Calf Rope

[MudHog]

@Bigfoot: My preference would be to not drag it. Just last year I was the one telling my grandfather that I don't like dragging and they are worth more alive than dead. I'm just at the point now if she dies being drug, then I'll skin her. She will already go to the freezer if she manages to get out of the round pen I'm borrowing to try and catch her. I've been around our cows for 34 years, but only in the last 8 years I've started taking over. My grandfather never was one to ask for help even though I lived two houses down, so I never got to see him actually pull a calf or cow in. He's 93 and needs a wheelchair to really get around, so I'm going in on my own. Hay and water in the trailer is what I've planned to do if I did manage to catch her on a Saturday. I'm going to call the Sale Barn. Tranq would be much easier than damaging more fence and a round pen I'm borrowing now.


@greybeard: I know a few people that rope, but its to get them here. The guys I'm borrowing the round pen is a roper and does team roping practices at his place. Nobody wants to mess with this heifer. He told me more for her size (about 400 lbs) than anything. I was at the Ranch Sorting competition Sunday and the guy helping me asked a couple other guys and they turned it down too. The bad part is my fences aren't good for this kind of calf. Our cows and bull know their area, but no way they will stop a calf. Like Bigfoot said, I'm managing with what I have. I've tried penning her under our barn and she managed to get out (jumped against a panel and broke a rope and lifted the panel up on another time). I've tried putting her in our garden and she managed to get out there (walked through the barbed wire fence).

Now you all can see why I'm on the verge of pulling her or putting her in the freezer in general. Amazing one calf turns into a full on rodeo, but I guess that's how it goes.

 

[MudHog]

Update: I called the sale barn and they told me as soon as she wakes up to bring her to the barn. No wait period required. I'm waiting for a vet to call me back with a price to see how much it would cost to do that.

 

[greybeard]

@greybeard: I know a few people that rope, but its to get them here. The guys I'm borrowing the round pen is a roper and does team roping practices at his place. Nobody wants to mess with this heifer. He told me more for her size (about 400 lbs) than anything. I was at the Ranch Sorting competition Sunday and the guy helping me asked a couple other guys and they turned it down too. The bad part is my fences aren't good for this kind of calf. Our cows and bull know their area, but no way they will stop a calf. Like Bigfoot said, I'm managing with what I have. I've tried penning her under our barn and she managed to get out (jumped against a panel and broke a rope and lifted the panel up on another time). I've tried putting her in our garden and she managed to get out there (walked through the barbed wire fence).

Now you all can see why I'm on the verge of pulling her or putting her in the freezer in general. Amazing one calf turns into a full on rodeo, but I guess that's how it goes.

Most of us (me too) have been there, working with less than the best fences and working pens--and under the right bad circumstances, and the right calf or cow, I'm still there. Meaning, if I get one riled up enough, my pen won't hold it. It's a good tube panel pen but I really need to reinforce it in places, and truth is, some of my fences won't hold one that really wants out either. I had a Char calf last year, about 325 lbs that went nuts when I slamed shut the pen gate--it ran full gallop into every panel on the pen, finally hit the gate full speed and bowed the gate out enough that it popped the latch out of it's hole and off it galloped in to the far pasture. (my fault--I forgot to chain the gate--I just slid the latch into it's lock position)
You might call the ag dept at your local high school--some of them FFA boys are usually pretty big old boys and maybe good with a rope. If you do manage to get it roped, wouldn't hurt to have some younger stouter help with it either. On the rare occasion I do rope one, I'm lookin for a stout post or tree to take a wrap on before the end of the rope gets to my old hands.

 

[MudHog]

Vet called me back turning down the work. Now I'm trying another vet in town to see if they would do it and how much.

 

[Bigfoot]

Vet called me back turning down the work. Now I'm trying another vet in town to see if they would do it and how much.

That's not a practice vets around here fool with.

 

[cow pollinater]

Have you tried loading her with other cattle or are you trying to sort her off by herself and deal with her? You might be able to get her with two of your quietest cows and load the whole bunch and either sort off the cows on the trailer or at the sale barn but whatever you do with her you will get the worst out of her if you try to deal with her one on one.

 

[MudHog]

When I had her under our barn she was with other cows and still got really nervous once I closed them in. She managed to get out twice like that. Once she jumped into the panel and broke the rope. The other time she managed to get her head under a panel and lifted it up enough for her to squeeze out and bent the bottom bar doing so. Our latest plan was to get the small herd into the round pen and then try and rope her in there.

Her momma has horns and I've thought about putting a rope on her and getting her into the trailer. I can walk up to her and out a rope around her horns. Hoping that if she is in the trailer, the heifer would then try to go in the trailer. Bad thing is our trailer is small. I'll bring the cow for a ride if I need to as long as I get the heifer in the trailer.

I had a guy helping me move hay this past Saturday. Soon as we started moving around by the barn she put herself out in the pasture. Not until we finished up did she come back around by the barn where the other cows were eating hay. Now I can get close to her by the hay rack when I feed twice a day, but she squeezes herself under the necks of the other cows. When my dad and I was setting up the round pen a couple weeks ago, she did the same thing. Only when she crossed the gate into the pasture there was a bird on the ground that flew up and she looked like she was doing the Heisman Trophy award pose when she flinched.

