Neighbor’s bull

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Hpacres440p

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How involved do you get with neighbor herds? We have a very wealthy farmer/cattleman neighbor who has a foreman managing his herd. Well, a week ago, hubs mentions "his bull's hind leg is swollen". It's dark when I get home, but I finally see it Saturday, hind leg dislocated and dangling. I send a message to neighbor and foreman, neighbor says "yeah, foreman mentioned it last night. That was a nice bull". This is already a week after initial injury, most likely.
I'm thinking ok, shoot or ship, packer is open Monday if he's loading him.
Bull is still there, standing to eat, not sure if he's getting to water, and expected hard freeze this week.
He's had 2 or 3 cows down for days before they just die, but the rest of his herd looks good.
Let it be? I'm kinda one of those people who believes in stewardship and being humane, even for a future steak.
I'm the new guy in the area, and very small, so my cred isn't big. (There is also another herd on the main highway that is basically starving, but nothing sees to be done about that either. Different owner).
I should edit to say that there is probably no way to load with the hind leg as it is-it would catch on the trailer floor getting in, which would probably turn into a very bad situation. Is there a thing that euthanasia/shooting invalidates an insurance payment? Trying to figure out a logical reason for "let it be"
 
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sounds like you definitely take better care of your animals than some of your neighbors. congratulations on that. I also know someone close by that has cattle similar to what you are describing. I try to avoid driving past his place when possible. I often think about calling humane society to report him but I know he lives on a well traveled road and law enforcement can see the same thing that the public can. my advice would be to ask sheriff department or human society if they are aware of the conditions on the farms you describe. your local vet may also be a good source of info about conditions on those farms and could give advise better than I. good luck and hope all works out in the future.
 
I agree with others you've done your part anything further should probably be sheriff or animal control. I would caution though that could cause sone bad blood between neighbors if they associated it being from you.
We had a very similar situation sone years back.
A neighboring farm in which the owners were in prison, leaving several horses and cattle unattended and it happened to be in a bad winter. We didn't know originally what was going on but the cattle were getting in on us and another neighbor. When talking with the other neighbor they told us that there was t anybody down there, and that they had already contacted animal control and wanted us to as well because if somebody else reported it to they may take it more seriously. Animal control said they couldn't go on the property and couldn't do anything and recommended going to the sheriffs office. The sheriffs office then said it wasn't their jurisdiction and put it back to animal control. The sheriffs dept. did make contact with a family member of the incarcerated folks, they lived out of state but said they were coming on weekends to care for the animals, which apparently was good enough to satisfy law enforcement responsibilities.
We all thought it still wasn't satisfactory as water could be frozen several days and animals would be without hay or feed most of the time. But that's KY for ya
 
Hpacres440p said:
Sit down and shut up-got it
Click to expand...
We have a law around here that dogs can't be on a chain more than 12 hours a day. There's a dog up the road that is on a chain 24/7/365 for the last decade. I went down to the county shelter to deliver some feral cats I trapped and found out that they euthanize 98% of the animals that come in.
So is the dog on a chain better off than being collected by animal control?
It's tough to know the whole story and sometimes a solution can make things worse.
 
Travlr said:
We have a law around here that dogs can't be on a chain more than 12 hours a day. There's a dog up the road that is on a chain 24/7/365 for the last decade. I went down to the county shelter to deliver some feral cats I trapped and found out that they euthanize 98% of the animals that come in.
So is the dog on a chain better off than being collected by animal control?
It's tough to know the whole story and sometimes a solution can make things worse.
Click to expand...
It really doesn't matter imo. A dog is property. It should be up to the owner.
Should we outlaw hunting dogs, cattle dogs, police dogs etc because they might be hurt. People who concern themselves with others business usually don't have enough of their own. People think anytime you can see ribs and pins on a cow it must be starving.
 
I'm different than the rest of you. I would call whoever and keep calling. That usually works.
Can you and your neighbor trade off calling?
I've reported quite a few through the years for inhumane treatment of animals and usually it's resolved satisfactorily. But it takes more than one call.
I am a rancher, not a town person so none can say I moved to the country from town.

Good luck to you and thank you for caring.
 
callmefence said:
It really doesn't matter imo. A dog is property. It should be up to the owner.
Should we outlaw hunting dogs, cattle dogs, police dogs etc because they might be hurt. People who concern themselves with others business usually don't have enough of their own. People think anytime you can see ribs and pins on a cow it must be starving.
Click to expand...
Ribs and pins on a cow is different than on a herd of 50 with 1/2" grass. You're right, I'm an idiot who just moved to the country and think I know best. The fact that the actual owner didn't know squat about a bull with a leg dangling for a week, on a busy road, until the night before I sent him a message makes me a bad person. I'm also the one who gets to call him when calves are on the road. Guess that would mean I'm interfering too?
Humane treatment should be everyone's business-enough PETA people already think we're all a-holes. Don't need to add more fuel to that fire.
Last I checked, a bullet is still under $1.
 
Travlr said:
We have a law around here that dogs can't be on a chain more than 12 hours a day. There's a dog up the road that is on a chain 24/7/365 for the last decade. I went down to the county shelter to deliver some feral cats I trapped and found out that they euthanize 98% of the animals that come in.
So is the dog on a chain better off than being collected by animal control?
It's tough to know the whole story and sometimes a solution can make things worse.
Click to expand...
Nope-euthanasia would be better for the 24/7/365 chain dog, imo
 
I prefer to keep to keep most things to myself and not meddle in what others are doing, as long as it's not directly affecting me. In the situation of our neighbors the cattle were affecting us because they were frequently getting in our pastures. They were wild and not easily dealt with and on top of being Jerseys the bulls were aggressive.
I hate to see animals suffering or hungry, so you kind of have to draw a line somewhere sometimes.
It's a double edged sword, that works both ways. We live on a state highway with quite a bit of road frontage. Pretty often for passers by to stop in and tell us something's going wrong. Cow's calving, is a frequent reason. Once somebody thought a cow was stuck in the pond it, was getting a drink. We always thank them and go check on things. But it does give you pause to realize that a lot of eyes are on your property and like fence said people see a thin looking cow, and don't consider that she may be old or if a calf looks sick, that you may have already treated it. Things are pretty subjective.
 
Hpacres440p said:
Ribs and pins on a cow is different than on a herd of 50 with 1/2" grass. You're right, I'm an idiot who just moved to the country and think I know best. The fact that the actual owner didn't know squat about a bull with a leg dangling for a week, on a busy road, until the night before I sent him a message makes me a bad person. I'm also the one who gets to call him when calves are on the road. Guess that would mean I'm interfering too?
Humane treatment should be everyone's business-enough PETA people already think we're all a-holes. Don't need to add more fuel to that fire.
Last I checked, a bullet is still under $1.
Click to expand...
I didn't say you were a bad person and I didn't tell you to sit down and shut up.
In fact all I did was answer your question. You can not like my answer but don't twist my words.
Like I said call the sheriff and get back with us.
 
Travlr said:
LOL... Well you could just shoot the bull and send the owner a bill for the cost of the bullet.

It would be interesting to know how that works out.
Click to expand...
Nah. That would get me locked up for "animal cruelty" I'm sure.
Just don't get it. I've had food animals a majority of my life. You treat them right, they feed you. That's all the question was-what reason someone would have to allow continued dysfunction or pain. The insurance question was top of my mind.
 
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