Lost Cow

[bgm]

I just got back in from helping a freind. He went to the sale barn last weekend and bought a 6 year old P3 cow. She stayed in the pasture the remainder of that day and that night. It got out of the fence on the following day. I have walked the fence and can't find where it got out. There's good 4ft field fence and a strand of barbed over it. Only two places are the barbed down, but the field fence is up good and tight.

Today he calls me and has her spotted about a mile and half from his place in a soybean field. We got up there and he spots her in the edge of the timber. She runs away, FAST. I never saw her. We go up to the top of the hill where she headed, he thought she went into a corn field, I thought she went into an open pasture across the road. I went down there and found tracks. Came up behind her about 20 feet and heard her jump up and run, couldn't see anything, just heard her running hard. Found hoof prints along the edge of the milo field where she ran. Can't get close enough to do anything reasonable with her, and want to help him.

I'm out of ideas, how does he (we) get her pushed someplace to contain her? Or can she be coaxed in with feed? He's ready to catch her with a hunk of lead. I'm not ready to give up quite yet. I still think she'll try and bunch up with other stock. Further I don't think she'll have any trouble getting in with them cause fences don't seem to pose much problems for her.

What are everyones thoughts on getting her back? I told him once she's on the trailer again, don't unload her till he gets to the sale barn. What do you think?

Thanks

 

[Beefy]

Heres waht you do. call the previous owner, find out where he lives. tell him or her P3 is on her way. when she gets there, pay him whatever you bought her for to keep her.

 

[Anonymous]

I just got back in from helping a freind. He went to the sale barn last weekend and bought a 6 year old P3 cow. She stayed in the pasture the remainder of that day and that night. It got out of the fence on the following day. I have walked the fence and can't find where it got out. There's good 4ft field fence and a strand of barbed over it. Only two places are the barbed down, but the field fence is up good and tight.

Today he calls me and has her spotted about a mile and half from his place in a soybean field. We got up there and he spots he in the edge of the timber. She runs away, FAST. I never saw her. We go up to the top of the hill where she headed, he thought she went into a corn field, I thought she went into an open pasture across the road. I went down there and found tracks. Came up behind her about 20 feet and heard her jump up and run, couldn't see anything, just heard her running hard. Found hoof prints along the edge of the milo field where she ran. Can't get close enough to do anything reasonable with her, and want to help him.

I'm out of ideas, how does he (we) get her pushed someplace to contain her? Or can she be coaxed in with feed? He's ready to catch her with a hunk of lead. I'm not ready to give up quite yet. I still think she'll try and bunch up with other stock. Further I don't think she'll have any trouble getting in with them cause fences don't seem to pose much problems for her.

What are everyones thoughts on getting her back? I told him once she's on the trailer again, don't unload her till he gets to the sale barn. What do you think?

Thanks

I have this T-shirt.

If this cow was placed in a field by her self - sounds like it - this is a common mistake. She nneded to be penned in a solid pen for a week - to learn this is her new home.

She is a runner and will be for as long as it takes her to find a herd and move in - or as long as it takes for you to catch her - or until you shoot her.

There is no sense trying to trap her with feed unless you have her contained in a small area. Does not sound like it.

Got anyone who can ride and rope? Chase her hard and run her into the ground - rope her and load her.

Chase her hard in open territory with a 4 wheeler - you can exhaust them - makes a single runner easier to catch if no one is available with a rope.

As for jumping into a field with other stock - not likely - she may want in but it just never seems to work out.

You got my comments and suggestions - I am sure their are more - tranq gun and so on. She was probably at the sale because she is a fence crawler.

Personally if the above did not work - well, lead is the solution.

Depends on how hard you want to work.

Hope you catch her - before she gets hit by a car or what ever. Let us know how it goes.

Bez'

 

[msscamp]

Heres waht you do. call the previous owner, find out where he lives. tell him or her P3 is on her way. when she gets there, pay him whatever you bought her for to keep her.

Sounds like a plan! What is 'field fence' and why is it only 4' tall? Why would you bring a cow home to new surroundings and turn her loose in a pasture by herself (it sounds like)? I'm missing something.

 

[bgm]

Field fence, 4 inch square woven fencing. like I said, in all but two places it has barbed over the top. It should have been corrected. It's not my cow, it not my fence. I'm just trying to help a freind. I keep mine put up till they settle from excitement of being moved, he thought his pasture was ok. He's learning the hard way, I'm just trying to help. It was in with a hiefer and a steer.

 

[msscamp]

I'm sorry, bgm. Even though my response appears to be an attack on you, I truly did not intend it to be. I offer my sincere apologies.

 

[Beefy]

easy missy.

 

[HatCreekFan]

This story seems oddly familiar....sort of...

