Black Angus

[Cattle Girl]

I have one Black Angus Heifer. My other two are a different breed. Much more docile than the Black Angus. Now, I have friends that say I should get rid of the Angus because they have bad attitudes and can hurt you. She was about 9 or 10 months old when I brought her home. So far she just doesn't want to be touched and she sometimes puts her head down and paws the ground if you get too close. The other cattle she is pastured with are very people oriented...think she will be effected by there good behavior? I hate to part with her due to the circumstances of which I aquired her.

 

[lazyhill]

I think that it is too harsh to say that all black angus have attitudes. However, if yours is displaying some attitude you definately want to be careful. If she does come at you, it is time to put wheels on her. We've had cows that will hang back when we are in the pasture but I don't like ones that threaten me. Those are usually the first to go.

 

[la4angus]

I have to agree with lazyhill.
Some Angus can have an attitude. Not all of them but a very few do.
There is no point in keeping animal that is threatening you at less than a year of age. She could injure you or someone else.

 

[dun]

One bad disposition well affect all good dispostion cattle negatively. All the good dispositioned cattle won't have any affect on one bad disposition.

dun

...think she will be effected by there good behavior?

 

[Cattle Girl]

I hate to part with this Heifer...but she does have an attitute. This morning I tried to get fly repellent on her and it was a huge task. I got her after a friend of mine was killed in a tractor accident. I also have a gelding that he wanted me to have. It was a huge tradgety...he was an ER doctor and had only had this piece of property he had bought for 6 months. He lived alone and was doing road work and the tractor flipped. I don't suppose he would want me to be injured with this heifer...I was hoping I could tame her down a bit...she has gotten very big though. I wanted to breed her to a Pinzgauer Bull and keep her productive in my herd. I'm not sure about dealing with Cattle Markets. Any advice?

 

[dun]

Sentimentality is well and good, but possible injury or death is a point to draw the line. Ship her or shoot her, your choice.

dun

I hate to part with this Heifer...but she does have an attitute. This morning I tried to get fly repellent on her and it was a huge task. I got her after a friend of mine was killed in a tractor accident. I also have a gelding that he wanted me to have. It was a huge tradgety...he was an ER doctor and had only had this piece of property he had bought for 6 months. He lived alone and was doing road work and the tractor flipped. I don't suppose he would want me to be injured with this heifer...I was hoping I could tame her down a bit...she has gotten very big though. I wanted to breed her to a Pinzgauer Bull and keep her productive in my herd. I'm not sure about dealing with Cattle Markets. Any advice?

 

[Anonymous]

I have one Black Angus Heifer. My other two are a different breed. Much more docile than the Black Angus. Now, I have friends that say I should get rid of the Angus because they have bad attitudes and can hurt you. She was about 9 or 10 months old when I brought her home. So far she just doesn't want to be touched and she sometimes puts her head down and paws the ground if you get too close. The other cattle she is pastured with are very people oriented...think she will be effected by there good behavior? I hate to part with her due to the circumstances of which I aquired her.

Call her bluff

BP

 

[Beefy]

You could try running at the heifer raving like a freakin lunatic. i did that once to a cow that charged me (she thought she was protecting her calf but i wasnt even messing with it, or near it for that matter). I had no choice but to charge her in this instance, otherwise she would have ate my lunch. Most of the time if you run at a cow or person raving like a freakin lunatic they run away, sometimes screaming. Results may vary, though.

 

[Campground Cattle]

You can get a nut case in any breed. She's not worth fooling with if you got to watch her like a hawk when your in the pasture or pens. Cut your loses haul her to the sale barn and replace her a good heifer. It's not worth keeping her and worring about an injury.

 

[TR]

One bad disposition well affect all good dispostion cattle negatively. All the good dispositioned cattle won't have any affect on one bad disposition.

dun

...think she will be effected by there good behavior?

I have a question about this one.....I hear it all the time, and while I tend to believe its true, I'm still waiting for it to happen to our herd.....we have a CharolaisXHereford cross cow that's goofy. She's not scared of us, but will take off running if she even thinks we're getting close to the gate to shut her in the pen. Watches us like a hawk all the time......In any case, when she did it this year after she had calved, both her calf and her buddy's calf would go with her. Those were the only two. All the other cows and calves didn't pay her one iota of attention, and now, her calf and the other one don't either. They'll leave her and come right up to me in the middle of the pasture and will follow me all over. Basically, while she's gotten better than when we first bought her, she's still goofy, but none of the other cows pay her any attention when she acts that way. I might mention that we have really gentle cows and part of our strategy with replacement heifers are to bring them here to the home pasture where I can interact with them daily and gentle them before turning them loose with the main herd for breeding, so they're raised to be calm around us. Bottom line is that while the other cows' "goodness" has rubbed off on her a little, her "badness" hasn't rubbed off on the good cows at all. I would think this to be the exception to the rule though, right? Maybe we have a bunch of abnormal cows, and one normal one? Either way, if she wasn't such a good looking cow and had affected the others adversely, she'd have been on down the road already. As it is now, she's walking a very thin line......

