Bulls wintering out

[Dave]

One of the things which happens some here is bulls who winter out. When the cows get gathered some of the bulls willow up and hide. Cows that get missed will generally drift down when the snow flies. Again some bulls will just stay in the hills. I earlier told about a cow I bought at the sale which turned out came from my neighbor Charlie. This old Charolais cross cow (#36 aka Charlie the Charolais) had a snow white calf. I was thinking that the neighbor still had one Char bull. I asked him and he said he had sold that bull 2 or 3 years ago. He told me that there was a Char bull who wintered out on his range.

Well we branded his calves on Monday. About 20% of the calves were Char cross calves. They looked to be the older calves too. Found out he turned his cows out early April. Didn't turn out his bulls until May 1. Well a Char bull that had wintered out was waiting for the cows. He bred a good number of them before Charlie turned out his Black Angus bulls. That was one very active Char bull.

 

[uplandnut]

It always amazes me the difference in cattle country. Here in the great lakes region I don't think leaving a bull out like that would be tolerated. That being said most pastures around here are not big enough for a bull to hide all winter without being found. Your area definitely has a more laid back approach to cattle. Should look into a zip code change for myself.

 

[Dave]

When gathering in the fall if you have cows and get a bull mixed in they generally come right along. Gets toward winter and you find one willowed up alone it generally doesn't take long and the fight is on. Some just find a good place to hide in a juniper thicket or other such place. Teh whole area gets flied with helicopters and / or airplanes but they don't spot everything. Pastures in the multiple thousands of acres which include some real nasty ground is also an issue. When the great white cowboy (snow) goes to work cows come filing down the road headed to the winter feed ground where they know they will get fed. Bulls tend to be more independent. At that branding I was talking about it with B. He said that he had 2 bulls winter out somewhere up Deer Creek. Big area with lots of timber. Very difficult to search the area so you just hope they found enough to eat.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

There was a rogue cow that survived 2 winters in the "wild" here, but it did so mainly by jumping fences and eating out of people's hay stacks. Only other way for a cow/deer/moose to survive is to migrate 20-40 miles inland to a winter deer yard (cedar/conifer swamp).

 

[Dave]

Where that Char bull wintered out that bred Charlie's cows wouldn't have worked this last winter. That side of the river all burned last summer so there would have been nothing left to eat. I wonder about B's bulls up Deer Creek because a lot of that area burned too. But not all of it. Hunger or thirst does have a way of making them migrate down to the valley.