOL
David B

Dave,
LOL ... Now that's funny....
Yup, got that kind of 4H and FFA too. (That could mean all kinds of things)

From the projects you have done and the photos of your home shop maybe I would have been further ahead in my areas of interest had I been taught dip stick instead of pitchfork.
My attempt at humor, not sure if I made it though.

It's funny though how different backgrounds when mixed altogether end up in common interest like on here. Thanks for appreciating some of my work Dave.
Rob-

 

[N80]

I only have one domestic hog story (got plenty of wild hog stories though! In any case, I remember going to get some produce from a local fellow when I was a kid. (He was the first and last person I ever saw plowing with a mule). I was with a friend who knew that this guy had a big old hog in a pen. There were some wild plum trees and my friend told me to go give them to this pig. So I walked over to the pen with a handful of plums to throw in his trough. He'd just been slopped so he was eating out of the trough. He was enormous! Well, as soon as I got close he stopped eating and lifted his head to look at me. Then, all of a sudden he lunged, gave out this load grunt and spewed a mouthful of slop all over me. Apparently this was a common behavior and my friend, uh hem, had set me up! He and the old man got a good laugh. I had to hose off.

I have more experience with cows. Use the shocker a fair amount when you can't get them to move through the chutes. When trying to get them into the shoots they make these longhandled paddles that have rattles in them. You don't really hit them hard (the plastic paddle would break) but you rattle it at them and give them a slap and it helps move them along. Also gives you more reach. But, I was in a corral with a bunch of them trying to get them into the tub that leads to the chutes and the last one got a bit aggressive. Started pawing and snorting and made a couple of runs at me. I didn't have a paddle so I grabbed a pine branch. She ran at me hard this time and I wasn't close enough to the fence to make a run for it so I hit her hard right between the eyes. It didn't stagger her but she did finally back off. In the background I heard my B-I-L shouting "hit her in the nose, not the head" but I was done before I realized what he was trying to tell me. Apparently a not-too-hard wack on the nose will do the trick and a blow between the eyes can do serious damage. Well, I didn't damage her and at the moment I was sure she was going to damage ME so I went for the biggest target. Several lessons learned anyway.

One last point. One person mentioned 'socializing' your livestock. That is extremely important! My B-I-L has been farming all his life but officially inherited the farm about 25 years ago when it was in pretty sad shape. The cows were almost wild and it was extremely hard to do _anything_ with them, much less close quarter tasks like worming and vacinations. He has spent that last 25 years growing the herd and getting them used to human contact. Cows are dumber than dirt and cows will be cows, but his are incredibly easy to manage since they have been 'socialized.' every aspect of the ranching procedure is easier from moving the herds from pasture to pasture all the way to tending a sick or calving animal. Much safer too.

 

[Bird]

I heard my B-I-L shouting "hit her in the nose, not the head"

George, my Dad would not allow me to be afraid of a cow when I was a kid. He always told me to stay away from the bulls, that they'll kill you, but he said a cow will never hurt you. He said a cow will come at you with her head low and if you just stand your ground and kick her as hard as you can right on the nose when she gets close enough, she'll stop and jerk that head up, but a bull will run right on through you.

Now that always worked for me, but I was frequently a very scared kid, but of course I was more afraid of my Dad that I was of any cow. And I still doubt that he was right about some of the range cattle I was around in later years.

 

[N80]

I think your Dad was probably right, especially in the case of my B-I-L's cows. And, my B-I-L confirmed this saying that a pop in the nose usually sends them off. My B-I-L has 4 or 5 massive bulls. They seem very docile and I've never seen them act agressive. But they scare the heck out of me and I rarely go in the bull pasture and when I do, I don't turn my back on them. There have been plenty of foggy mornings during turkey season when the bulls are with the cows and the fog makes it hard to tell who's who. I stay very close to the fence. My B-I-L insists that they're harmless, but this child of the suburbs isn't taking any chances!

I think the real danger with a cow is when she panics. We were helping a friend of his patch a cow's wounded eye when she went nuts. Tried to go over the tubular gate and came down on top of it. Crushed it like a pretzel. If any of us had been in the way, she'd have mashed us flat!

Even my B-I-L's cows get a bit aggressive if you have to mess with their calf. I've been knocked around a bit by an anxious mom and I've seen my B-I-L get knocked on the ground. But like you say, its more like a warning shot; nothing like a bull trying to grind you into a pulp.

 

[Bird]

