lively hereford bull

Help Support CattleToday:

angus9259":2eiggi7e said:
CPL":2eiggi7e said:
As some of you know, I go to school 5 hours away from where my cows are at. If I were to market every cow that ran around like that when they saw me I wouldn't have any cows.

Even some of my best disposition cows will react the same way as the bull in the first video when I take them to a new pasture or pen, or put out a round bale.


Holy Moses . . . you need some new cows! Prices are up . . . . take em all to market so you have no cows . . . take the check to the bank and buy when the prices fall. Financial wizardry and a lot better cows.

My cows are fine, but they do get excited easily.

We dropped my cows off at a good friends to get bred this past summer. In a large pasture with 30 + or - other cows, I hollered once and they ran to the edge of the fence.

I think I'll keep my cows, but I won't mistake excitement/ boredom for bad temperament.
 
Just looking at how you acted in the last video shows that you were scared when he came close. Animals can sense fear wether they are being aggressive or playing.
I have a commercial brahman cow like this, she would alway get close but I would back away because she acted a fool when i first got her, she jumped a gate and two fences leaving her baby in the pen. She is about 6 now and i corrected her behavior at about 4. I stopped acting scared and she stopped coming towards me.

It has been about 2 years now and she is fine. When she gets close I do not move or act scared i simply wave my hand and she knows to get back. DO not act scared.

And from him either being a show bull or just halter broke he should know what you hitting him means. Show cows and bulls learn discipline and should know that them being hit or a yanking of a halter means that they are doing something wrong. Do not act scared of him if he gits to close hit him in the nose. For instance when he put his head down and you stepped back wou should have yelled NO and hit him on the nose.

As far as getting rid of the bull I am not saying the others are right or wrong. Its funny how people will get rid of a bull that is a little to friendly. But when they decide to get a pasture bull and he is penned up he acts a fool and you can't even get into a pen with him, then people regret selling their other bull because he is too gentle.
Bad things happen, but not every gentle bull has killed somebody.

And another suggestion, if he acts fine in the pasture and you just do not feel comfortable with him in the pen while you are putting hay down , can't you just put him outside (through the door that shows in the video) while you clean the pen?

And you all say get a pasture bull, what do you thing is going to happen when he has to stay in the same pen when he is not breeding cows?

Take a show cow or bull and pen them up and they will act fine, now take a pasture cow or bull and pen them up and see after a couple of hours especially with the bull that you can not enter the pen with them because they are mad.
 
BRAFORDMAN":3lpv18o4 said:
And you all say get a pasture bull, what do you thing is going to happen when he has to stay in the same pen when he is not breeding cows?

Take a show cow or bull and pen them up and they will act fine, now take a pasture cow or bull and pen them up and see after a couple of hours especially with the bull that you can not enter the pen with them because they are mad.

I sell pasture bulls - not show - nothing is haltered. If a fella can't pen him up when he wants I'll give his money back. Just because a bull is a pasture bull sure don't mean he's going to go bonkers when you pen him up.

What we don't do is scratch the tops of heads. We don't scratch heads on club calves either. Trains them to push back against you - for fun or otherwise.
 
Bottom line is, you can run him with your cows and most likely nothing will ever happen . . . but your odds that it will have gone up. True - you don't hear about a lot of dead cattlemen - but you do hear of some. Are you willing to take the risk?
 
sporder said:
when i brought this bull from a very reputable breeder he was lead out on the halter stood for 10 minutes then was lead around the yard several times. again he was haltered while we looked at other possible bulls ( at the time i posted pics of the possible bulls and most of you on here also picked this bull ). we came back to him lead him round again and then put him back in shed. no sign at all that he may be like this. so my question is now, if i get rid of this bull how can i ensure that it wont happen again.

Why don't you drop a dime and call the breeder. I would be curious to what he has to say about your predicament. Maybe he can come over and show you how to handle this bull ;) Another suggestion would be that if you continue to stick your arms thru the poles on the gate.........your going to end up with some broken bones one day. I wouldn't do that.........thanks for your post. I am learning a lot from it. Peace.
 
how is it a risk? it only becomes a risk if i chose to enter the pen. despite what people may think i do know the boundarys. the video i showed first is extreme but as i have said its better to know extreme rather than not know. you have only seen the videos i have posted, i see him every day and would not put my life at risk. i have made the mistake of having the cows/heifers in veiw but still he has never tried to jump the gate. would you also advise the rodeo bull breeders to get rid of their bulls because they jump around a bit.
 
Kingfisher":1g0yhz3p said:
Why don't you drop a dime and call the breeder. I would be curious to what he has to say about your predicament.
i have contacted the breeder about this a he told me that they had no problems with him or his sire. he advised that i should teach him who is boss ( as others have ). he is respectful when tied so he suggested that i leave the halter on him for a week tied behind his head and see if there is any change.
 
Only you know your cattle.

Would yall get rid of every cow or bull that got mad when penned.

This bull is gentle and not aggressive.
Getting rid of a gentle bull to me just defeats the purpose of putting docility into your herd.

I have a brangus cow that comes to me and likes to be scratched, she raises good gentle calves. I have brahman like that as well. Why would i sell them?

What do you tell someone that asks you at the salebarn why you are selling your bull or cow?
I am selling him because he or she is too gentle.<--- that does not make sense

Something that everyone should breed for is docility and many complain about cows or bulls that get mad, but yet they sell the ones that are too gentle.
 
What do you tell someone that asks you at the salebarn why you are selling your bull or cow?
I am selling them because they are too gentle.<--- that does not make sense
 
The bull was never taught to turn away. When i wean calves i teach them to turn away just take a stick and thump him on the nose hard enough to make him turn his hind end to you and move away. This one may be to old to do that with but he wasn't when you got him. That bull needs more room and less feed. Pen your heifers and run him with the cows. I got a little pooch that will shift his gears for him out in the pasture. That red dog of mine can get you plenty of room.
 
KNERSIE":20r35j9p said:
I could only watch the first few seconds before it froze, but what I see is a playfull bull who is bored being penned up. Sure he can still hurt you badly in the process, but an agressive bull looks very different from this.

that was exactly what i saw. i still dont tolerate activity like that toward me (or the small nuts). you might be able to get him straightened out with a 2x4, but it isnt as sure a fix as the McDonalds method.
 
Put a ring in his nose and whack it once or twice when he gets too close for comfort, worked on a balancer bull I had one time :clap:
 
OK, I watched all 3 videos. For what its worth here's my take on what is going on. And what you might do about it too.

I don't see an aggressive bull, yet, he is just playing at this point. Not much different than a well fed feedlot animal, or any other young animal that is fed fairly well and feeling it's oats. The only problem I see with that, is that he sees you as a herd/playmate. Now, if you don't do something to change how he views you soon, you will have a big problem. We had an aggressive bull a number of years back, he was only a problem for me, DH didn't have any problems with him. He was bad from the day we unloaded him as a yearling. I couldn't even enter the pen with him, I'd walk up to it to feed him and he would be pawing the ground and blowing snot. I spent one winter throwing feed OVER the fence, he bred cows for us 1 season and then he went to town. I don't see any of the real aggressive signs in these videos.

As a few others have suggested, you need to carry a stick, and be prepared to use it. A good stiff swat to his nose when he comes running at you should be about all it takes. I noticed in the 3rd video that you had a fork and used it to block him when he came running up. That's fine, but a good smack to his nose with the fork when he came running would have done a lot more to gain his respect. It might take you a few times before he really gets the idea that you are not a playmate. You need to do this NOW, he's only going to get older and bossier. Quit scratching him. Treat him like a bull and not a puppy dog. To top it off scratching him on the head is just adding to the whole situation. It has been mentioned before, scratching him on the head just encourages him to be pushy.

Also, cut the barley out of his ration. I don't really see why you would be feeding it to him, he's in really good condition as it is, and good quality hay or grass should really be all he needs. The barley is part of your problem, the extra energy has to go somewhere and it adds to his playfulness. He also likes the stuff and associates you with it. So when he sees you he gets excited and shows it.

