Had a round with a bull today.

[CowboyRam]

I got a bull that we got around 14 or 16 mo. He was real mellow and would just kind of meander up to you for feed. At some point he decided he would start coming at a dead run up to me for feed. It was very intimidating. The first time I jumped at him and hollered. He stopped and walked up. The next time he did it again I swung the bucket and hollered. He stopped and walked up. I started taking my fiberglass stick with me and when we would run I would smack the ground ground in front of me with it. He started running about that far and stopping, then walking up.

He's 7 years old and will still do it if you pen him some times. It's just his personality.

I love getting people to feed him.

I dated a woman who had a bull kind of like that. She would be out irrigating and he would run up to her. The first time she was ready to smack him with the shovel, he stopped, she scratched him on the hind quarters with the shovel and he was a happy bull. Everything when she was out irrigating he would run up wanting his butt scratched. She said the first time it scared the bejeebers out of her.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

How about a hotshot? Would it deter him?

Oh Hell No!

 

[MurraysMutts]

Oh Hell No!

Gotta know ur bull!
Had a in your pocket type part chi bull for a half a season that had no boundaries. NOT AGGRESSIVE. I had my hot stick with me. He come a running up and always wanted to be wayyy to close. I just held the charged stick out and he touched it right on the nose. He NEVER got in my space again!



When we first starting up I had 2 cows and a borrowed Dexter bull. 9 yr old.
Gentle gentle bull. But come cookie time, he was always at a dead run!
Wife came with to feed em one time. She wasn't worried about the 2 cows running, she knew they would slow down as they got closer.

But Ol Pedro! Nope! Running all the way. Bellering and hollering like a nest of hornets was on his arse! She said, I don't think he's gonna stop as I just stood there. She was real uneasy and ready to run.....
He got within sniffing distance before he just came to a roaring halt and put his head down to eat.

I guess he did look a lil intimidating with those 9 yr old length dexter horns

 

[Ebenezer]

Sold one this year that was always calm around me but decided that he violently hated women and strangers. He left some nice daughters but was not worth the risk of another year.

 

[Lucky]

I suspect it's the weather. My horse wheeled around and tried to half heartly double barrel me a few days ago.

 

[SBMF 2015]

I don't want pets and won't tolerate aggressive. When we were really rolling we kept 8-12 bulls around depending on time of year. They all had rings. You smack that ring with a stick and you'll have their attention.
Speaking of sorting sticks. I use a whip or a fairly light stick sorting everything except bulls. When we start working bulls I carry a 5/8" fiberglass fence post with a baseball bat grip. There's no second guessing who's in charge when I step into the lot.

 

[Hogfarmer10]

I'm sure some would think it as excessive, but I've always got a good, heavy claw hammer hanging on me when I work with cattle- mine or someone else's. I can grip the head and use the handle to get their attention, or I can hold it traditionally and aim for the nose if it comes down to it. I've definitely turned quite a few new mommas around that way when I'm tagging/banding newborns. But please don't think that I go around hitting on my animals. It's always just been for self defense.

 

[MurraysMutts]

I much prefer a gentl-er bull.

I gathered Big Sexy with 8 mamas in a free standing panel pen. Let cows out a couple at a time. Followed the bull around the pen a time a two and into the 10x12ft small pen that the trailer was backed up to.
Got in THAT pen WITH the bull and threw an empty feed sack in the trailer. He went to sniff it and walked behind him to close the trailer door.

That's the kind of bull I like.

Only better handling bull I had was halter broke and would trailer on a halter. Sure wish he was as much a worker as he was easy to move. Bygones...


Edited to add...
Big Sexy weighed right at 1900lbs this year. Guess he's about leveled out on the gain

 

[Caustic Burno]

Our current bulls are home raised pretty well docile and easy going, but one a coming 3 year old commercial Angus has always been a bit unpredictable. This morning it was still below freezing and at the time was around 20 degrees. Had let the group of cows and calves to eat and that bull is in with that group. Normally he doesn't cause much commotion, but this time he whipped around towards me bellering and holding his tongue out. I was in a position where I could get a cow between us and give me a break to get back to the barn. I got a fiberglass sorting stick, and went back out, to get him on out thinking he would go on. It turned into a bluff fest. He was whirling around constantly and taking a few steps toward me raising and lowering his head, tongue out and bellering still.
I was able to back him out, but not very happy if that continues or escalates.
My wife wondered if it was weather related someway. The other bulls one a year older and another a year younger in a different field acted the very same calm and unconcerned way as they always do,

He's a bull, never trust one.
I always have a 357 on my hip working cattle.
I am too old to run well and my jump is broken.
I will shoot one in a heartbeat! Had a Hereford at four lost his mind and went to McDonalds, wanted to fight everything on this place.

 

[MurraysMutts]

He's a bull, never trust one.
I always have a 357 on my hip working cattle.
I am too old to run well and my jump is broken.
I will shoot one in a heartbeat! Had a Hereford at four lost his mind and went to McDonalds, wanted to fight everything on this place.

Elmer Keith developed the 44mag and one specific requirement was that load in 44 special cases at the time was the only round at the time to reliably penetrate a bulls skull

 

[Travlr]

You're right that little stick wouldn't do anything, We've always culled pretty heavy on disposition, on generally speaking our cattle are easy to work around and I get too relaxed, even though I preach against that, after today and really having to bluff him, he's going.

I think you're making the right decision.

Head down, back arched, showing you his side, and head shaking side to side with tongue hanging out is not play, IMO.

I had a young bull that showed no signs of aggression at all but one day he did the testosterone display with me. Big guy, and later I found out he made great calves... but within a week of him threatening me the local field kill and dress guy was gutting him to haul in to the nearest processor. I hadn't fed him out like usual but he ate good anyways.