George, my Dad's best friend (Gene) from the time they were just kids worked his whole life at nothing but Guernsey dairies (except for his time in the SeaBees during WWII). When I was a kid, he was herdsman for a Dallas dairy. That is, he bought and sold the cattle, cared for the show herd that he took to Fairs, etc. I'll never forget the biggest Guernsey bull I ever saw was their show bull named Pat. Pat was never turned loose, kept in a stall, and taken out daily to a small corral for exercise. He was so gentle that some of the little kids rode him while he was being exercised. However, there came a day when Gene took a truck down to the Rio Grande valley to pick up a new bull. I never saw it, but heard that it was bigger than Pat. But it had been running loose on the range for 2 years. Gene was never afraid of bulls (or at least Guernsey bulls); said as long as you kept looking them in the eye they wouldn't hurt you. Nearly all bulls back then had a nice set of horns and they had a ring in their noses. A lot of people used a specially made stick, about 3' long, with a snap in one end that attached to the ring in the bull's nose. As long as you held onto that stick, you had the bull's nose, at least, about 3' from you. Gene wouldn't use one of those; just used a rope with a snap on the end. Well, that new bull got him. According to Gene, he was leading the bull toward his truck and everything was going fine as long as he kept his eye on the bull, but he turned to see how far he was from the truck and that's when the bull attacked. Gene would grab a horn, the bull would turn his head and grind Gene's hand into the ground, run over him, etc. Gene still claimed later that the attack would have stopped if he could have ever gotten back on his feet to face the bull, but he was never abler to get up. There were several other people present, but they were afraid to even try to help. The only thing that saved him was a fellow on a bulldozer digging a new stock pond not far off saw what was happening, so he drove the dozer up there, raised the blade, then let down over Gene to shield him from the bull. By that time, Gene was busted up so bad that he spent a long time in the hospital down south, then was flown back to Dallas because they said he couldn't stand a ride like that in a ground ambulance, and then he was still laid up in bed at home for a long long time.

 

[Cliff_Johns]

A pig example from the recent news where a man got attacked by his herd of pigs. I didn't know pigs came in herds. Maybe that's just in England.

Farm worker attacked by herd of pigs - Yahoo! News

Cliff

 

[N80]

Sounds like a clear cut case of Mad Pig Disease......or maybe we should call it Angry Pig Disease.

We always called a group of pigs a drove. I have no idea what the proper term is.

 

[Soundguy]

Hmm.. I've got an xray that beats that argument all to heck.

I've got longhorn cows.. and they will go on thru when they want to. And the swinging head issue is a whole lot different when there are 18+" of horns on each side... not to mention the head is like a 40# rubber mallet...

A cow will hurt you bad.. a horse will hurt you bad... a pig will hurt you bad.. a goat will hurt you bad, and a horned sheep will hurt you bad.

I've helped frineds herd sheep and goats into a trailer.. the young rams will take runs at you.

Guard animals.. like donkey and llama can also be a problem. Last time i went to pick up a calf, the guard donkey inthe pasture wouldn't leave us alone.

Fowl like roosters and gees can usually only slightly injure you.. cuts and scrapes.. etc.

I think that any statement saying that an animal will never hurt you.. is misleading at best.. and in most cases.. just wrong. Even highly domestic 'pet' animals send people to the hospital and DR every day... the ones that weight 100-2000# are just better at it... been there.. done that had the xrays, splints, shots, meds and pt to prove that farming is not a 'safe' job.... just check the osha site...

Soundguy

a cow will never hurt you. He said a cow will come at you with her head low and if you just stand your ground and kick her as hard as you can right on the nose when she gets close enough, she'll stop and jerk that head up, but a bull will run right on through you.

Now that always worked for me, but I was frequently a very scared kid, but of course I was more afraid of my Dad that I was of any cow. And I still doubt that he was right about some of the range cattle I was around in later years.

 

[Cliff_Johns]

Just a quote:

"I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
- Winston Churchill

 

[patrick_g]

I carry a BABY GLOCK in .45 ACP most of the time I am out of the house unless I have a reason to carry something else. Once in a while you will have the need to leave your carry in the car as there are restricted locations in towns.

My wife totes her .357 magnum 5 shot revolver when she goes out and about on the property farther from the house that the porch slab usually, if alone. She has taken video clips of a mountain lion in the back yard, several bobcats are seen within 100 ft of the hoiuse in the middle of the day, and a friend took a picture of a mountain lion within 100 ft of our front door. There have been other sightings but the camera wasn't handy or the sighting was too brief. We also have coyote and a litany of other critters but it is the mountain lions that gets my wifes attentiion. She has been within 50-100 ft of one out in the woods and was not armed. I keep telling her, "Better safe than lunch!"

I usually carry a magazine loaded with shot which makes the Glock a .45 shotgun which is good for snakes. I swap mags when I am workinig in snake territory. I don't purposely hunt snakes and don't harm the non poisonous ones but if a poisonous snake and I are close to each other, I see the snake, and have the means to kill it then it is soon an ex snake. I know we have plenty of copperheads and water mocasins and rattlesnakes but I don't have a grudge against the species, just the individuals in MY SPACE. I have only killled two snakes in 6 years. One copperhead and one water mocasin.

I am concerned that mountain lions might take some calves but so far so good. If I had the means at hand I'd shoot a mountain lion on sight but so far haven't hunted for them. Feral pigs are a nuscience as well as a danger and enough reason to go armed. The bigun's can be downright dangerous.

A couple days ago I was helping a friend load a cow and calf. The cow was acting a bit nasty, pawing the ground and charging. I picked up a stick with little fine branches and held it like a fencing foil aimed at her face and she would not charge into the little branches. The owner picked up a length of scrap 2x4 and when she charged him he broke it over her head. She charged again and he hit her with what was left in his hands and then he got out of the pen. We loaded her with no further incident. I am a relative newby to working up close in tight quarters with adult cattle (hardly ever touched anything over 8 months old) and I have never been injured unless you count a a 500 pounder accidently stepping on my foot (no permanent injury.)

There are just way too many gentle cows for me to put up with much danger. Mess with me and it could be a free ticket to the sale ring or the processor.

Pat