Ribelintomboy said:
Holm25 I bought him from an Iowa breeder. The way he talked my father and I have come to a decision he probably still has one ball and we were lied to about some of the stuff that was said. Pretty sure the guy made some crap up to get the crazy thing gone. He has gotten better since he first got here but is still jumpy, I don't want to take him to a sale barn because I won't get crap for him. The breeder said he'd drive back down here with a trailer and another steer if I wanted to trade him out. The only reason I took the one I have is because the guy said he looked better, the other one is supposedly bigger and halter broke but doesn't look as good. I'm calling bs but I won't say names.
Trust your gut. I think part of the problem was you started off on the wrong foot having this steer in a wire pen. I would use panels on a hot one. Once they figure out they can get away from you if they work hard enough then they will work themselves up faster to get away.
We have had similar problems twice. One we bought off the ranch with dog gentle cow by side and he was a little spooky but warmed up by the time we left. The guy delivered him and he went batshit crazy being unloaded. We had panels set up but they weren't tied to the trailer so he flips the whole pen, went through a wood gate, a barb wire fence, then ran to the far end of our 50 acres until he stopped. He said he would give me a refund but we could never get him back up to the barn to load him (even with 4 people and 2 quads). We let him settle in with our cows until he was ready for eating but we had to shoot him at a distance.
The second time we bought a heifer from a local futurity auction. She was gentle, moved easy and never showed any signs of being nutty. We took her home and after a couple days realized she must have been on Ace. We tried working her for months before turning her out for the winter to get bred (and figured she could bond with our other cows). We worked with her for 3 month in the spring and took her to one show. Realized that nothing would work for her at the show. Calf calm, cruise control halter, strong 250 lbs man got dragged down the aisle when he took her to water the first day. They would not release us from the show because it wasn't due to medical reasons. We had to have 2 people (one halter on each side) to take her to and from water. I won't do that again. Only buy from breeders you trust.