I was talking with a CT member the other day, and he asked me about this. He had seen me comment this several times. He asked was it because I was afraid of cattle? Or due to age, injury, etc, I felt like I wasn't able to get around them nimbly or fast enough? ( could be part of the reason now, I guess). Like I have said, the main reason I fool with cows, or ever did fool with them, is because of my horses, or other people's horses I am training. Now, if it is Corriente steers for roping, or beef steers or heifers for cutting, penning,. sporting, etc practice, this will just happen naturally. These are usually kept in a pasture adjacent to the arena, and everyone there for the practice or jack pot is mounted anyway, so it would be stupid to get down, tie up your horse, and walk them from the pasture to the pen.;
The main reason, is due to some occurrences around here in the early 80's. From 1980-1983, a lot of cattle were stolen...rustled...right out of the pasture around here and surrounding counties. This area was still very rural back then.. with a lot of dirt roads. Every farmer left a dirt track around his soybean and cotton fields ( called "field roads") back then, and some of these fields butted up to pasture.
There was a family, brothers and cousins,. 6 of them in all, that were the "gang". They had a 1-ton, 4wd, single axel crew cab Dodge, and a 36' gooseneck, soft top cattle trailer. They had racks built on both sides to hold panels. These guys would locate herds with a hidden drive, or one that backed up to a cotton or bean field, or a few times, that had the main gate on a little used public dirt road. Some of these guys actually did work for some of the people they stole from. Others, they had asked permission to coon hunt., and would use that cover to explore the pastures and locate where the cows spent the night, and possible places to cut the fence ( or the lock or chain on a gate). They would pull down in the pasture, set up the panels, often using the fence as 1 side, and just go find your cows and walk them into the pen. IF...they weren't able to just stand in the pen and shake a plastic bucket of whole corn! That was their favorite target; cattle that was "broke to a feed bucket". There preferred time was about 3 AM, and they would do it the night before a local sale. Just cut the ear tags off if they had any, and carry them straight to the auction barn.
The oldest one, in his 20's, did 18 months in prison after they were caught by some legitimate coon hunters. Most of the others were juveniles. The oldest was working at a place I went to work for in 85, as plant manager. He had became a preacher, and was the inventory manager at this place. He told me all about how they did it. He said he'd listen to farmers at the sales and the co-op etc, bragging about how they could take a bucket of feed and do anything with their cattle. So the next new moon, they would go get his cows. I fired him when I caught him selling materials and not recordinmg the sales.
I had already decided in 1980 when they first started, that my cows would never see a man on foot, that I would never operate a 4-wheeler, dirt bike or side by side around them, and they would never hear a bucket of feed rattled. I wanted all of mine afraid of a man on foot, so they would run when they saw one, or ty to kill him. These days, what the rustlers did would be impossible around here. All paved roads, and most pastures are surrounded by subdivisions, industrial parks, or Walmart shopping centers. So now, it is all about the horses.
The main reason, is due to some occurrences around here in the early 80's. From 1980-1983, a lot of cattle were stolen...rustled...right out of the pasture around here and surrounding counties. This area was still very rural back then.. with a lot of dirt roads. Every farmer left a dirt track around his soybean and cotton fields ( called "field roads") back then, and some of these fields butted up to pasture.
There was a family, brothers and cousins,. 6 of them in all, that were the "gang". They had a 1-ton, 4wd, single axel crew cab Dodge, and a 36' gooseneck, soft top cattle trailer. They had racks built on both sides to hold panels. These guys would locate herds with a hidden drive, or one that backed up to a cotton or bean field, or a few times, that had the main gate on a little used public dirt road. Some of these guys actually did work for some of the people they stole from. Others, they had asked permission to coon hunt., and would use that cover to explore the pastures and locate where the cows spent the night, and possible places to cut the fence ( or the lock or chain on a gate). They would pull down in the pasture, set up the panels, often using the fence as 1 side, and just go find your cows and walk them into the pen. IF...they weren't able to just stand in the pen and shake a plastic bucket of whole corn! That was their favorite target; cattle that was "broke to a feed bucket". There preferred time was about 3 AM, and they would do it the night before a local sale. Just cut the ear tags off if they had any, and carry them straight to the auction barn.
The oldest one, in his 20's, did 18 months in prison after they were caught by some legitimate coon hunters. Most of the others were juveniles. The oldest was working at a place I went to work for in 85, as plant manager. He had became a preacher, and was the inventory manager at this place. He told me all about how they did it. He said he'd listen to farmers at the sales and the co-op etc, bragging about how they could take a bucket of feed and do anything with their cattle. So the next new moon, they would go get his cows. I fired him when I caught him selling materials and not recordinmg the sales.
I had already decided in 1980 when they first started, that my cows would never see a man on foot, that I would never operate a 4-wheeler, dirt bike or side by side around them, and they would never hear a bucket of feed rattled. I wanted all of mine afraid of a man on foot, so they would run when they saw one, or ty to kill him. These days, what the rustlers did would be impossible around here. All paved roads, and most pastures are surrounded by subdivisions, industrial parks, or Walmart shopping centers. So now, it is all about the horses.
Last edited:
