High Headed Char X Cows

[Stocker Steve]

I bucket feed new cattle to help settle them in. Recently I bought a group of Char X cows - some off whites w/ black nose (angus cross) and some high capacity chocolates w/ a few white marks (simi cross???). They will not come to a bunk after 10 days - - they just stand in a corner, look at me, and watch the white face feast on a bucket of sweet feed. Some will come up to the bunk after I leave. The chocolates are the worst. I shipped one red eyed chocolate x@#ich that tried to take me when we worked them. She ran around and head butted other cows hind legs right up off the ground after she got a bloody nose trying to get through the corral panel and connect with me. :devil2:

Any tips on the other watchers?

 

[novatech]

Patience, and lots of it. Spend as much time as you can with them just sitting. they need to learn to trust you.
This may sound a little corny but you never stare at them. Cattle are animals of prey, so when they are being stared at it is like they are being sized up for a meal.
I have put a few very calm cows in with some that were like that and it seemed to help.

Good luck

 

[dun]

Sit out with them and read outloud. Just don;t read anything that will get an excited tone in your voice. If I have to do it I read the local weekly swap sheet outloud.

 

[HOSS]

I have a char x limi heifer that is somewhat of an enigma. Some days she is as gentle as a lamb and then others she is as wild as a buck deer. On her good days she wants to pester you to death for a handout or an ear scratch. Other days she is flighty and stand-offish. I am not sure which animal will show up each day or which cross in her is making here so moody. She has tons of muscle, good udder and structure so I'll keep her around and see what her first calf looks like. She is bred to a Balancer bull.

 

[Joy of Texas]

I play a radio night and day when I bring new ones homes. Somedays maybe old R&R,country, classical anything but head banging mess.
You yourself need to remain calm around them. They have to learn to trust you. They learn your smells and actions. I have an old shirt that I keep in the shed. I wear everytime I go in the new pens.

 

[cfpinz]

Are you planning to keep them long-term? I've never had much luck taming wild cattle, even if they calm down a good bit once they're put in a sticky situation that head still goes up. We have one or two exceptions to this rule but most have went down the road.

Sit out with them and read outloud. Just don;t read anything that will get an excited tone in your voice. If I have to do it I read the local weekly swap sheet outloud.

Now there's a disturbing image. dun sitting on a five gallon bucket reading the personal ads to his cows. Wonder if Missouri has a Male seeking Sheep section?

 

[Nesikep]

read them the addresses of all the stockyards in the area, if that doesn't work, try the meat packers

I found once they're older than long yearlings, they are never going to be really docile animals, nor predictable.. we've had one cow for 16 years that we bought as a bred heifer, wild as heck.. throws great calves, and isn't mean, but most definitely keeps her distance.

guess you could try to get them hooked on goodies by running them down the chute, and letting them sit in there a while until they eat whatever you have for them... i do that with our calves, and it makes it easier come vaccination/hoof trimming time if they know there's treats at the end of it.

give them fleas then they like pettings more

 

[mnmtranching]

Steve, You should have spotted the high headed spooks before you bought them. They may settle down some but, Save yourself a lot of trouble and possible injury to yourself and others. GET RID OF THEM. Lots of good cows cheap out there. DON'T mess with the bad ones. IMO.

 

[angus9259]

Steve, You should have spotted the high headed spooks before you bought them. They may settle down some but, Save yourself a lot of trouble and possible injury to yourself and others. GET RID OF THEM. Lots of good cows cheap out there. DON'T mess with the bad ones. IMO.

shoulda woulda coulda . . . but I have to agree. I've brought cattle home from 5 different sales this fall and not one was high headed - all came up for grain. There's a lot to work through with new cattle . . . I don't think spookiness has to be one of them.

 

[Nesikep]

another thing to consider is cows learn spookiness easily, but not so much for learning docility.. we've found that just having one spooky calf in the bunch sets them all on edge.. I've lost weeks of progress in "training" calves when one suddenly spooks for no reason and the entire bunch nearly crash into a corner of the corral... THAT is the breaking point of my patience

 

[Stocker Steve]

Steve, You should have spotted the high headed spooks before you bought them. They may settle down some but, Save yourself a lot of trouble and possible injury to yourself and others. GET RID OF THEM. Lots of good cows cheap out there. DON'T mess with the bad ones. IMO.

