Ideas to catch "wild" cows

[Silver]

Nothing like stress, physical exhaustion and some frost bit lungs to tame a cow down.

This fact always sticks in my mind regarding the bovine lung: Regarding lung capacity humans have 6 litres, horses can have over 50 litres and cattle have between 12-13 litres.
So a 1,300 lb cow will only have roughly double the lung capacity of a 180lb man.

 

[Warren Allison]

Maybe not nowadays, but up until the early 1970s, my county was open range and there were thousands of 'domestic' cattle and hogs running in the 163,000 acre national forest here. (My family did not run cattle in the govt land and we fenced ours all off which led to frequent cut fences as the river bottom here had better grass and this property had been open to public access for several decades before my father bought it) About once/year, the cattle and hogs were worked and thee owners gathered the stock with dogs and horses and.. ropes and whips. Thick underbrush in most of the East Texas national forests but there was a different kind of 'cowboy' still here back then. Some of the cattle had been in the woods so long they had never seen a man much less a man on horseback. Lots of them had to be roped in the woods and more or less drug to the temporary pine sapling pens the cattlemen put up each year. (our cut pine don't last long in this wet climate and bugs)
Those old cowboys are all dead & gone now as is open range...just a memory from my teenage years.

A lot like it was down where the first cowboys started in the 1600's... Florida. This identical to how the Fla Crackers did it. Most likely, that part of Texas was full of Fla cowboys and cattle that were part of the western expansion in the 17 and 18 hundreds.

 

[Warren Allison]

Not a term I'm familiar with except in regards to snapping turtles..
May have been some LH crosses in the woodpiles but most of the horns went up, not out. Made them easier to rope tho easier to get stuck with too.
You had to go on horseback because the dang ticks were just terrible back then.
(we were raising polled Herefords during that era on open fenced pasture)

Fla. Cracker, Fla Scrub, and Piney Woods cattle all evolved from the same stock as the LH and Corriente, but due to the thick brush in south Ga, Fla and the gulf coast, these too developed long horn that weren't wide, but grew straight up. The terrain you described would have had the same effect, I am guessing.

 

[BC]

Ever heard of someone getting hurt or killed by a cow? One emergency room visit could easily exceed the value of that whole herd.

Yes. I probably know better than most as I have had a shattered femur from being run over in a sorting alley by a spooked yearling. I still have cattle but I have to have help working them now. Still wouldn't just shoot one without being able to get some salvage value out of the animal.

 

[J+ Cattle]

Still wouldn't just shoot one without being able to get some salvage value out of the animal.

Some places have businesses that do on farm slaughter of cattle, their truck will well equipped for skinning and splitting the carcass to get it to hanging halves. If you have any that won't pen or trap you could still get salvage value in this way.

 

[wbvs58]

We have a couple of young fella's here that run cattle on mostly lease country on the escarpment east of here, mostly rough tree country and they each have their team of kelpies. One of their fathers was telling me how Brett bought 160 wild steers and put them out on this 2,000 acre block heavily timbered and steep country and everyone one told him he would never see them again. When it came to getting them out Brett drove in the gate let the dogs out and drove up to the yards, about 1/2 an hour later the steers came out of the scrub with the dogs having them well under control and into the yards. A head count had 159 of them, the one missing was never seen again probably dead.
Anything is possible with a good team of dogs but the key word is a "good team" and Kelpies of course. They tend to be area specific depending on the needs.

Ken

 

[Dave]

The young man who is my closest neighbor has 6 Border Collies. I have watched him ride through a big pasture (1,000+ acres). Three dogs up hill of him and three down hill. When he gets to the other side he has every cow in the country gathered in front of him. These dogs will bite a cow if needed but they do a much better job of herding the critters.

 

[Brute 23]

That only works with cattle who want to cooperate with dogs.

 

[Dave]

That only works with cattle who want to cooperate with dogs.

These dogs will convince a cow to cooperate. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.

 

[WFfarm]

With a perimeter fence that is questionable, men on horses after cattle that have never seen horses will likely end up as free-range cattle. Can you rent shipping containers in your area? 5 containers will make a nice breakout-proof catch pen. Or use snow fence on the inside of corral panels to keep them from going thru or under. He will have to feed only inside a catch pen, entice with grain, and lock them out at night. Or try feeding them inside a stock trailer.

He needs to commit to spending some time around them after feeding so they associate him with food. and maybe a couple of Judas cows added in.

 

[Dusty Britches]

There is a cowboy in our area that is well known for his abilities to gather wild cattle. He is in his late 50's early 60's and will most likely be horseback until the Lord calls him home. He uses coon hounds to find and gather cattle.

 

[RDFF]

I doubt I'm telling all you cattle guys on here anything that you don't already know, but if you understand HOW to work animals, and pressure points, and can read 'em, you can pretty much work them gently regardless. One might have a pressure point of only a foot or so (or the worst ones........... 0............ those that have become "pets" are the most difficult), and another might have a pressure point of a half mile or even more!