 

[M-5]

Is she weaned

 

[MudHog]

Is she weaned

She still tries to nurse on the momma, but I've noticed the momma pushing her away more than the last couple weeks. She is ~10 months old right now. I was trying to pen her and the others at 6 months and she has avoided penning ever since.

 

[M-5]

You need some pens , and about a week of feeding the cows same time every day. Just feed and leave . Do it as close to dark or right after dark as you can and feed n the pens. After about a week you can start circling around and shut the gate On them . One person needs to do this each day. Once penned put her tail in the trailer

 

[Bigfoot]

You need some pens , and about a week of feeding the cows same time every day. Just feed and leave . Do it as close to dark or right after dark as you can and feed n the pens. After about a week you can start circling around and shut the gate On them . One person needs to do this each day. Once penned put her tail in the trailer

I have had my son hide in an empty water trough at the gate. I feed and walk away When I whistle, he springs to action. You might try something like this if she is that crazy. I wouldn't rope her or tranq her until I had exhausted some more options.

 

[jedstivers]

I hate to sound negative and I don't mean this bad but you are doing everything the wrong way.
Don't have someone she doesn't know out there, get a pen set that she can't get out of, you don't have to ship her right now.
Do like Bigfoot is telling about feeding at night. Do not sort her, take several even if you have to go to the barn with all of them. You can bring them back.
Ask the barn to send someone to dart her, they will know how to get her loaded. I don't think you do.
If we were close to you we'd be happy to help you.

 

[MudHog]

I have a round pen and they all go in there. I fed a few minutes ago and they are there. I spoke with another vet and we talked for about 20 minutes. He suggested trying to pen and rope first before darting her and he didn't have a dart gun. He said if I could get one, he would get me the medicine and dart/s. Roughly $50 for medicine and dart. We also talked about everyday closing the gate to try and get her used to being penned up. We talked about removing one panel at a time over a week or so to try and make the pen smaller to give her less room to move around. What we last talked about was I'll give the roping one more try with the smaller pen and if she manages to get out I'll call him back to do the dart route.

Below are pictures of the suspect heifer and how I'm currently setup.

Head up high like a horse.

Heifer and her momma.

Fed and all in the pen.

 

[Bigfoot]

That set up looks about as nice as any bodies. Has she jumped out of it before?

 

[greybeard]

You might want to drive some tee posts down and wire the panels to the tee posts so she will have a harder time nosing under them and lifting the panels up. Also keeps her from turning the round pen into a diamond shape, tho if it is distorted some, it usually isn't a disaster.

 

[MudHog]

She has not, but I/we have yet to try and work her in this pen. Were going to try last weekend, but the guy coming help me couldn't make it. We are now going to try this weekend. This is the borrowed pen that I spoke of earlier. I made the chute pictured in the pen over the weekend. I used all but two panels when my dad and I set up the pen and then took a panel out the pen to have three panels for the chute. I don't trust the chute as there is nothing on the top stopping it from wanting to lean over. I thought about taking some flatbar and ubolting them to make the top more rigid. I could close it more easily. I'm also considering trying to push it against the barn that would be to the right side of the third picture. Currently there is about a 4ft gap from the pen and that barn.

I "think" this pen can keep her. I'm just afraid she tries to jump out with her previous history.

 

[Bigfoot]

Feed in it everyday until you attempt to catch her. I even move my mineral to the catch pen in desperate times. She'll get used to coming in. You just need a means of getting the gate shut.

 

[Bigfoot]

On a positive note, if those kind don't jump out, they usually jump right on the trailer.

 

[MudHog]

Far as getting in, that is not a problem. They all got in twice a day for the last 9 days. I've seen her in by herself or with her mom or others during the day. When I fed today I closed the gate with all of them in there to see how stout the gate was. I do plan to chain or tie the bottom just to be safe once I close them. No ruckus or pressure as everybody was eating hay. I like the idea of some t-posts to keep the pen down. These panels are a little heavier duty than the ones I have, so that is a big plus in general. I cannot lift these over my head, but I can with the ones I have (light duty TSC panels).

I suppose I'm to cautious given the failed attempts thus far. Plus the pen is borrowed so I worry about it getting damaged. Fixing would be no problem and I'm already pricing material to make my own panels. One downside the Vet told me was once darted, she will run. They don't just fall down instantly. If it came down to darting, would probably need to do it in a pen.

 

[Bigfoot]

It's reassuring she has gone in, and had the gate closed on her. You'll get her time. Have help with you stays far far away. Be hooked to the trailer and ready to load, before you ever catch her. You'll get her loaded.

I think from this post, and some earlier that you are starting to take over the cows. In a little while you have the experience to tackle something like this no problem. Some of the best money I ever spent in the cattle business was on a catching facility. It's 6 x 6 pressure treated post, with pressure treated 2 x 8. It's a shade over 7 foot tall. It doesn't have to be huge, and it's cheaper than panels. Knowing that what I catch in it is there to stay, is very reassuring to me.