I would also give him a companion, whether it is a cow or a steer, whatever. I know you said you did, and it didn't help, but cattle are herd animals and he will be happier with a friend.

And one other suggestion is to give him room. I can't tell how big his pen is, and it certainly might be big enough, but just having enough room to move around in might help too.
 
BRAFORDMAN":1z44ke98 said:
Only you know your cattle.

Would yall get rid of every cow or bull that got mad when penned.

This bull is gentle and not aggressive.
Getting rid of a gentle bull to me just defeats the purpose of putting docility into your herd.

I have a brangus cow that comes to me and likes to be scratched, she raises good gentle calves. I have brahman like that as well. Why would i sell them?

What do you tell someone that asks you at the salebarn why you are selling your bull or cow?
I am selling him because he or she is too gentle.<--- that does not make sense

Something that everyone should breed for is docility and many complain about cows or bulls that get mad, but yet they sell the ones that are too gentle.

First off, yeah, I would get rid of any cow or bull that got mad just because it was penned. If you have a quiet herd of cows, you shouldn't have too many that get real upset when they are penned, even if they are penned alone.

The thing with this bull is that he ISN'T 'mad'. Being penned alone isn't what the problem is here. The problem is lack of respect. And if he isn't/can't be taught to respect humans awfully soon, that lack of respect could easily turn into a really serious problem.

No-one is suggesting that quiet cows/bulls need to be sold. Just that either you gain the respect, or that you get rid of the animal before it injures or kills someone.
 
sporder":2a4ek2kf said:
how is it a risk? it only becomes a risk if i chose to enter the pen. despite what people may think i do know the boundarys. the video i showed first is extreme but as i have said its better to know extreme rather than not know. you have only seen the videos i have posted, i see him every day and would not put my life at risk. i have made the mistake of having the cows/heifers in veiw but still he has never tried to jump the gate. would you also advise the rodeo bull breeders to get rid of their bulls because they jump around a bit.
wow i cant believe u r comparing your bull to a rodeo bull.actually the rodeo guys will get rid of a bull if they DO NOT jump around.maybe u can sale him to a rodeo outfit.
 
This whole thread bothers me. Disposition is a trait just like BW, WW, YW, REA, Milk, color, or any other trait that we use to select the cattle that we use. I do not believe in single trait selection for disposition, just like I don't believe in it for any other trait. Cattle are not pets, and were never intended for that purpose...build good facilities and use common sense and even the craziest of animals can be handled. Now for all of you that like to jump to extremes, I am not advocating keeping dangerous animals around at the expense of yourself or the operation, but I do believe that we have gotten a little soft in our determination of what "good" disposition means.

To this specific situation, turn the bull out and treat him like a bull, not a pet. There is NO disposition problem with this bull. As has been said many times quit messing with him and whack him if needed. However, if you will turn this bull into a bigger pen with a companion and leave him alone, there will be no problem.
 
I watched all your videos on the Bull...I think he is just playing, being a Hereford I bet he has not got a mean bone in his body...With that said , because of his size ( when grown) he is still quite dangerous is his play...Show Bulls or Animals that are petirized are always dangers to me...At 30 , I would be not so afarid of him as now that I am nearly twice that age...My steers that I am feeding off quite often are very frisky , they are not mean ,but still dangerous....
 
Like Knersie and a few others I just see a bull playing. I've had plenty of steers and bulls do that. It's true that it could cause accidental injury but the answer isn't to shoot him or ship him off, you just need to instil some respect. As Jeanne said how you're reacting is a game to him. And also as Randi mentioned the head scratching is provoking. Whilst I'm reluctant to recommend anything I've always just taken in a piece of poly pipe with me into pens like that. If they get too boisterous a well placed tap on the nose usually worked for me. But once again, I'm reluctant to recommend because that won't always stop them. This seems to be one of those situations where you have something 'too quiet'.
 

Latest posts

Top