Corraling Purchased Cows?

[Stocker Steve]

We are able to easily corral our stockers and cows we raised.
A few of our purchased cows are very suspicious and like to stand outside and watch the corral. Treats bring in some of them but the real hard cases still stand out there. There are a lot of water puddles this year and they must know something about McDonalds...
I am thinking about building a wing fence to help push them, or setting up a bunk outside the corral to help get them bunk broke.

Any other tips or ideas?

 

[bigbull338]

id try setting up feed troughs outside the corral an get them used to eating there.they may not know what a feed sack is.

 

[cfpinz]

If I can't lead them, the 4wheeler works wonders. Or a truck.

 

[3waycross]

If I can't lead them, the 4wheeler works wonders. Or a truck.

30-06 is also pretty effective when all else fails.

 

[cfpinz]

If I can't lead them, the 4wheeler works wonders. Or a truck.

30-06 is also pretty effective when all else fails.

I will purposely take the rifle out of my truck when we catch cows for that very reason. I've caught myself walking back to the house on more than one occasion to get the rifle when the thought of that $500 or so that stupid cow's worth gets the better of me.

The last angus bull I sold copped an attitude and refused to go in the catch pen. Lacking a 4wheeler on that farm, I sat the gun out of the truck and unhitched the cattle trailer. After I spun him in a 180 with the truck, we came to terms. Seems 1900 lbs of bull is no match for a '96 F350 with a ranchhand bumper.

 

[tripleBfarms]

If I can't lead them, the 4wheeler works wonders. Or a truck.

30-06 is also pretty effective when all else fails.

I will purposely take the rifle out of my truck when we catch cows for that very reason. I've caught myself walking back to the house on more than one occasion to get the rifle when the thought of that $500 or so that stupid cow's worth gets the better of me.

The last angus bull I sold copped an attitude and refused to go in the catch pen. Lacking a 4wheeler on that farm, I sat the gun out of the truck and unhitched the cattle trailer. After I spun him in a 180 with the truck, we came to terms. Seems 1900 lbs of bull is no match for a '96 F350 with a ranchhand bumper.

shotgun from 50 yards works real good. About twice, and he'll go the other way when he sees you.

 

[kenny thomas]

Try feeding them outside the lot. I buy a lot of cattle and find that several of them have never seen feed. They must have had the cpinz method of the 4-wheeler to catch them. Unless they are really nuts a couple days of feed and they will be looking for you just like your other cows.

 

[Howdyjabo]

If you are trying to pen some crazy stuff . Approach from where you want them to go and take them the opposite direction- let them burn off their adrenalin and get to missing the other cattle. Then let them SLIP by you. They think they have the upper hand and run right where you wanted them in the first place-- half of them will go in the pen. You can usually pen the rest after doing that for several days and letting them just stand near the pen and leaving. If you can, leave from the backside of the pasture so the cows are left thinking you are still out there somewhere.
I also agree with the feed trough just outside the pen.

Then you have the idiots left that are going to need to be run down , shot or roped. If you can spot the leader in a bunch of rouges and get her out of the way(ie rope, trank ect) the rest will usually settle down.

 

[backhoeboogie]

When I rotate pastures, they all go through the pen. Throw a dozen new cows in with a herd, they file in. Some of them are running with the front within a couple of months. A couple of the smaller pastures only hold out for two weeks so they get rotated on and off of those sooner.

The alley is 870 feet long. Close both side gates, chute gate, cut gate and one end gate. Honk the horn but go slow so that they bunch up pull down the alley. Drive all the way to the end shut gate. Have someone slip in from behind and close the back gate. Works every time except when a cow just calved and is hanging back with the calf in the old pasture. Also better keep a close watch to ensure a new calf doesn't get left in an old pasture.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I trained one to lead last year with a .280 Rem and a rope. Tasted pretty good. :cboy:

I have tried the four wheelers and pick ups on occasion. Not my favorite. Can work if the cattle know what you want, but hard cases that are new to your operation will just hop the the line fence to get away from the pressure. Then they just keep going...

I will try a bunk outside the corral next.

