Galloway raising neighbor

[Dave]

Yesterday morning I was feeding my cows. Kind of feeding light, mostly working out the bugs on my new flake feeder. I was 200-300 feet from the fence between me and the neighbor. All of his cows lined up on the fence bawling at me. I saw his pickup over there this afternoon so I drove over to talk to him. His 35 acres or so look like a golf course. There is a couple of acres of swamp. There is so rank old tough grass there he wants his cows to eat that. He said they are already eating the cattails. He doesn't plan to feed until Christmas. I can see I am going to have to feed where I am out of sight from his cows. He also said he isn't going to wean his calves until they are 10 months old which would be February. Or in other words, lets see how far down we pull a cow down over the winter.

 

[kenny thomas]

Very sad. He should be put on the same diet.

 

[Ky hills]

Don’t know where he got his business model, but it ain’t gonna end well.

 

[Dave]

My wife says I should pay more attention to him. I might learn something. Last spring he had a cow (heifer) that needed to have the calf pulled. Two younger neighbors went and got it done for him. He went on about how these guys really know what they are doing. Yep, they are 37 and 45 years old ranch raised young men who are darn sure cowboys. Then he was going brand and vaccinate. They both said they weren't going anywhere near his place. That it was going to be a zoo. I am sorry that I stopped to talk to him today.

 

[branxchar&charx]

Unfortunately, i have seen this attitude and actually was a "partner" with someone who had this type of mentality. I finally got out of that deal a few months ago. There is no getting through someone like that. They will come up with every excuse not to feed, even in the middle of winter, cold and wet out.
And I agree, said individual should be put on the same diet.

 

[Ky hills]

My wife says I should pay more attention to him. I might learn something. Last spring he had a cow (heifer) that needed to have the calf pulled. Two younger neighbors went and got it done for him. He went on about how these guys really know what they are doing. Yep, they are 37 and 45 years old ranch raised young men who are darn sure cowboys. Then he was going brand and vaccinate. They both said they weren't going anywhere near his place. That it was going to be a zoo. I am sorry that I stopped to talk to him today.

Unfortunately, it seems like that is the kind of situations that are coming into the cattle business more and more.
We join 7 other properties on the place where we live. Of those there are “cattle” on 5 of them. Only 2 are credible working farms. The others are just a continual problem to there neighbors. 1 is down to about 5 cows, never works a calf, never weans or sells a calf until the bulls get big enough to go visit the neighbors. Those cattle are like wild and dangerous zoo animals.
Another farm has 1 cow and 1 bull, same kind of situation, another situation is a neighbor of a neighbor runs cattle and horses in the neighbor’s play farm. Neither party knows anything about cattle but the owner is an expert that talks so big he tells on his self every breath how much he doesn’t know, and the neighbors believe him over us.

 

[Mrcopier]

That will be some really poor cattle and in extreme case dead cattle. Then he’ll come to you and ask what he did wrong

 

[Ky hills]

That will be some really poor cattle and in extreme case dead cattle. Then he'll come to you and ask what he did wrong

Almost guaranteed your right about it ending up with poor or dead cattle, I wouldn’t bet on him coming to Dave or any other cattlemen around there acknowledging he did anything wrong.
Our neighbor that runs a survival of the fittest herd, never does any vaccinations, banding weaning etc, no doubt she loses several cattle and calves a year. We and another neighbor have tried to advise her over the years, and it’s always a response like I just can’t do any of that I don’t have any help, or she excuses it by saying she’s just a country person and doesn’t know about cattle.
The cattle are like dangerous wild animals as she admits to carrying and using a hotshot whenever she goes around them, which likely isn’t much.
Another neighbor situation we have is a yuppie family bought a small farm next to us and a loudmouth goof from the northeast that knows nothing about cattle on the other side of them talked them into letting him pasture his horses and cattle on their pasture. He talks big and they think he is great. He doesn’t even understand the need to keep up fences. And neither he nor the neighbors understand that young weaned heifers can get bred. They think they just magically hold off until the perfect time and it’s all unicorns and lollipops in the world of farming.

 

[farmerjan]

@Ky hills yeah, have met some like that over the years... they magically wait to the right time to get bred and all that... and then they lose a 15 month old heifer with a dead calf hanging out that they didn't understand how she got bred. And the excuses... yeah, just too many of them around nowadays... and they give the farmer that tries to take care of their animals... a bad name because we have concentrated feed lots and all that crap... and yes, we are trying to do this in a financially viable manner...

 

[farmerjan]

@Dave . I just feel sorry for the cattle...

 

[Stonewall Joe]

Yesterday morning I was feeding my cows. Kind of feeding light, mostly working out the bugs on my new flake feeder. I was 200-300 feet from the fence between me and the neighbor. All of his cows lined up on the fence bawling at me. I saw his pickup over there this afternoon so I drove over to talk to him. His 35 acres or so look like a golf course. There is a couple of acres of swamp. There is so rank old tough grass there he wants his cows to eat that. He said they are already eating the cattails. He doesn't plan to feed until Christmas. I can see I am going to have to feed where I am out of sight from his cows. He also said he isn't going to wean his calves until they are 10 months old which would be February. Or in other words, lets see how far down we pull a cow down over the winter.

you may be building a lot of new fence

 

[Dave]

you may be building a lot of new fence

There isn't a lot of my property on this field where his cows can see me feed. And some time the middle of next month we will move all of my cows to the other side of the river. Right now my cows water out of the irrigation ditch. We just run stock water in it at about a quarter capacity. When it starts getting cold we shut it down before it freezes. That is when my cows move.

 

[Nick Wagner]

Cows have pretty good hearing. Don’t have to be within eyesight.

 

[Dave]

Cows have pretty good hearing. Don't have to be within eyesight.

True but they have never been fed with my truck. His field and this field of mine are both long and narrow. If his cows are at the other end of his field they are the better part of half a mile away. My field has several large obstructions sticking out into the field which would block sound. Example this rock the geese are sitting on narrows the field to about 50 feet wide going around the end of it.

 

[gcreekrch]

He sounds like a deciple of the Ranching For Profit fraternity. Buy junk hay, don’t feed too early and bale graze so you can sit at the computer and tell others what a genius you are.

 

[Dave]

He sounds like a deciple of the Ranching For Profit fraternity. Buy junk hay, don't feed too early and bale graze so you can sit at the computer and tell others what a genius you are.

His problem is that he bought this place and cows. But he lives 100 miles away. I fed where his cows can see me this morning. They lined up and made a lot of noise. I only have so much ground in the field. I am not going to feed right up along the fence but I am going to feed my cows. I can only change so much to accommodate him. I figure if his cows tear down the fence to get into my place it is his problem. He can fix the fence. He can get his cows back. If I am feeding his cows it will be $4 a day per head (cows and calves). He told me that his cows will follow his tractor so if they get into my place it will be easy to get them back. I didn't mention that my cows might follow him too.