 

[SBMF 2015]

The sale barn I worked for was a repurposed hemp factory from wwII. There was a 100yd long 12' wide solid block wall alley. We called it Bull Alley. There was only one big mrkt bull buyer that came and all his bulls ended up in bull alley as they were sold. They would get all the fight out before they got loaded on a semi. Sometimes 5 sometimes 25 just depended on the sale.
You would go to the North end and open the gate then walk around to the south end step in to bull alley and close the gate behind you. Then see if you had the stones to push a pen of unhappy all worked up big bulls 100yds out the other end. Forget drugs you want to talk about an adrenaline rush! No one ever got hurt, but when you got half way down you were 100% committed to be bigger and badder than them.

 

[coachg]

Had a young Hereford bull get me 4-5 years ago . Friend had let my son borrow an older black limousine bull and ask him to keep the Hereford till he needed him . We were changing bulls so I caught and hauled the bigger bull but left the Hereford over night in the lot . Next morning I backed up to the gate crawled over the fence bare handed and was met with a charge . He tossed me pretty high and I hit with a thud . I figured he was going to stomp me but he turned on my helper who was caught off guard too . I climbed the fence got my show stick and went after him . I guess he had got it out of his system and jumped on the trailer. Called the owner and told him what happened and I'd be happy to haul him to the sale but he said put him in my pasture, which I did . I don't get near a bull without something in my hand besides air !

 

[Nesikep]

First I'll say that if you felt it was aggressive, I would never argue that and recommend shipping him

However, with the bulls I had, I've had many where the tongue hanging out slobbery grunts and sidestrutting just meant "Scratch my butt"




My old boy Hector was really docile, but one time he got me a little worried was after I had fixed a prolapsed cow, those smells on my boots he did NOT like, and I was pretty quick to jump on the quad and get out of there. There was one time when I had a calf get stuck in a bush for the better part of a day, it was in real bad shape when I got it out, Hector stood over that calf to protect it, and I kinda had to "ask permission" to take care of the calf
Once while changing pastures, there was a steep hill before the gate, I opened the gate and called them, I was 50 ft past the open gate when Hector came down that hill at full tilt, straight at me, swinging his butt in the air.. about 10 ft away from me he turned, put the brakes on and started eating.. His momma was a big round cow, she came tearing down a hill at feeding time once, ground was a bit muddy, she left some 15 ft skid marks when she hit the binders!
He was 2550 lbs when I sold him, Loaded up just nicely

He was questioning this stepping into the trailer (He's been on a few rides before), turns out sprtizing him with fly spray was just disagreeable enough he walked on.


My friend who had Hector before me had a bull called d!ckhead (@MurraysMutts one of yours maybe?) He was a longhorn, he'd "hide" behind an old dumptruck and peek out watching for the wife walking through the field, then go running up to her just to see her make a mad dash and jump through the fence

 

[Caustic Burno]

Elmer Keith developed the 44mag and one specific requirement was that load in 44 special cases at the time was the only round at the time to reliably penetrate a bulls skull

Today's 357 will penetrate just fine a 158 grain JSP works well. It has been bovine tested here.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

I have to stop, Anyone who does not realize a bull can be Big , Fast and Deadly could be in for the last surprise of their life.
It happens almost every year somewhere in the country.

 

[gcreekrch]

I do use a hotshot on aggressive bulls, when I go in a pen of 30 or 40 bulls I want them to know I am the dominant one and they need to be gentlemen. Breaking up fights with a quad works quite well if you are paying attention and aren't a little chickenshart.
Animals know and can feel if you are intimidated by them, don't ever let it show.
I have had two bulls at different times knock a horse out from under me. They came out of the brush with a well aimed ten lb rock to the forehead.
Only one little red Angus bull has kept me on the fence in recent years. It took 20 minutes with a two handed pipe to get him to turn up the alley and on a trailer for town.
Respect from them is all you need to ask or demand as case may be.

 

[Logan52]

Two years ago I had a 3 year old Sim-Angus that I had bought as a yearling. He never really gave me any trouble but I never really trusted him. Something about the way he held his head and the look in his eye was just enough to make me wonder. We also had a White Christmas that year and a cold spell that was not a rival to this one, but bad enough. I went out one frosty morning and he was in a small lot, beating the fire out of a Ritchie waterer. He actually caused the outer covering to crack.
Well, I entered the lot with a stick and yelled to drive him out an open gate on the opposite side of the lot. He turned toward me to challenge me and continued to toss his head. He began to advance toward me and I barely made it over a gate.
He did calm back down and I did not sell him immediately, but he was on the trailer the next trip I took anything to town. I was 68 then and too old to have a bull like that on the place.
I once had a charolais bull that when he turned 3 began to sort of snap and attack rolls of hay on brisk cold mornings. He never really challenged me but you sometimes wondered if he was ready to. This gentleman also took a trip to town after that years breeding season.

 

[libertygarden]

Mine has gotten into the nasty habit of knocking the feed bucket right out of my hands. He'll lay siege to me inside the barn until I figure a way to distract him to get to the troughs with the buckets. That's why I asked about a hotshot earlier. My previous dog would not let any cow or bull get near me, but she died in February and the dog I have today is afraid of the cows.

 

[50/50Farms]

Poor bull. We raise them, pamper them, basically make them pets then get upset when they are too tame. If your going to make them pets at least take the time to train them to be mannerly.

Juking around and taking chances with a bull is a young man's game. I'll do it, being young, but I understand KyHills not wanting to because I believe he's a little bit older than you or me. I'm younger still than you. We get hurt, it's a few weeks or maybe a month or so. An older man gets hurt, it's can be a few months if not more. I fractured part of my leg in 2018 or thereabouts in a motorcycle accident and was turkey hunting within a month.