Horses or ATV's

[wacocowboy]

I've used both and they both serve their purpose. A horse is a lot better in a muddy oat field. If I am at my house just put a sack on the back of the 4wheeler and they follow. If they won't follow I can push with a horse or an ATV. ATV is faster and won't get tired but if you have a goofy one a bull whip on that horse really talks to that cow.

 

[midTN_Brangusman]

My wife drives the utv with feed in the back and I push the stragglers from behind on horseback. Works really well if you have a wild one to give her something to follow.

 

[Jogeephus]

On both the ranches I've been on in Colorado and Montana I'd choose a horse over an ATV if I were working cattle. Especially on the high plains of Colorado. That is some bumpy riding on an ATV.

 

[cowgirl8]

When our kids were young we used horses. It was just easier and we had a ton of bomb proof horses and everyone had tack. Now that the kids are gone, we just get them up with atvs....Basically, the cows know my 4wheeler and i'm the one who moves them from pasture to pasture.. I just time it where they are going in the right direction when we plan to work them. Leave them in one pasture away from the corrals just a tad longer than they like, and I get a stampede to the corral when I open the gate... I do not like getting cows out of sequence, just never works and we struggle to turn them... say, I have pasture A, B, and C... corral is in A, but I just moved them out of A to B. They will want to go to C, and not back to A.... ugh...hate when we get the cows up when I haven't timed it right...

 

[Nesikep]

Neither for me.. Though most of the time they just come when called, a dirt bike is MUCH more nimble than an ATV, accelerates twice as fast, and can follow the cow trails without a problem.

My cows know my bike.. when it's putt putting along, they know they're doing what I want them to.. When I have that bloody idiot that has to zig instead of zag and dodge the gate every other cow went through.. the bike revs up they know I'm pizzed

 

[Brute 23]

I can't stand when people try to push cattle with an atv. I'm not against encouraging them to go one way or another but they ain't no cuttin horse.

One of my favorite pics. Rotating pastures on the Mule with the herd in tow.

I tend to agree with you. I have been in some pastures in big country where a couple guys on atv's skirting hill tops and pushing them to ya horse back wound up saving a lot of horses. I don't mind being horseback all day, but on those big gathers it was always relieving to see a couple four wheelers at the beginning of the day. I knew I wasn't going to have to ride near as many miles. On a drive however, I'm not a fan. Seems like they are always buzzing around and either spooking a colt or pushing on cattle too hard unmothering calves. That and listening to the engine rev all day is annoying too.

You are right. If they know what they are doing and can admit defeat it's handy to have a couple on atvs.

We have some rotten country a long the coast here. Believe it or not the atvs can skip across easier than a horse, some times. They will take a feed truck with a siren thru first and call as many cattle in to the traps as possible. Then they send the chopper with a couple atvs and keep the stragglers moving. Lastly, they will decide what they need to get out with horses and dogs.

Those guys don't feed any hay. It's all liquid feed and feed. Depending on the time of year you can call the majority of cattle off of several thousand acres with a good siren and feed truck if they know what it is.

 

[Boot Jack Bulls]

We mostly work our stock on foot with dogs, but I prefer that they be used to being worked on horse back and followed by/ following a truck or tractor too. Given that the circumstances could change on any given day, I like having options when it comes to moving the cattle around. And sometimes, I just want a good reason to saddle my horse and dance with some cows!!! :cboy:

 

[dun]

I get how that would work in a small pasture, but gathering a section or two that way wouldn't work at all. Growing up day working for the neighbor my brother and I would gather a 10,000 + acre pasture by ourselves and then drive them a couple or three miles. No way to do that with a bucket of feed.

Like I said before though, I don't think there is a right or wrong way, and everybody's situation is different.

What's your stocking rate on that 10,000 acre pasture? That would be 5,000 pairs here, just wondering how many head we are talking about two people working.

The stocking rate is about 40 acres per cow. We were in high mountain desert country. It was usually between 250-300 head depending on the year.

Must be pretty lush high desert. Where we were it was a pair per 300 acres.

 

[TexasBred]

When you get my age if the UTV and a bucket of cubes don't work you wait until tomorrow and try it again. Anything but get on a horse.

 

[Brute 23]

When you get my age if the UTV and a bucket of cubes don't work you wait until tomorrow and try it again. Anything but get on a horse.

I agree. It isn't just an age thing.

 

[customcattle]

What's your stocking rate on that 10,000 acre pasture? That would be 5,000 pairs here, just wondering how many head we are talking about two people working.

The stocking rate is about 40 acres per cow. We were in high mountain desert country. It was usually between 250-300 head depending on the year.

Must be pretty lush high desert. Where we were it was a pair per 300 acres.

Haha yeah I don't know if I would say lush, but it's very high in protein what little there is. I don't know for sure, but have heard it can reach up to 21% protein value. I'm not sure they ever summered any cows there. We would trail them from there up the mountain about 30 miles in three days.

 

[customcattle]

I don't think it's really one or the other.... They serve two totally different purposes IMO. It's like comparing a hammer and a crescent wrench. You can drive a nail with a crescent wrench but it's best done with a hammer. You can loosen a nut with a hammer but it's best done with a crescent wrench.

I guess I'm not seeing where they are so different. In this part of the country you go gather cattle and either gather horseback, or ya do what we call "farmer gather" and gather them with a four wheeler. Either way you're getting around and pushing them where ya want to go.

There are rare occasions when ya see somebody cake them in with the cake truck or a bag of feed. That's usually if they are in a calving lot or something

 

[herofan]

Neither for me.. Though most of the time they just come when called, a dirt bike is MUCH more nimble than an ATV, accelerates twice as fast, and can follow the cow trails without a problem.

I can relate. I have used feed, but they usually just come when I call. I've stood by a gate before when I wanted to rotate pasture with no cows in sight. I start calling, and they usually appear.

I agree about the dirt bike as well. I don't have either now, but I used to have a dirt bike, and I've used ATVs. Personally, I prefer a dirt bike. As you wrote, much more nimble, faster acceleration, they can fit in smaller places, and I just feel like I have more control. I can't, however, think of one person who has a dirt bike these days. I don't know what the draw of an ATV is.

 

[Silver]

We use either or. There are places here you can't get to with a horse, and other places you can't get through with a quad. It seems to me if you can't figure out how to move cattle with one you probably can't figure out how to move them with the other.
As far as calling them or leading them with a bucket, you could get pretty lonely here in the bush calling cattle with your bucket in hand. But that's maybe just here.

 

[Nesikep]

Neither for me.. Though most of the time they just come when called, a dirt bike is MUCH more nimble than an ATV, accelerates twice as fast, and can follow the cow trails without a problem.

I can relate. I have used feed, but they usually just come when I call. I've stood by a gate before when I wanted to rotate pasture with no cows in sight. I start calling, and they usually appear.

I agree about the dirt bike as well. I don't have either now, but I used to have a dirt bike, and I've used ATVs. Personally, I prefer a dirt bike. As you wrote, much more nimble, faster acceleration, they can fit in smaller places, and I just feel like I have more control. I can't, however, think of one person who has a dirt bike these days. I don't know what the draw of an ATV is.

I once had to hop on an ATV having never ridden one to help a fellow herd his horses out of his cows.. I felt like such a bumbling oaf on that thing.. I do have one now, it's nice to carry things on, but that's about it

 

[Dave]

Two things come to mind from the wife who owned a ranch in the high desert on the Oregon/Nevada line. She said that she rode for days some times only to come in to the ranch in the evening being able to say, "I don't know where the cows are but I can tell you where they aren't." She also said that a hired hand on the neighboring ranch said if it is more than a mile away and doesn't move I am calling it a rock.
I worked for a ranch up in the Okanogan that ran 330 pairs on 33,000 acres. Lots of timber, rock, broken ground and steep ground. A horse was the only way to gather cattle. Quads were used at times and in places as a good tool. But when it came time to gather cows it was done horseback. Feed could be used to move them once they were in the hay fields at the ranch but it was of no use when they were in the hills.

 

[cowgirl8]

One of my all time favorite lines in a movie....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y62O3NmhqrA

 

[BK9954]

ATV Because it's low maintenance, gas is cheaper then hay. When my cattle hear my ATV, me calling, or my horn on the truck honking they come in. No need for a horse here. There are times I wish I had one to get into the places my ATV can't do, instead of having to walk it but I would rather walk then have to maintain another animal. Forget who it was but someone here called horses "haywasters". I have used that line ever since. Out here in this terrain an ATV works just fine.

 

[Dave]

I spent this morning helping a friend, his pastor, and pastor's son gather up a small bunch. There was 18 fall pairs and 25 yearling replacement heifers. I got the easy and warm job. I dropped them off and drove the pickup around. It is two miles from the drop off point to the county road where in met them. I have hunted that property. There are two canyons between point A and point B that you aren't driving a quad through. Once at the county road it was another two miles down the road to the property where the corral and loading chute are. There is no way a quad or a grain bucket would work in this situation. But three guys horseback and two good dogs made fairly quick work of it. They were a little cold (25 degrees and there was 3 inches of snow there yesterday) but the heater worked just fine in the pickup.