True story that's relatable.........I was out working my ground with my articulated 4WD Steiger with a deep ripper on it... 320 acre parcel of open ground between roads. We don't let others hunt our ground. Fellow I knew that seems to do some "road hunting" (drive around the block seeing if they can spot a deer to go after, hoping he'll lay down in a thicket they can surround) chased a nice 8 pt. buck out onto it.......... I was about a half mile from the deer on the far end of the farm when he crossed the road onto our ground, and he was headed for the far end where I was at a pretty good clip, away from the road (and the "road hunters").......... I pulled my ripper up, and headed across the farm into his path... I doubt I ever got within 1/4 mile of him, but I was able to turn him around with my big, slow, clumsy 4WD cutting horse, and get him worked back up toward that road (remember, he WAS aware of the hunters back there when he crossed onto our farm). Walked him right between the hunters that had hidden themselves in the ditch on the far side of the road... (they did give him a pretty wide berth of a couple hundred yards). They missed him, but did catch up to him again a mile over and bagged him.

Point is, deer are pretty rangey critters................. but if you understand "workin' em' gentle", you can accomplish alot.

I doubt that I'd be able to do THAT again!

 

[gcreekrch]

I doubt I'm telling all you cattle guys on here anything that you don't already know, but if you understand HOW to work animals, and pressure points, and can read 'em, you can pretty much work them gently regardless. One might have a pressure point of only a foot or so (or the worst ones........... 0............ those that have become "pets" are the most difficult), and another might have a pressure point of a half mile or even more!

True story that's relatable.........I was out working my ground with my articulated 4WD Steiger with a deep ripper on it... 320 acre parcel of open ground between roads. We don't let others hunt our ground. Fellow I knew that seems to do some "road hunting" (drive around the block seeing if they can spot a deer to go after, hoping he'll lay down in a thicket they can surround) chased a nice 8 pt. buck out onto it.......... I was about a half mile from the deer on the far end of the farm when he crossed the road onto our ground, and he was headed for the far end where I was at a pretty good clip, away from the road (and the "road hunters").......... I pulled my ripper up, and headed across the farm into his path... I doubt I ever got within 1/4 mile of him, but I was able to turn him around with my big, slow, clumsy 4WD cutting horse, and get him worked back up toward that road (remember, he WAS aware of the hunters back there when he crossed onto our farm). Walked him right between the hunters that had hidden themselves in the ditch on the far side of the road... (they did give him a pretty wide berth of a couple hundred yards). They missed him, but did catch up to him again a mile over and bagged him.

Point is, deer are pretty rangey critters................. but if you understand "workin' em' gentle", you can accomplish alot.

I doubt that I'd be able to do THAT again!

One only needs a little more patience and intelligence than the critter you are dealing with.

 

[Brute 23]

That's the biggest problem I see working cattle. People think every cow is the same all the time. They don't read the animal. If you got big bad facilities and a lot of help you can probably get away with it. If you don't... it's a train wreck.

My favorite quote from a guy I use to work for. He said... you know what sound 2 trains make right before they hit?.... I (We) will make her... in a cowboys voice.

 

[Allenw]

One only needs a little more patience and intelligence than the critter you are dealing with.

The 3% rule, you have to be 3% smarter then what your working with to succeed.

 

[Lucky]

Working Cattle on horseback with a really good set of cur dogs is pretty impressive. Cattle naturally want to gather up when danger is present. The dogs will gather them up and circle them. Anything that tries to get out gets convinced the safest place is in that circle. There's always a few balkers but nothing the cowboys can't handle. I've also been with a not so good set of dogs and had things go bad. The dogs that don't make the cut generally have a short life.
When I have to gather our Cows up pretty quick I run them like a dog does on the side x side. They generally herd up and run for the safest pasture.

 

[Dave]

The dogs that don't make the cut generally have a short life.

I have a good friend who when he gets a dog which doesn't make the cut he advertises the dog free to a good home. People will come to look at the dog. It seems they will always ask, what will you do if nobody takes him. He replies well I guess I will have to shoot it. Works every time, they take the dog.

 

[Lucky]

I have a good friend who when he gets a dog which doesn't make the cut he advertises the dog free to a good home. People will come to look at the dog. It seems they will always ask, what will you do if nobody takes him. He replies well I guess I will have to shoot it. Works every time, they take the dog.

That's a good strategy Dave. These guys have been working on improving their dogs for years. I think all they teach them now is get em and get off em. If they won't do that they can't stay. Several years ago there was 4-5 of them in the back end of a stock trailer, they kept wagging their tales and whimpering like they wanted attention. We'll stupid me walked over to pet one and it tried to bite my hand off. They all got a good laugh. They've got a few they rope to catch and put up. Definitely not bred as yard dogs

 

[SBMF 2015]

That's a good strategy Dave. These guys have been working on improving their dogs for years. I think all they teach them now is get em and get off em. If they won't do that they can't stay. Several years ago there was 4-5 of them in the back end of a stock trailer, they kept wagging their tales and whimpering like they wanted attention. We'll stupid me walked over to pet one and it tried to bite my hand off. They all got a good laugh. They've got a few they rope to catch and put up. Definitely not bred as yard dogs

There's a guy around here that goes around catching wild cows. His pretty good, if you don't care what the cow looks like after his dogs are done.
He used to haul stuff he caught to the sale barn. I asked him one day how it was going? " Not worth a dam. We killed two dogs and gored a horse getting these caught "

 

[Lucky]

There's a guy around here that goes around catching wild cows. His pretty good, if you don't care what the cow looks like after his dogs are done.
He used to haul stuff he caught to the sale barn. I asked him one day how it was going? " Not worth a dam. We killed two dogs and gored a horse getting these caught "

I think those guys hope that stuff doesn't happen but just shrug it off as another story to tell when it does. No way I'd do some of the stuff they do.