 

[dun]

If that's the only time she takes off running, she's a a little high headed, not nuts. The nut case takes off running when she sees you coming even if she's out in the middle of the pasture. We have one heifer that used to behave like yours, now she's still edgy, but works right along with the other cows. It seems like the little calves are more inclined to follow her lead. Once they're a couple of months old and the fight or flight instinct becomes dulled they start ignorning her. But the calves at that age are looking for a reason to run and play so they may just think she's a very big calf playing. Or maybe that's just my rationalization for keeping her. When she calved a week early and dropped a tiny little heifer calf she would stand right there and let us mess with the calf cause it was having a hard time standing up.

dun

One bad disposition well affect all good dispostion cattle negatively. All the good dispositioned cattle won't have any affect on one bad disposition.

dun

...think she will be effected by there good behavior?

I have a question about this one.....I hear it all the time, and while I tend to believe its true, I'm still waiting for it to happen to our herd.....we have a CharolaisXHereford cross cow that's goofy. She's not scared of us, but will take off running if she even thinks we're getting close to the gate to shut her in the pen. Watches us like a hawk all the time......In any case, when she did it this year after she had calved, both her calf and her buddy's calf would go with her. Those were the only two. All the other cows and calves didn't pay her one iota of attention, and now, her calf and the other one don't either. They'll leave her and come right up to me in the middle of the pasture and will follow me all over. Basically, while she's gotten better than when we first bought her, she's still goofy, but none of the other cows pay her any attention when she acts that way. I might mention that we have really gentle cows and part of our strategy with replacement heifers are to bring them here to the home pasture where I can interact with them daily and gentle them before turning them loose with the main herd for breeding, so they're raised to be calm around us. Bottom line is that while the other cows' "goodness" has rubbed off on her a little, her "badness" hasn't rubbed off on the good cows at all. I would think this to be the exception to the rule though, right? Maybe we have a bunch of abnormal cows, and one normal one? Either way, if she wasn't such a good looking cow and had affected the others adversely, she'd have been on down the road already. As it is now, she's walking a very thin line......

 

[Anonymous]

i brought a hereford home from the sell about 2 years ago she was in her 2nd tremester and she behaved alot like yours shed run at you and stop just a few feet away well she jumped the fence and ran with the neighbors cattle for a few months had her calf and and we brought her back the cow was crazy but she has a buetiful calf ( weve had 2 out of her) well today she works with the other cows. shes usually the first to the corral at feedin time and never charges or any thing now. And has had no effect on my heard in fact there docile behavior has rubbed off on her and her calves are docile to well thats my 2 cents worth.

 

[Cattle Girl]

This will be the first cow I will have to take to a sale....If I decide thats the right thing to do. I'm afraid that after she has a calf she could be worse than she is with the other cows calf. Yesterday, she came up to the gate when she saw me. She was looking for grain. She came up, stood in front of me...blew through her nose and shook her head. I gave her some grain and tried to touch her head. She shook her head when I touched her and backed up a bit. When I first got her she would paw the ground like a bull ready to fight when I did that. Still I was close enough to the gate to get out if I thought I had too. I hate to part with her but I don't want to be injured either. I realize the whole situation bothers me more than it does her. Still, its really too bad. I guess this is where many would say, "Suck it up"....cut your losses and just get on.

 

[Anonymous]

This will be the first cow I will have to take to a sale....If I decide thats the right thing to do. I'm afraid that after she has a calf she could be worse than she is with the other cows calf. Yesterday, she came up to the gate when she saw me. She was looking for grain. She came up, stood in front of me...blew through her nose and shook her head. I gave her some grain and tried to touch her head. She shook her head when I touched her and backed up a bit. When I first got her she would paw the ground like a bull ready to fight when I did that. Still I was close enough to the gate to get out if I thought I had too. I hate to part with her but I don't want to be injured either. I realize the whole situation bothers me more than it does her. Still, its really too bad. I guess this is where many would say, "Suck it up"....cut your losses and just get on.

Call her bluff.

BP

 

[Kelly]

I don't think it is a good idea to feed her the grain when she is snorting and throwing her head at you. You are just reinforcing that attitude. That is just my opinion for what it is worth.

 

[Anonymous]

Doesn't sound like you trust her enough to let her fool with your head, but she is supposed to like it when you want to touch her's? We have some cattle that will let you do this but its not a criteria for staying in the herd. We cull heavily on disposition. All periscope cows and others like them go as soon as we get them penned. There could still be a place for her in a profitable cattle operation. We don't expect our dogs to have a calf every year. Why expect our cattle to like being petted like a dog?

 

[Anonymous]

well not all cituations work out like mine some times you gotta cut your losses and move on .call her bluff. if shes crazy she may never change but dont give her feed when she does that because your sendin her the signal that its a good thing. id keep her in a pen breeder let her calve and send her down the road if she doesnt get any better.

 

[la4angus]

well not all cituations work out like mine some times you gotta cut your losses and move on .call her bluff. if shes crazy she may never change but dont give her feed when she does that because your sendin her the signal that its a good thing. id keep her in a pen breeder let her calve and send her down the road if she doesnt get any better.

younggun
Why would you want to put her in a pen, breed her, let her calve and then send her down the road. While she is in the pen she could eat you out of house and home, plus take a chance of you being seriously injured or killed while waiting to sell her.:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: