Bull on the rampage

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Tomcolvin

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Ok , my heifer with 3 month old calf must be trying to come back in heat. My bull today tore down the fence in a section to get in to her and the calf. He was successful in getting in and I don't know if she is in heat. How long before she can come back and what if he was successful in his move. I did not see what happen and have now fix fence. This Little 12 foot piece had no Barb wire on top of it. It has stood for 4 years until today. They are separated now but is ok to breed her back now?
 
Average time post calving to come back into heat is about 30 days here. I prefer to give a cow 40 days post- partum before breeding. Your heifer with a 3 month old calf is 90 days post-partum. It is past time to get her bred back. Based on the scenario you describe, she probably got bred.
 
Bulls can be creative. We have a small shelter at one end of the bull pen. It has an external walkethrough type door so that it can be accessed from out side the pen. It swings in to open. The bull broke the handle off of the inside of the door and managed to unlatch it and swing it in. Woke up the other day with him trimming the lawn in the front yard.
This is the same bull that managed to put all of his toys in the water tank.
 
dun":2iu3uirq said:
Bulls can be creative. We have a small shelter at one end of the bull pen. It has an external walkethrough type door so that it can be accessed from out side the pen. It swings in to open. The bull broke the handle off of the inside of the door and managed to unlatch it and swing it in. Woke up the other day with him trimming the lawn in the front yard.
This is the same bull that managed to put all of his toys in the water tank.

According to research, cows are generally very intelligent animals who can remember things for a long time. Animal behaviorists have found that cows interact in socially complex ways, developing friendships over time and sometimes holding grudges against other cows who treat them badly.

I believe this. I have a cow right now that reacts badly to her parasite injection (Ivomec injectable). Ever since injection, she has been mad at me.
 
This bull bears watching at all times. I never take my eyes off him when I am in the pen with him.He right now is not good company, meaning he snorts, paws dirt, digs with his horns and will empty his water trough by turning it over. He groans, moans and will pay a whip no attention. Yesterday when I went in to check and clean his tub, I carried my hot stick. I have never used it on him but if I get in a tight I will. I don't want to use it on any of my cows but they better not push me. I raised him on a bottle and as he grew I was never scared of him. Now is a different story. I keep a close watch on him.
 
Tomcolvin":3bgywv3u said:
This bull bears watching at all times. I never take my eyes off him when I am in the pen with him.He right now is not good company, meaning he snorts, paws dirt, digs with his horns and will empty his water trough by turning it over. He groans, moans and will pay a whip no attention. Yesterday when I went in to check and clean his tub, I carried my hot stick. I have never used it on him but if I get in a tight I will. I don't want to use it on any of my cows but they better not push me. I raised him on a bottle and as he grew I was never scared of him. Now is a different story. I keep a close watch on him.
That bull would be in the sale barn right now if he were mine. Life is to short to put wit POS cows.
Best looking bull I ever owned developed an attitude at 4 he was in the sale the next week.
 
Tomcolvin, there are a couple of lessons to learn here:
1) To have a calf every 365 days a cow needs to get rebred 60 to 75 days after calving. Your cow and bull were just trying to keep close to schedule.
2) It is NEVER wise to keep a herd bull that you raised on a bottle. It is not because they are inferior animals, it is because they loose their fear of man. Bulls should never be made into pets.
3) If you raised him on a bottle, why does he still have horn?
 
BC":an3nir70 said:
Tomcolvin, there are a couple of lessons to learn here:
1) To have a calf every 365 days a cow needs to get rebred 60 to 75 days after calving. Your cow and bull were just trying to keep close to schedule.
2) It is NEVER wise to keep a herd bull that you raised on a bottle. It is not because they are inferior animals, it is because they loose their fear of man. Bulls should never be made into pets.
3) If you raised him on a bottle, why does he still have horn?

I agree 100% I don't want a bottle fed or halter broke bull. Most dangerous cow or bull raised as a pet IMO.
There is only one alpha male here.
 
Bright Raven":2m1mvgsh said:
dun":2m1mvgsh said:
Bulls can be creative. We have a small shelter at one end of the bull pen. It has an external walkethrough type door so that it can be accessed from out side the pen. It swings in to open. The bull broke the handle off of the inside of the door and managed to unlatch it and swing it in. Woke up the other day with him trimming the lawn in the front yard.
This is the same bull that managed to put all of his toys in the water tank.

According to research, cows are generally very intelligent animals who can remember things for a long time. Animal behaviorists have found that cows interact in socially complex ways, developing friendships over time and sometimes holding grudges against other cows who treat them badly.

I believe this. I have a cow right now that reacts badly to her parasite injection (Ivomec injectable). Ever since injection, she has been mad at me.


I know the strained relationship weighs heavily on you. Keep your head up I sure she will forgive you in time.
 
Caustic Burno":173jlt49 said:
BC":173jlt49 said:
Tomcolvin, there are a couple of lessons to learn here:
1) To have a calf every 365 days a cow needs to get rebred 60 to 75 days after calving. Your cow and bull were just trying to keep close to schedule.
2) It is NEVER wise to keep a herd bull that you raised on a bottle. It is not because they are inferior animals, it is because they loose their fear of man. Bulls should never be made into pets.
3) If you raised him on a bottle, why does he still have horn?

I agree 100% I don't want a bottle fed or halter broke bull. Most dangerous cow or bull raised as a pet IMO.
There is only one alpha male here.
I can see where having a bull halter broke could be a benefit. We've used it when we wanted to give him a vaccination but didn;t want to mess with getting him the chute. Just slip the halter over his head and tie him and you can do what you want. I see that as the ONLY advantage. Had to draw blood this week from him for DNA testing. Couldn;t get the block head to go away from us so just slipped the halter on and tied him and drew the blood. Next week is spring workup and you can be sure he'll be in the chute for his BSE. It will probably take every one to get him there but he'll go in eventually.
 
On the subject of intelligence and memory. A lot of people just don;t give them credit for being able to learn. If they were as dumb as people think, you would never be able to break an ox to work. Since 90% or more of what you want them to do is done by voice or sometimes hand signals if they were actaully stupid they would never learn.
 
dun":1h5qgsnr said:
On the subject of intelligence and memory. A lot of people just don;t give them credit for being able to learn. If they were as dumb as people think, you would never be able to break an ox to work. Since 90% or more of what you want them to do is done by voice or sometimes hand signals if they were actaully stupid they would never learn.

That is why I don't like having people help me work cattle. A lot of horse guys tell you, you are either training an animal to do good or training an animal to do bad, there is no in between. No matter horse, dog, or cow or kid... they are watching and responding to every move you make. You need to be smarter than they are and set them up for success. Be purposeful in every move you make.

Any one who has ever raised a good dog, horse, or cow that knew what to do before you verbally said it... knows there is nothing better.
 
callmefence":wjlugq6b said:
Bright Raven":wjlugq6b said:
dun":wjlugq6b said:
Bulls can be creative. We have a small shelter at one end of the bull pen. It has an external walkethrough type door so that it can be accessed from out side the pen. It swings in to open. The bull broke the handle off of the inside of the door and managed to unlatch it and swing it in. Woke up the other day with him trimming the lawn in the front yard.
This is the same bull that managed to put all of his toys in the water tank.

According to research, cows are generally very intelligent animals who can remember things for a long time. Animal behaviorists have found that cows interact in socially complex ways, developing friendships over time and sometimes holding grudges against other cows who treat them badly.

I believe this. I have a cow right now that reacts badly to her parasite injection (Ivomec injectable). Ever since injection, she has been mad at me.


I know the strained relationship weighs heavily on you. Keep your head up I sure she will forgive you in time.

Lol. Seriously, I noticed she was not having a good time when I AIed her in December. She is developing chute fear. My cows go through the chute and facility like they are having fun. Except for her. It can be a serious - even a culling - issue. I work mine alone. I agree with Brute 23 above. She is acquiring bad training.
 
I think there are distinct traits that are NOT mutually inclusive by default.. tameness, docility, non-aggression, and halter leadable.. just beacuse an animal has one or two of the traits doesn't mean he has the others, and this is particularly true of bulls... Just because he comes up to you to get scratched in no way means he's docile.
My homeraised bull is now 3 years old and has never snorted, pawed, or looked at me wrong.. he doesn't fear me, he has no reason to, and I think that can work both ways depending on the temperament of the animal.. an aggressive animal with no fear of you is bad news, while a docile one that doesn't fear you is alright.
I've had lots of pet cows that are perfectly docile, but there's just something about them that I don't quite trust at calving time.. they were never aggressive to me, but there was *something* there.. meanwhile others I don't feel my hair standing up around them

BrightRaven, you have to start running yours through the chute daily to get some treats, at least try and undo some of her bad experiences... If you can, make it so her feed is on one side of it and water on the other, and she has to go down it back and forth a few time a day.
 
That bull needed to be gone yesterday. Neighbor here had a 3.5 year old bull that he raised on a bottle. 2 weeks ago today he never came home from feeding. His girlfriend and a neighbor went looking for him and instead found a bull that had gone mad. They were able to escape injury but another guy found the farmer later on. The bull had crushed his chest. It was the first time that the bull had ever acted up. Its sad to see somebody that devoted their whole life to these animals be killed by one
 

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