I can spot problems like this when a single or a small group go through the ring. Have had less success with large groups.
The devil cow was OK in a group but just did not liked to be worked or separated... A real nut job.
I still have two that I would call high headed. The rest are wary. Time for a radio and some more walks.

 

[4CTophand]

Cattle are animals of prey, so when they are being stared at it is like they are being sized up for a meal.

the day char cross cows become an animal of prey lol you need to put down your whiskey bottle and go to church. That is the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard and some animal husbandry would be beneficial to you at some point in your cattle career.

 

[Nesikep]

well, I don't know much about char crosses, but from what I hear they're like Salers..

What I will say is that when calves are curious about who I am, they always sneak behind me, and they love boots... i've learned that there is nothing that can tickle you in more places than a curious calf... I'm not ticklish by nature, but boy I have to restrain myself around them, since of course if I flinch they're gone

 

[novatech]

Cattle are animals of prey, so when they are being stared at it is like they are being sized up for a meal.

the day char cross cows become an animal of prey lol you need to put down your whiskey bottle and go to church. That is the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard and some animal husbandry would be beneficial to you at some point in your cattle career.

Sorry I misstated that. They stem from animals preyed upon. Thanks for the polite correction.
I do however think that you new what I ment.
If you still disagree with what I have corrected I will be glad to explain it to you.

 

[grannysoo]

Cattle are animals of prey, so when they are being stared at it is like they are being sized up for a meal.

the day char cross cows become an animal of prey lol you need to put down your whiskey bottle and go to church. That is the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard and some animal husbandry would be beneficial to you at some point in your cattle career.

Sorry I misstated that. They stem from animals preyed upon. Thanks for the polite correction.
I do however think that you new what I ment.
If you still disagree with what I have corrected I will be glad to explain it to you.

I knew what you meant....

 

[Stocker Steve]

well, I don't know much about char crosses, but from what I hear they're like Salers..

The French are all alike...

I just sold 16 Saler cross bred heifers. They were a bit high headed at first but they settled in fine. I had a stranger help sort and load (my mistake) and I had to tell him to quiet down. A couple had the look and I knew they were getting ready to fly over the corral.

Char cross calves have been great money makers for me. I have not had any Char cows before.
I love my shorthorn/hereford crosses too.

 

[mnmtranching]

Don't believe some of the stuff you hear about Char cows, mine are as gentle and easy handling as any cow anywhere. Born and raised on my ranch. Temperament is a big thing to me, on my heifers if there is doubt they go down the road.
Steve I can tell you for sure. Those wild eyed cows will do their best to kill you once they calve. :shock:

 

[spinandslide]

Novatech, we say the same things with horses....also a prey animal.

I knew what you ment.

 

[dun]

Novatech, we say the same things with horses....also a prey animal.

I knew what you ment.

Everyone knew what he meant!

 

[Frankie]

I bucket feed new cattle to help settle them in. Recently I bought a group of Char X cows - some off whites w/ black nose (angus cross) and some high capacity chocolates w/ a few white marks (simi cross???). They will not come to a bunk after 10 days - - they just stand in a corner, look at me, and watch the white face feast on a bucket of sweet feed. Some will come up to the bunk after I leave. The chocolates are the worst. I shipped one red eyed chocolate x@#ich that tried to take me when we worked them. She ran around and head butted other cows hind legs right up off the ground after she got a bloody nose trying to get through the corral panel and connect with me. :devil2:

Any tips on the other watchers?

You can probably work with them and calm them down. My problem would be their daughters. If you plan to retain any heifers out of them, they might be difficult to handle, too. We have an EXT cow that's been here for years. She was high headed when we brought her home; today she's fine. She's not one that will allow herself to be scratched, but that's ok. She comes to the corral with the others. We weigh her calf at birth with no problem. But some of her calves have been high headed. One daughter is four years old now and she's ok, but until she had her first calf, she was a pain. I was concerned about weighing that first calf; that went fine and she has been easy to deal with ever since.