Anyone got experience of a cow that knocks down fence posts?

[grasspunk]

Greetings All,

One of my herd (Salers) has learned to knock down fence posts to get to the greener grass on the other side. Wood, metal, makes no difference. Mostly the posts just move in the earth because we have high clay soils and a very wet winter, although some metal ones bend and some old wood ones break. The only posts that stay vertical are the heavy old vine posts I use on the perimeter and on some internal fences - these are big enough to resist being pushed through the earth.

The herd do not cross the wire, even if it is on the ground, but they take advantage of the leaning posts to eat the new grass now exposed. After watching for a while I figured out the culprit (cow 63) and separated her. Now the posts are staying up, so I'm reasonably sure she's the only one who does this. The only times I saw her knock over the posts she used the base of a horn to push it over. These cows have big horns.

My plan is to dehorn this cow close to the base under the assumption that without the horns she won't be able to push the post over, but I figured I'd check if someone has experience with this issue in case there's something to learn. Maybe the cow, having got used to pushing posts over, is so motivated to get the extra grass that she'll figure out a new way. Has anyone dehorned a cow for this problem?

Cheers, Brent in France.

 

[Alan]

Sounds like the easiest and complete solution would be to ship her to the auction yard. That's what I would do. I had a horned steer that learned he could hook the hot wire with a horn and it would either break or get tangled in the barbed wire above it. Then he could go through the fence where ever he wanted at will. The biggest problem was three other yearling heifers learned the fence was down most of the time. The slaughter prices were so high at the time it was a easy fix to ship him. I spent a day getting the fence back up to roll your eyes back in your head hot and turned the herd back into their winter pasture. I figure there was three attempts after that to go through the fence, now all is well. Best solution for me was to ship the problem and use the money for hay.

 

[jedstivers]

Welcome and just sell the cow.

 

[grasspunk]

Thanks for the welcome and the replies. I've been reading the site on and off for a few years but figured it was time to post something.

It does seem the smart thing to do but I'd rather not sell the cow. The market here is very different to the USA and she's worth way more to me as a pregnant cow than sold. I'm guessing that selling her would get me nearly nothing. The markets here in the SW discount anything that isn't a Blonde d'Aquitaine and she's old enough to be worth very little, even if fattened for the butcher. If kept she gives us a 200€ subsidy and a calf later in the year, which encourages me to at least try the dehorning in order to save her for the herd.

There's a chance she isn't pregnant in which case she might be better fattened for direct sale as ground beef to at least get something for her. I'm watching.

As much as I hate living through them, I love hearing bad cow stories. Hooking the wire with the horns seems pretty advanced. That was an intelligent steer.

 

[DavisBeefmasters]

Welcome...

...once a fence buster, always a fence buster...

...and she will teach others to do the same.

Good luck - your herd = your call

 

[Grandpa]

DavisBeefMasters is exactly right. She won't stop doing it. Ever. You have to decide if she's worth the time that fixing fence constantly requires.

 

[Alan]

Oops, sorry! :welcome: . As said before once learned the trait they never forget and never quit doing it. But your herd your choice. :welcome:

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

He seems to be determined to keep the troublemaker so can anybody answer his question about dehorning this beastly bovine?

:welcome:

 

[grasspunk]

I'm not determined to keep her, it is just a cost/benefit problem. She does use her horns to push down posts, and I didn't know if that would continue once she's dehorned. I haven't come across this problem before so I asked the question of you folk.

It makes sense her joy in knocking down fences to get to new grass would continue, horns or not. If she's always going to be knocking down fences then she's better off in someone's freezer.

Your replies have been pretty clear that she'll keep on going even if dehorned. Right now I'm relieved that she's in the yards and not out breaking fence posts and I don't want to mess that up by letting her back out. It sucks to take the hit of the lost cow/calf/subsidy but it is better than ongoing fence problems.

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[dieselbeef]

even polled animals heads are hard enough for a fencepost

 

[Lazy M]

The main points for dehorning a big-horned cow is make sure your headgate is bolted down tight, your saw is sharp, and your iron is hot. I've had to do it often when I've had a cow whose horns were growing back into her head, and its never very fun. Make sure you have a head table, too, don't try tying up her head without a lasso- it wont work. If your using a manual saw, its good to have someone there to take shifts with so you can get the sawing done asap and start cauterizing.
BTW- I recommend selling the cow

 

[Brute 23]

Dehorning won't help... your forgetting to factor in the cost of fixing all the damage she has caused.

 

[LauraleesFarm]

She has learned to do this and just like she learned the behavior, so will the other cattle.

Why not just run a little electric fence?

I bought a cow that apparently had been in an overgrazed pasture. She immediately started grazing thru the fence even though we had plenty of grass. Obviously this was something she learned out of desperation. After she was with my herd a month, several of the others were doing it too. Monkey see monkey do. We ran a single strand of hot electric fence and nobody did it again.

FWIW I do not think that dehorning her will make any difference.

 

[pdfangus]

I also do not think tha tdehorning will make any difference....

the only possible cure is to get the fence hot enough to make her eyes water and her knees buckle.....

I have had enough close calls that I would no longer have a horned cow around.....also had too many polled ones nearly kill me.....if horned they might have succeeded.

 

[grasspunk]

[OP here]

The fences are electric somewhere between 6k and 7k volts so they're pretty hot. She's smart enough to avoid the wires and use her horn on the base of the post. Because the soils are so wet at the moment she's getting some of them pushed over without damage and others she breaks. A friend suggested wrapping her horns in aluminum foil to help with the conduction of electricity.

As I mentioned before she's up at the yards now. I'll find some way to make some cash from her, likely as direct sale beef. She's putting on condition well.

Folk here have been saying "your herd your choice" and it reminds me there's a French saying that means the same thing: le conseilleur n'est pas le payeur. This means the guy who gives you advice isn't paying the bill.

As for cows without horns, we're thinking of dehorning starting with this year's calves but it isn't very common out here. All the French breeds have horns.

 

[Dave]

Use something for an insulator that will hold the wire out a foot or more from the fence. There are ones that you can buy or make them out of pvc pipe. Put up several strands that way. And 6k or 7k is hot but for this I would want 10k with lots of joules. Something that is going to hurt so bad that she never wants to walk within ten feet of a fence again.

Also if you get a 200 eros subsity for keeping an old problem cow I want to know where to sign up.

 

[LauraleesFarm]

I wanna see that cow with aluminum foil wrapped around her horns. Might look like she was receiving messages from outer space! :lol:

 

[april_luv]

I have experience and I got confusion on what to do.That is how I realized to have a good fence to protect us and also the animals.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I wanna see that cow with aluminum foil wrapped around her horns. Might look like she was receiving messages from outer space! :lol:

Would lots of aluminum foil and a good thunderstorm be a permanent cure?

 

[greybeard]

I have a neighbor that had a horned bull that pushed and poked on the big pines in his pasture so much, he killed almost every one of them--I guess he just hated pine trees. Then started on the barn supports. Bull grew wheel. In the old days, people would put a vertical yoke on a fence breaker. One of the old timers here had an old black and white scrub cow that he wired a 4x4x 4 ft long board to. She had to almost lay down to graze, but she couldn't push on wire or posts. Looked funny as heck and I guess PETA would raise hades now days if they saw it.