another question for longhorn owners

[TagandKiss]

I was wondering do you all have problems with them breaking fences and sprinklers? my dad and grandpa big deal about have cattle is that. they think cattle is worse then horses when it comes to these two things. do you think that cattle are worse then horses at these two things? thanks again

 

[Ryan]

It is very rare that we have problems with our cattle messing with fences. The only time we usually have any problems is one spot where two of our herdsires share a fence, every once in awhile they'll see each other and push on each other through the fence and mess it up some. We don't have any sprinkler sytems so i cant help you there.

 

[TagandKiss]

thanks for thr reply

 

[eric]

Not a longhorn owner but a cattle owner, and my neighbor has 3 horses that do alot more damage to his place than twice as many cows do to mine. Seems horses love to run and just beat the heck out of the ground, especially if it's a little moist. Seems the cows move so slow the grass almost has time to grow back by the time they get back to the same area. Never had a problem with fence or sprinkler damage, but we do put a wire cage around the sprinkler heads, but it's more for protection from the tractor/bushhog than it is from the cows.

 

[TXBobcat]

As far as cattle go, I don't believe longhorn cattle are any worse on fences than other breeds of cattle. As far as objects in the pasture, I would protect them as well as possible, regardless of the type of livestock you are running. I guess it just depends on the individual animal, but some of them just don't seem to respect fences or anything else, whereas others seem to stay confined pretty easy.

For example, I have 1 horse and 1 pony on the 6 acre pasture around my house. On the 100+ acres behind the house, we have 3 horses, currently running with the cows, but soon to be seperated off to themselves. So far, this situation has worked pretty good. Anyway, the other day my neighbor calls and says his horses have escaped his temporary fence around his 2 acre place, and he asks if and can leave them at my house for awhile. I told him, sure no problem. So he brings them over and we turn them out on the 6 acres. As we were turning them loose, I asked him if they knew what a cattle guard was, and he said he wasn't sure. Well, about 5 minutes later, the 1st horse was walking right across the cattle guard and down the county road, and then the 2nd followed right behind. Neither horse was hurt, but it was a little tense at one point.

Needless to say, I gotta open and shut the gate till he gets them back to his place.

 

[dun]

The only thing I've seen the LH at the dairy do is become very adept at using the tips of their horns to slit open the baleage that's stored in the pasture. They've managed to eat maybe a dozen, but open and trample another 50-60.
They're in the same pasture as a couple of horses that never bothered the stuff in the past.

dun

 

[Ryan]

The only thing I've seen the LH at the dairy do is become very adept at using the tips of their horns to slit open the baleage that's stored in the pasture. They've managed to eat maybe a dozen, but open and trample another 50-60.
They're in the same pasture as a couple of horses that never bothered the stuff in the past.

dun

longhorns are very aware of their horns and very smart with them, too. One of our steers likes to use his horns to bend a tree brand down to scratch his back with, it is really pretty neat that he could figure that out... kind of funny too

 

[Rustler9]

No problems with any damage to fences etc. from the Longhorns although we have had them use their horns to get a gate open then once they got out they made hash of some shrubs in the yard. So now all gates have chains on them as well. Most any type of livestock may be inclined to rub on or against protruding objects in the pastures. Probably best to protect faucets etc. just in case.

 

[cowspider]

I have only owned 3 longhorns, so I am not an expert, but I have noticed
mine would jump a fence before going through one. the horns are just tools for them to use for mischeif.

 

[TagandKiss]

thanks all the replys. I love this board. Glad I found it. I wonder if i made scratching post and placed them out in the pasture if it would help. make them out of 2x4 just a lil lower then there bellies. maybe they use it instead of sprinklers :idea: wishful thinking maybe thanks again

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Good comments from the other Longhorn people!

Yes, longhorns use their horns like mechanic's tools...lol. They can learn to undo chains on gates (the kind that come with the gate)...we solve this problem with double threading the chains as well as using another chain that has a quick coupler link.

They can inherently spot a weak spot in a fence. Yes, if the fence looks flimsy and/or too low they will jump over it before they crash thru it (after they test it and/or rearrange the wires with their horns). Using barb wire that is tight is a must.

They can scratch an itch with surgical precision on their body or on another's body...if their horns are long enough they can bend around and scratch their butt with tip of their horns...lol.