 

[kickinbull]

This is interesting because today we had a similar deal. We get a call that the neighbors lone long horn heifer is headed towards our place down the road. The rest of the head had been captured and sold about a month ago. She has been running wild. I stopped her in the road thinking she would go back home. Not, she went thru our 5 strand barb fence. Then thru 2 hot wires. The old and new owners showed up, old with feed, new with dart gun. She was in a lot with some of our heifers, so we tried to coax her into a corral next to the barn. Not, she took off headed for the woods. The guy with the dart gun followed her, made his way around her, and took the shot. Luckily he hit her good. she went down twice, but we finally pushed her into the trailer. No shute, one guy on the horns, 3 others pushing. Are all long horns bred to the wild, and skin so tough they don't feel stuff like barb or hot wires?

 

[dun]

Are all long horns bred to the wild, and skin so tough they don't feel stuff like barb or hot wires?

At times any cow may be like that. Year before last I bought 2 registered Herefords, one bred and one nursing a 3 month old calf. The calf went through 2 5 starnd barbwire fiences and a 2 hotwires with the cow right behind her. I don;t think either of them got a scratch. Took 2 weeks for them to come up for the only water available. I chased them down the alley and into the trailer so quick they didn;t even know they were caught. But when they figured it out they sure raised cain in the trailer, and at the salebarn the next morning too.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I used to be pretty fearless on what stock I bought, but I have learned it was not worth fighting with some. Now I usually let them with settle in before I turn them out of the corral to reduce the problems. Then they at least stay in the perimeter fence.
We have quite a few folks that pasture dairy heifers for the summer. There is usually a herd that gets run through a fence and ends up a couple miles away each year. Bears get the blame but who knows.

 

[Jogeephus]

I have Bertha (she's earned a name) and she is a 1600 lb brood cow that is either extremely docile or retarded. Any new animals go in with her and her docile nature seems to calm most of them down fairly quickly. It seems the flighty ones are scared and will go to her for assurance. If they don't, but most do, I cull them whichever way is most practical.

 

[SRBeef]

I had a newly purchased heifer with the same problem yesterday - would not follow the herd into the corral for their sweet feed treat ahead of working them all. I shut the gate on the rest of the herd. This heifer had evidently not developed a taste for the sweet feed yet. I put some in a bucket near the gate I wanted her to go through then left her alone for a bit. she must have smelled the molasses and soon came over and was eating out of the bucket. she backed off when I came near but was soon back at the bucket. I then opened the gate, put the bucket just inside and she then went in with the rest. about 5 or 10 minutes ahead of the vets arrival. She just needed to get a taste of the treat. An alternate method. If this doesn't work after a few tries I bought the wrong animal and she needs to go for a ride in the trailer somewhere else. jmho.

Jim

 

[Fly-guy]

Gee, this sounds a lot like last Saturday! We moved our herd to the winter pasture with out Wild One, her calf and ole #16. I tried being nice, the 4 wheeler and then thought about the artillery a couple of times. When we checked on them this morning they were looking pretty lonely. So what, big deal I wasn't in any mood to ruin my beautiful morning. I'm thinking about the next sale and of course, my rifle.

 

[MosesR]

I unload them in the holding pen with range cubes and/or sweet feed, hay, and water. I like to leave them at least overnight and then give em another treat. Usually at least one good lead cow will be in the bunch and she will figure out that the holding pen equals treat. I also will give them treats in the holding pen for a few days before we want to work em. I had one steer that would hold up most of the little ones outside of the pen and we could never get him to come in. "wild as a peach orchard boar" is what my dad would have called him. We finally started going to the barn first, putting out the range cubes, THEN go find the cattle. They would follow us anywhere if they thought they were getting range cubes. We would then lead them down to the barn and they would all go in "free choice" and get their cubes. Finally one day Leon (yah he earned a name too), went in, a couple of weeks later, Leon found a new home. I think he liked it to because he sure was exited when realized he was in the stock trailer! LOL
BTW, a well place shot from an AR15 won't damage the carcass.

 

[backhoeboogie]

They would follow us anywhere if they thought they were getting range cubes.

Mine too.

The problem is, there are a whole lot of folks feeding cattle every day on this forum. After you've read all these posts a while, you'll understand.

 

[Stocker Steve]

They all corral now. Just need a couple of feet of snow and some sub zero temps :roll:

 

[-SCattle]

A wing off your corral with a wide opening is a good cow catcher because the cattle don't feel trapped. Another way us to bunk break the purchased cattle with hay in the bunk, lots of cattle don't know a feed sack but they'll all go to hay. Mix some feed with the hay then they'll know what's goin on when you go to pen them