Coral top rail height?

[OklaBrangusBreeder]

The coral I've used forever has a top rail height of about chin high, say 5 feet or so. Never had any problems.

However, I've got one cow now (which I've nicknamed Jumper) that will NOT stay in the coral. She jumps out in a matter of seconds anytime we crowd her. She kinda stands up on her back legs, throws her front legs and front body over the top rail, and then kinda shifts her weight over the rail until her front feet hit dirt, and shes gone. Amazing how fast she does it. I've seen her do it several times.

Is 5 feet not high enough for the Coral top rail? Or do I just have an abnormally gifted cow? How high would you say is your coral top rail?

 

[cowspider]

I "HAD " a brahma Bull who would jump a 6 ft. fence - he be gone. his sister is a jumper also.

 

[6M Ranch]

We run ours about 5' 6". Not that the extra 6" will make a difference if they want to get out. We had a bull do that twice. He's gone. I firmly believe these personality traits are hereditary. I vote for getting rid of her.

 

[tmarsh]

I had one holstien heifer that did the same thing. Never had one quite like her. She'd roll up on her back feet and over she'd go. I put ring in her nose with a small (fairly heavy) piece of chain hanging from it. Evertime she tried to jump, the chain would bounce and pull on her nose. Took it out in a month or so- worked great. Calmed her right down.

 

[backhoeboogie]

A neighbors cows will jump 6 foot pens when we work them. They are accustom to going through his makeshift cross fences all the time. That whole herd has no respect for any fence. I suspect if they were 7 foot and the cows could get their heads over, they'd get out. They are all angus and tiny little things too. It is amazing to see them do it. Even after you witness it, you still stare in half disbelief.

 

[Nowland Farms]

Backhoe,

I bet your neighbor could re-calibrate the cows thinking about jumping with several strands of well placed electric fence. ;-) Usually one really hot strand of electric fence out 36" from the normal fence will get their attention. Follow this up with another hot strand or 2 along the top edge of the normal fence will usually do the job.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Nowland, Looking over his situation, there are many things he could do. He has about a 20 acre coastal field on the opposite side of the road that fronts the river adjacent to my coastal field. That whole piece is probably about 45 acres but only 20 of it is a coastal field. He has let that go. He decided two years ago to move some cows over there to get the grass down. 10 minutes later they were back in the original pasture across the road.

Yes. I would either tear out those falling down cross fences in the main pasture or else I would repair them and put in some electric reinforcement. His cows would then have a bit more concern/respect when they came upon wire or panels.

His perimiter fence is not in bad shape. His interior cross fences are what's bad (terrible). That main pasture is likely 140 plus acres with three divisions that are all bad. The cows just walk through every cross fence.

His bull is/was now in my pasture. No big deal. I almost opened the gates and drove the bull back home but decided otherwise. I finally got them on the phone and they jumped on it pronto. I wonder how the bull got in. I looked for holes and gaps but found none.

These are good neighbors. It is actually a sad situation there. All the cows supposedly belong to his son. His son lives hundreds of miles away and happens in about twice a year.

 

[DoubleRD]

Something that also works really well is send him a bill for the damages. Its amazing how "getting into your neighbor's pocket" seems to keep his bulls home!

 

[Stocker Steve]

The coral I've used forever has a top rail height of about chin high, say 5 feet or so. Never had any problems. Is 5 feet not high enough for the Coral top rail?

It depends on your stock and your handling. Our corral is about 4.5' high and it always held Holsteins in the past. It did not hold some of the beef feeders we bought. I looked at one of the breeder's facilities - - he had a wood corral about 5' high with metal cattle panels stapled to the top for a total of about 7' high. That held them.

My favorite jumper this year was a short legged long bodied simi that tried to clear 6' portable metal range panels. He could get one or both front legs over - - and then he would kick with his hind legs until he fell back into the working pen. It was funny the first two or three jumps but we had to sell him when he just keep trying...

I think the value of corrals over 5' high is they can hold wild stock until the truck shows up to haul them to town.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

There are basically 2 types of behavior: Instinctual and Learned. Instinctual: Survival, Sexual, Feeding, Maternal. Learned: All other behaviors learned by trial and error and observation of others.

Fence, corral, pen jumpers -----> Hamburger.
Aggressive stock & nut cases -----> Hamburger.

When to make into Hamburger: ASAP.

:cboy: