I see train wreck coming

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You can turn a blind eye and act like it's not your business but if we don't police our own, some one else will.
So why don't you form a ranchers version of a HOA. Then you can have your neighbors tell you what color of cows you can have. When to sell . What type of fence you can have. What color your tractor can be . Give me a break.
Next thing you are going to tell me is that communism is a good thing 🙄
 
So why don't you form a ranchers version of a HOA. Then you can have your neighbors tell you what color of cows you can have. When to sell . What type of fence you can have. What color your tractor can be . Give me a break.
Next thing you are going to tell me is that communism is a good thing 🙄
I think you misunderstood what was said.
 
I think you misunderstood what was said.
Understand exactly what was said. Twist it any way you want.
But excuses "to police our own" is exactly how situations like those described by Tex452 happen. "Do gooders " who have no clue what is really happening report situations when someone is trying to improve the quality of life of an animal. Or worse make the situation worse by stepping in when they shouldn't and make things worse.
Has been a rash of "do gooders" "rescuing " guard dogs leaving sheep herds and other animals vulnerable to predators, by doing the "right thing "or
At least what they thought was best!🙄
 
So why don't you form a ranchers version of a HOA. Then you can have your neighbors tell you what color of cows you can have. When to sell . What type of fence you can have. What color your tractor can be . Give me a break.
Next thing you are going to tell me is that communism is a good thing 🙄
Do... what? You want the right to be able to starve your cows?
 
 
I get what @Brute 23 is saying, these people that mistreat animals, starve them and do harmful things to the environment with no care make us all look bad and is a lot of what is causing the push back against agriculture. I'd rather be called out by another farmer than someone that has no idea about agriculture.
Example: I buy some poor cows from the barn, the rest of my cows are in good shape with the exception of the just bought ones, now any farmer understands this situation but someone from the city sees it and will automatically assume I'm the one that starved those cows. I'd rather be policed by people who understand.
Say you roll up and I have a pasture full of poor cows and you know I've owned them for a long time then I should be called out for not providing what they need. BTW, when I buy cows that are poor, I put them where people can't drive by and see them.
 
Most everyone in the cattle business takes care of their cattle, there are a few that for what ever reason don't.
Most of us understand that they don't need to be rolling fat to be healthy and depending on time of year, weather conditions etc their can be quite a range of body conditions and still be in good health.
I recently bought some thin cows that I had the intention of feeding up to better shape, I've done that off and on for years.
Currently have an 11 year old registered cow that has bad feet it's been an issue her whole life but early on didn't cause any problems, with age it's gotten more pronounced and she has progressed to where it's hard to get around in winter. She stayed in decent shape last year but this year has not so we have her and her calf in a lot where she is close to food and water. She is gaining some weight back and plan is to sell her soon.
We may have something newly purchased or old that looks less than good but we try to improve them or get rid of them. Most of us understand there is no money in undernourished cattle.
Where the problem comes in is generally with new comers like the subject of the OP that don't really understand the whole range of things that can happen like more experienced cattle people do.
That said we are often thrown for a loop by things but we, I think I speak for most of us when I say we try to stay on top of things fast and try to stop a potential problem before it goes very far. A new person will not always understand the subtle clues to illness, or may not realize certain nutritional needs.
There are now lots of do gooders out there that see something they think shouldn't be. We live in a state road with about a mile road frontage.
Fairly common event for a passer by to come up the drive and tell us a cow is calving, once somebody said a cow was stuck in the pond.
We always go check out whatever they say, sometimes it's helpful, other times it's a false alarm. We always thank the the people and tell them we'll check on it.
It does get kind of frustrating because we live in an area where if cattle get out we're the first place people think of that the cattle are from, so we get a lot of that. We have and do sometimes have something get out, like everybody else, but more often than not it's somebody else's. We have some young new neighbors that have been having cattle out. They are trying and will learn but it takes some time and learning from experience. We've helped them and are willing to continue to help them.
A few years ago we had a bad situation where some other neighbors were put in prison for drugs and their cattle and horses were getting hungry in the middle of a bad winter. Both us and another neighbor were having those cattle get in on us. We found out then what was going on and in the process found out that both the local animal shelter nor the sheriff department had any jurisdiction over the matter and kept putting the issue back to the other. The sheriffs dept did look into it and said that the folks had a family member coming from another state in the weekend to take care of the cattle. That apparently was enough to satisfy, but we wondered about the animals getting water during the extensive cold weather that was at the time and it wasn't addressing the fact that the cattle were getting out onto our and the neighbors property regularly logically due to being hungry and thirsty.
There is a fine line between getting involved or meddling.
If another landowner is being affected by the management or lack there of then it's a valid concern. There is a fine line between being concerned about a situation and addressing it vs meddling.
Reality is though that a bad situation can become your business if a nearby situation is being managed poorly.
In the case of the op, I believe @Dave has valid concerns about the new neighbor, and it certainly looks like other folks in the area are going to have issues with the new neighbor over water. That person is likely to find out in a hurry that he is going to have to work with other people over the water usage. When somebody comes in to an area knowing it all it can be problem for the folks around that have to deal with the new comer.
 
Most non-cattle people base their view of a healthy cow on pictures they see or at a county fair of show cows.
There's a huge difference between a cow/calf operation cow and market steers ready to go on feed.

A good functional, easy doer momma, that breeds back every time and has good feet and good udder might show a good bit of pin and hook and even some ribs but that's just the way it is. The proof is in the calf she raises each year, not what She looks like out in the grass. Explaining that to a city feller is hard to do tho.

Dairy cattle almost always look scrawny compared to beef breeds and I'm glad i never had to listen to someone talking about holsteins or jerseys looking bad.

And, sometimes, no matter how well nourished they are, how well they're dewormed and kept in mineral, we've all had that one that was just thinner than all the rest, but she did her job and made ya $$$ with her calves.

Here's an epiphany for townies... There are lots of humans the same way. Eat like a horse, perfectly healthy in all regards but scrawney as a bean pole.
 
The neighbor next to my brothers place has some really poor cattle, too many cattle and not enough ground to run what he has, my brother couldn't take it anymore and dumped a roll of hay across the fence for them, the problem is the guy that owns the cows is not a good guy, if one was to die he would surely blame my brothers hay for killing it/them.
On the bright side I noticed the bad neighbor did have some hay hauled in.
We buy lots of poor animals, but they are taken care of as soon as they are unloaded.
 
Well there hasn't been a train wreck so far. At least one that I can see. But that man is either a lot braver than me or luckier. I was down to that end looking at the irrigation ditch with a project we have in mind for next week. Looked out into his pasture. There is at least 5 new calves out there. So the heifers are calving.
 
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