We had bought a neighbor's group of cows, probably 15 or so - and decided to hire someone to haul them for us. Figured that it'd be better than hauling 4-5 at a time, and worrying about calves and so forth. Well, for some reason, my darling husband decided that the four-strand barbed wire (in the main pasture)was sufficient to turn the cows out in, since they were all fairly tame. The man, upon unloading them, used a hot shot, which we have never used, and those cattle went nuts. The entire group of them came out of that truck, running, and didn't stop for a few hours. Finally, over the course of a week or so, we got them all in except for one Wild Cow. She had the senses and leaping ability of a deer. Well, she always stayed near her herdmates, just on the wrong side of the fence. Thank goodness we have virtually no neighbors. She wintered in a corn field. Needless to say she had plenty of condition.

Finally, SIX MONTHS LATER, the spouse saw here up by the fence and the other cows. He cut the barbed wire and laid it back, thinking she would just walk through. Danged if that ol' thing didn't go up to the top of the hill, and walk right through an open gate... right into the pasture.

Well, we swore we would sell her, and then she calved. Out of that group of cows we had bought, she had the best calf every time. She calmed down quite a bit after getting back into the herd. We never crowded her, giving her plenty of space. Her behaviour certainly changed after a few years of 'chill out time'.

Advice for you? Have no idea. We toyed with the lead poisoning idea, tranq. gun, running, but she just ended up wanting to get back in with her herdmates. Maybe your friend's lost cow will marry up with some cows somewhere, sometime soon, and you'll get to pen her.

 

[jkwilson]

I watched a 2000+ pound bull jump a 52 inch woven wire with barb on top fence from a standing start. Most amazing thing I ever saw a bovine do.
Standard protocol for us with a new animal on the place is a week in a wooden pen with the rest of the herd allowed to come up to the outside. I think this cuts way down on the chasing by the rest of the herd. Feed the new one(s) twice a day, even if it's just a couple of handfulls, while feeding the rest outside at the same time. Turn them out in the morning so they have plenty of time to learn the fence before dark and get all of the fighting done too.
Since we don't have horses, the way I've caught wild ones that got out is to push them into a bean field that is good and flat with a four-wheeler. Once you have a good flat run, run right at them. You can usually get them into a blind panic run, and they'll go straight. Then you pull up behind them and throw about a 100' hay rope around their neck and head for a tree. The wife comes flying up with the trailer and we get more ropes through the trailer sides and we scream and cuss and get kicked and finally drag the SOB into the trailer. Somewhere in the process you decide if the rope chokes her, then it's just TDB. Leave it in the trailer until sale day, and sit in the stands drinking your coffee when she sells.

 

[Rod]

We've got a few old timers here with horses and dogs, they can round up anything you lose but it'll cost you. You might check and see if there's anyone like that in your area. Best of luck.

 

[Susie David]

Seems like everyone knows why she was at the sale in the first place....we don't keep non team players either...DMc
Good luck...a good man with a rope on a horse sounds like the best catch...

 

[Campground Cattle]

First good stock dog, good four wheeler or horse if you can ride and rope.
Second when Stock dog bays the crazy thing shoot it with a large bore 44 or 45-70.
Third take rope off saddle horn place on hateful beast that is in neighbors crops and drag off for the buzzards.
Fourth lesson learned for not pening a new cow in a secure pen priceless.

 

[bgm]

The saga of this stupid cow is closer to being over. In the past few weeks, he's called me several times and we have looked for it after he's spotted it. After I drive the 20 minutes over to his place, I've never been able to find the thing. He has seen it and the calf it had in the mean time several times. Saturday afternoon it got a whole lot tamer after he put a 30-06 through it's ear. It's now a nice looking cow, neatly wrapped in brown paper.

It had been living in a corn field just about 400 yards from a herd of Herefords. They are behind a two strand electric fence that's no more than 2 1/2 ft tall. She never went in there. Guess Angus cattle like Herefords about as well as the Angus guys on this board

So all that's left is catching the calf. I'll be back up there tonight trying to do that. In the mean time, he's got goats in his pasture and the big billy jumps in and out at will. Fence is still in the same shape. Those who can not or will not learn from their mistakes ARE destined to repeat them.

Thanks for everyones advice.

Bryan

 

[sidney411]

How big is the calf?

 

[bgm]

The calf is somewhere between 2 - 3 1/2 weeks old. I can not understand his casual attitude toward catching it immediately.
It's kind of like, I'll get it when I get around to it. I know if he doesn't catch it soon, it'll be in big trouble. He keeps telling me he hears something bawling, but it doesn't sound small enough for a calf. But then how many cattle are there in that corn field bawling?

Don't ask me to explain it's just a freind I work with. Hopefully I"ll get it tonight.

 

[TheBullLady]

It's amazing some of the interesting things you end up doing just trying to be nice, isn't it? Hope he at least shared the steaks with you!