Culling a WILD cow

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tpd2021

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I was working my cows through the corral the other night and had a problem. The short version is I a have a wild cow and am trying to figure out what to do with her. If you think you can help and want to read the story, here it is. I know a question without the story line can be hard to answer.

I purchased cattle 3 years ago. I put them out on my land and when I checked on them the next day there was an extra black one with them. None of mine were black so I was positive it had been left by the previous owner. The cow had been out there for a minimum of 3 months by herself and she was very young (8-10 months old). She was very flighty and would run off everytime I went out there. I didn't have the handling facilities to catch her, so I left her.
I got a bull the following year and all of the cows were bred and calved last spring. She was still very flighty and when I came to the pasture she would run off with her calf.
I'm not running a large ranch and I wanted my cows to be calm so I regularly (2-3 times a month) go out with a bucket of alfalfa cubes and feed them. Some of my cows and my bull will eat out om my hand (I know that's not recomended). The stray had calmed down sidnificantly and would even approach within 8 feet and eat the alfalfa when tossed on the ground in front of her. She had her second calf last month and appeared to be much more calm. She wouldn't run off or try to hide it from me.

To the present. I had an outbreak of pink eye and needed to treat the cows and yearling calves. I had been working on a corral for the last 2 years and finally finished it. I got the cattle into the corral with the feed bucket no problem. When I closed the gate she got a crazy look in her eye and started going nuts. She was halfway over a 6 foot panel but I had enough help that she didn't get out. Simply having someone stand by the gate kept her away from it. We finally got her into the squeeze chute and she fought the entire time. She was balling, pulling back with all her might, jumping, and started foaming at the mouth. The other cows were looking at her tying to figure out what was going on. Her pinkeye was pretty advanced so I thought best to treat her and not try to take her to the sale barn. She ended up bucking out of the chute and pulling it over. All of the other cattle, both before and after her, went through the chute with little or no problems. Her yearling heifer was one of the best handling so I'm wondering if it is inherited or not.
Two days after handling the cattle (yesterday) I went to check on them for fear she had died from the stress or injuries. (She had bashed her head against the chute hard enough to open a pretty good gash on her head) I could not find her. Her calf was with the rest of the cattle and appeared to be fine. I drove around the 40 acre pasture on my atv for a half hour trying to find her. (It rolls and has quite a few trees) I went back out an hour later and located her in the far corner hiding amongst some pecan sprouts. The other cattle were at the complete other end of the pasture.

To my options.
-I need some ground beef so I'm thinking about butchering her this fall when her current calf can be weined. I'm concerned over the "dark cutting" or stress she would go through hauling her to the butcher so was thinking about putting her down in the field. (Will the butcher take a dead cow?)
-I would take her to the sale barn, but would anyone buy a cow this crazy? That's assuming I could corral her again.

Please, any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the length, I'd rather give you to much information than not enough.
 
Did you ever try to contact the last owner. Technically she is not your cow to dispose of. Having said that if you can kill her on the farm and grind her yourself i wouldn't lose a minute of sleep over it.
One thing is for sure. If you decide to do that I would shoot her behind the ear when she is looking the other way, or she could end up just like you fear. A dark cutter
 
Be carefull she can run through a fence and take all your cows with her . One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch ..
 
I feel your pain I have one that is doing the exact same thing. As soon as I catch her, she is at the sale barn. Forget the meat, butchers around here cannot take her if she is shot, or have pink eye. I will feed her out in the trailer when I catch her.
 
If you can find someone to kill it on site there is no problem. This is what I'd do. I'd feed it some and get it calm then shoot it on site. When you quarter it you can tell how the steaks will be. If she is bred again, she will be better marbled as well.
 
You can see why the previous owner might have left her behind. Either didn't want her, or couldn't catch her.

Unless she's been abused, it's probably genetics making her that crazy. And her calf could have gotten the gentle bull's genes.

She should not exist. Hopefully you don't give the problem to someone else.
 
See if she will go in the pens. Running her in the trailer may not be as bad as trying to doctor on her. Have all your gates ready to go and the key is once you get cattle like this moving in the right direction stay on their butt and don't stop for any thing. Probably not a bad idea to have a helper just in case.
 
djinwa":1ron84r0 said:
You can see why the previous owner might have left her behind. Either didn't want her, or couldn't catch her.

Unless she's been abused, it's probably genetics making her that crazy. And her calf could have gotten the gentle bull's genes.

She should not exist. Hopefully you don't give the problem to someone else.
I've had some crazy cows in the past, however their calves were very docile. So I don't think it was genetics.
 
She's not yours to treat. Let her settle back down and bunch her up with a few of yours and get them all into a trailer and then tell the salesyard you need a bunch of yours back and give them the name and address of her rightfull owner. You might even be able to load her by herself as the ones that are wild but not really mean are usually pretty easy to load as they look for any way to get away from you and an open trailer is a good option.
I hauled in three slicks today that I could have just as well said were mine as I bought the place fair and square but I know good and well they match the previous owners cattle so they're NOT MINE. Unless he told you he didn't want her she belongs to him.
 
