Found them

[wbvs58]

Well, 4 of them. I've had a group of 9 of my best cows go missing for a few weeks. My cows at this time of year are in my bush block which covers over 600 acres up until mid June and they start calving in July at home. It is fairly thick scrub so you can't go in and do a head count but will usually see them after 3-4 days but can never be certain that any are missing but after not seeing them for about 3 weeks you become suspicious. I have one boundary with the property to the south where the fence is pretty ordinary and access to it is difficult, hilly rocky heavily timbered so this was the first place I looked and sure enough a big blow had pushed several trees over onto the fence. The neighbours property has a heavily timbered steep mountain paddock of about 200 acres with a few isolated clearings which adjoins a flatter area with broken down fences of about another 200 acres. Both areas have deep gullies that have been mined for alluvial tin. You can't see across the block as there is a lot of regrowth. The owners husband died about 6 years ago and most of the access tracks are washed out or blocked by huge fallen trees. I have been going in here for the past week looking for my cows but there has not been any sign of them or where they have been so it has been very frustrating looking. Well today I came across 4 of them so at least I know the area they are working in. I had a blue half drum which I left there and had a 15 litre bucket of feed for them. My strategy is to go in daily with feed until I get them all coming to the feed and then I will try leading them out. It is about 1 km to the gate between the properties so I'm hoping things go to plan. It is a big relief just to have located them.

Ken

 

[wbvs58]

Well today they vanished again. I left feed out for them so be interesting to see if it is cleaned up tomorrow.

Ken

 

[Son of Butch]

hmm... what would Crocodile Dundee do?

 

[Brute 23]

I take it they are not cake broke to a horn or siren or any thing? Then yes, drive through there and feed them. Holler or buy a siren so they associate that sound to feed. That's how I gather cattle, too.

When the cows are young we feed them in open pastures or pens and we honk, holler, or use a siren before we feed them. Once they become cows and are in the big pastures thats the only way to get them up out of the brush.

Are there quite a few water holes in there or just a couple? Game cameras could be a good tool help locate them, especially if you have cell service.

 

[wbvs58]

hmm... what would Crocodile Dundee do?

Use his Blackfella mate to send his drone out to locate them.

Ken

 

[wbvs58]

I take it they are not cake broke to a horn or siren or any thing? Then yes, drive through there and feed them. Holler or buy a siren so they associate that sound to feed. That's how I gather cattle, too.

When the cows are young we feed them in open pastures or pens and we honk, holler, or use a siren before we feed them. Once they become cows and are in the big pastures thats the only way to get them up out of the brush.

Are there quite a few water holes in there or just a couple? Game cameras could be a good tool help locate them, especially if you have cell service.

They are well trained to come to feed when I call them. They also know the sound of my UTV which is fairly noisy and associate it with feed. The heifers I keep each year are weaned early autumn and put up the back in another scrubby paddock but I don't put them there until they are addicted to the white feed bucket and will follow the UTV anywhere, They get a small feed each morning to keep them going forward and for a roll call to make sure they are all there so when they join the cow herd they know the routine with the UTV.
Yes there are plenty of waterholes, all old dredge holes from tin mining and this is part of the problem as the creek/gully that runs along the length of the property prevents access with the UTV to the most likely areas except for one track across a levy bank that has two big trees across it blocking the way.
Anyhow good news. The feed I left there was untouched but I managed to walk across this gully today and found them a fair bit over at the back of a clearing. Once I ascertained that they were all there ( my math was out, there were 10 not 9) I called them, I had a small bucket in my hand and they followed me back to the UTV and the blue feed drum where they cleaned up the feed then we packed up and they followed me back home, got some more feed once they got through my gate and then I led them down the track to a young oats crop where I let them in for a bit to get them away from that dodgy fence.

Ken

 

[Brute 23]

Nice. Glad you found them.

Sounds like you just need some thing a little louder. Checkout the sirens.

 

[Son of Butch]

Found them! Alright let's slaughter one of your fattened calves to celebrate! When do we eat?

 

[Katpau]

When we bought this place, we had perimeter fences like yours. We did more than a few hunts that sound exactly like your story. Unfortunately when they would escape from the northeast corner, it was impossible to convince them to follow us all the way back up through the hole in the fence. On our side it was a more gentle rise to the top, then a steep drop down a mile long switchback trail that went through a thick woods to the bottom, where a large pond was located. I am so thankful that our cattle will come to a call. If they didn't, catching them and sorting them out of the neighbors cattle would be near impossible. It would take a lot of time and a heck of a good team of horses and riders to maneuver and gather them in that environment. We could call them down to a road at the bottom, into some panels and load them there.

We have since put new fencing around most of the perimeter. Age and injurys caught up to us before we finished some of the northeast border, but we have fences below that keep them from that line. I have been attempting to find a crew willing to build the last mile and a half of fence so we could get access to another 100 acres. There is about 20-30 acres of open grazing on top plus the woods, and I would love to have access. The neighboring ranch's cattle get in and graze it from time to time. They eventually drop down to our interior fence and we end up helping catch them.

 

[wbvs58]

When we bought this place, we had perimeter fences like yours. We did more than a few hunts that sound exactly like your story. Unfortunately when they would escape from the northeast corner, it was impossible to convince them to follow us all the way back up through the hole in the fence. On our side it was a more gentle rise to the top, then a steep drop down a mile long switchback trail that went through a thick woods to the bottom, where a large pond was located. I am so thankful that our cattle will come to a call. If they didn't, catching them and sorting them out of the neighbors cattle would be near impossible. It would take a lot of time and a heck of a good team of horses and riders to maneuver and gather them in that environment. We could call them down to a road at the bottom, into some panels and load them there.

We have since put new fencing around most of the perimeter. Age and injurys caught up to us before we finished some of the northeast border, but we have fences below that keep them from that line. I have been attempting to find a crew willing to build the last mile and a half of fence so we could get access to another 100 acres. There is about 20-30 acres of open grazing on top plus the woods, and I would love to have access. The neighboring ranch's cattle get in and graze it from time to time. They eventually drop down to our interior fence and we end up helping catch them.

It is handy having those bits out the back that don't get used very often, when things get tough it gives another option to use.

Ken