If she's not your cow, that's a whole separate issue. Once past that, we had a cow for 2 yrs. that was just a witch to work with. She never came after us -- she may have been only bluffing -- but she'd put her head down, and tear up the dirt, with her tail cocked up in the air anytime you got to close or wanted to move her where she didn't want to go, or get near her calf. And she didn't calve last year. She is much prettier in white paper packages than dealing with her on a daily basis. Our custom butcher guy DOES come out here, put them down where they stand, dress them out, and into a cooled box truck to his shop.
 
she became yours when the other guy left her. grinders are not that expensive if you can't find a butcher to grind her. just shoot her from a distance that doesn't get her excited. i have done it before without feeding any grain
 
jerry27150":1kar3dph said:
she became yours when the other guy left her. grinders are not that expensive if you can't find a butcher to grind her. just shoot her from a distance that doesn't get her excited. i have done it before without feeding any grain


Not in Texas again this is a case of you had better know your state's livestock laws.
You know she is not your's and it Texas the only person who can remove an estray is the Sheriff.
Destroying or selling an estray makes you civil and criminal liable.

Sec. 142.003. DISCOVERY OF ESTRAY; NOTICE. (a) If an estray, without being herded with other livestock, roams about the property of a person without that person's permission or roams about public property, the owner of the private property or the custodian of the public property, as applicable, shall, as soon as reasonably possible, report the presence of the estray to the sheriff of the county in which the estray is discovered.(b) After receiving a report under Subsection (a) of this section that an estray has been discovered on private property, the sheriff or the sheriff's designee shall notify the owner, if known, that the estray's location has been reported.(c) After receiving a report under Subsection (a) of this section that an estray has been discovered on public property, the sheriff or the sheriff's designee shall notify the owner, if known, that the estray's location has been reported, except that if the sheriff or his designee determines that the estray is dangerous to the public, he may immediately impound the estray without notifying the owner. If the owner does not immediately remove the estray, the sheriff or the sheriff's designee shall proceed with the impoundment process prescribed by Section 142.009 of this code.
 
On the subject of ownership of this cow. Those people saying that she belongs to the former property owner are right. But I also believe that in most states you are entitled to compensation for feeding an animal that is on your property. What is a fair value for that? A dollar a day? That is $365 a year. We know that it cost more than that per year to feed a cow. This cow has been there for three years. At a dollar a day the board bill for this cow is more than she is probably worth.

If there is farm slaughter available in your area I would call them. If not I would slaughter her myself. Life is way too short to deal with crazy cattle.
 
Three years and two calves later I don't think I'd be concerned about the rightful owner at this point. I'm surprised she doesn't have the whole herd half crazy. I would have sold her or shot her by now. Can't tolerate a wild cow.

fitz
 
Thank you for all the responses.

As far as ownership, I contacted both the previous renter and the gentleman beside me that runs cattle. Neither claimed ownership. My thought is they didn't want the responsibility of trying to catch it and remove it. Dave, you are correct, in Oklahoma the land owner is entitled to payment for keeping the animal.
Fitz, I was worried she would make my herd crazy as well. My father-in-law was telling me to put her down 3 years ago when no one would claim her.

I've decided to eat her. I'll have to call around to the local butchers and find out the processing requirements. I figured as a cull cow I would need to grind the entire cow, steaks and all, to keep the meat decent. I don't want to sacrifice the quality of the majority of the meat from the cow for a few mediocre steaks.
 
I am calling BullSh$t on those that believe the cow belongs to the previous owner. When the last guy signed the deed over unless there was an agreement that stated specifically something left behind was his and would be removed then the cow belongs to you. No different than leaving something behind in the house or in the barn.

The Texas law that was provided does not pertain to property or animals left behind. It simply states that if my cows get out the neighbor can't claim them as his just because they stopped on his property.
 
tmlonghorns":38zwfeqd said:
I am calling BullSh$t on those that believe the cow belongs to the previous owner. When the last guy signed the deed over unless there was an agreement that stated specifically something left behind was his and would be removed then the cow belongs to you. No different than leaving something behind in the house or in the barn.

The Texas law that was provided does not pertain to property or animals left behind. It simply states that if my cows get out the neighbor can't claim them as his just because they stopped on his property.

How do you know the cow didn't jump the fence and land in there. If you don't buy a cow or if it's not given to you then how do you suppose to own it. Luck?

Besides I would be more inclined to look at the the opposite. The land was deeded. the cow wasn't!
 
3waycross":2773jesd said:
tmlonghorns":2773jesd said:
I am calling BullSh$t on those that believe the cow belongs to the previous owner. When the last guy signed the deed over unless there was an agreement that stated specifically something left behind was his and would be removed then the cow belongs to you. No different than leaving something behind in the house or in the barn.

The Texas law that was provided does not pertain to property or animals left behind. It simply states that if my cows get out the neighbor can't claim them as his just because they stopped on his property.

How do you know the cow didn't jump the fence and land in there. If you don't buy a cow or if it's not given to you then how do you suppose to own it. Luck?

Besides I would be more inclined to look at the the opposite. The land was deeded. the cow wasn't!


3 Way I agree with you. This get's back to your states law's , in my state that cow would never be your's under the law.
There are stiff penalities that go with shooting or selling an estray. Your only legal recourse here is to have the sheriff impound the animal. The cow is the kinda of livestock that should have went to the salebarn a long time ago. The previous owner left him a POS to deal with. Again I would make sure I followed my states laws for dealing with an estray.
 

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