One Tough Calf

[dcara]

Was feeding some weaners this morning and noticed this one SimAngus bull calf with his butt firmly against the hot wire along the fence. It has been raining and was still drizzling this morning so he was wet and standing in mud about 10ft from the charger. I figured the wire must have shorted out somewhere so I brushed it with the back of my hand a few feet away from the calf and got the &%^$# knocked out of me. And my feet were dry inside my rubber mud boots. So the wire was not shorted. My jump startled the calves and the one on the fence moved away. I've seen calves walk through pulse type charged fences but never one stand against a continuous charge type. That is one tough little calf.

This same calf caused me problems the first few days during weaning about a month ago by just forcing his way between strands of a 5 strand barbwire fence to get into the adjoining horse pasture. That was before I re-energized the hot wire along the fence. Nearest cows are about 1/2 mile away. It seems he is now used to even the hot wire. Thank goodness he feels at home now or he would probably be going where ever he felt like.

 

[AngusLimoX]

Thank goodness he feels at home now or he would probably be going where ever he felt like.

No respect for fence.
If he was here here he wouldn't be for long.

 

[dun]

Was feeding some weaners this morning and noticed this one SimAngus bull calf with his butt firmly against the hot wire along the fence. It has been raining and was still drizzling this morning so he was wet and standing in mud about 10ft from the charger. I figured the wire must have shorted out somewhere so I brushed it with the back of my hand a few feet away from the calf and got the &%^$# knocked out of me. And my feet were dry inside my rubber mud boots. So the wire was not shorted. My jump startled the calves and the one on the fence moved away. I've seen calves walk through pulse type charged fences but never one stand against a continuous charge type. That is one tough little calf.

This same calf caused me problems the first few days during weaning about a month ago by just forcing his way between strands of a 5 strand barbwire fence to get into the adjoining horse pasture. That was before I re-energized the hot wire along the fence. Nearest cows are about 1/2 mile away. It seems he is now used to even the hot wire. Thank goodness he feels at home now or he would probably be going where ever he felt like.

Had a calf like that a couple of years ago. He walked under they wire and you could hear it snapping and crackling. He seemed to like having his back scratched that way. He went sterling silver at the feeders so I guess maybe the electricity helped him marble or something

 

[dcara]

I think I'll try a bigger charger. This one I use mainly for horses which I think are more sensitive. As long as he is not causing me any trouble yet he gets a pass since I was hoping he would be my 1st SimAngus sire from good lines. But I'm certainly not gonna keep him if he walks through electric fences and/or goes back to his younger egressing ways.

 

[dun]

I think I'll try a bigger charger. This one I use mainly for horses which I think are more sensitive. As long as he is not causing me any trouble yet he gets a pass since I was hoping he would be my 1st SimAngus sire from good lines. But I'm certainly not gonna keep him if he walks through electric fences and/or goes back to his younger egressing ways.

I doubt a hotter charger will do any good if your over 5k volts or so. The one we had liked the 8.9k jolts he was getting

 

[upfrombottom]

I done about the same thing about 4 or 5 years ago. A calf was backed up against the hot wire and I couldn't figure out why it wasn't shocking him. I reached out to pet him on the nose and fire jumped 4inches from his nose to my hand. I jumped and hollered and he nearly ran over me. Took about a month before I could get close to him again.

 

[AngusLimoX]

I think I'll try a bigger charger. This one I use mainly for horses which I think are more sensitive. As long as he is not causing me any trouble yet he gets a pass since I was hoping he would be my 1st SimAngus sire from good lines. But I'm certainly not gonna keep him if he walks through electric fences and/or goes back to his younger egressing ways.

I run 18loules,10k volts, 7 stainless 8 ft ground rods in damp clay and the wires always test out max if there isn't a short. Had a big ole simmy cow walk under a single wire that her calf had snuck under. From 100 yards away I heard the snaps and she bawled all the way. She walked to her calf , herded him under the wire, then walked under the wire again, snappin and bawling as she went.

Great cow so I blamed myself for not having the wire the right height or having 2 wires. A week later the cattle are out in the wrong pasture, around 50 of them, so I herd them back in and repair the spot where they had pushed through the fence. Check the offset hot wire ( Woven fence 9 wire ) and let the cattle back in.

I am standing 20 yards away and ole simmy just walks up to the fence and leans on it, and then just snaps a post and walks over the fence to the other pasture. Simmies calf was weaned early and she grew wheels, not soon enough though.

The problem is, and this is what I don't want to see happen to you Doug, there was a very nice black 1st calf heifer that went almost everywhere with simmy and learned her tricks. She had to go as well, which really hurt.

Can you get this fella somewhere with hot wire backed up by steel rail or something sturdy. Watch and see if he learns to respect the wire and if not - don't cry to us when he causes disaster! :lol2:

 

[dcara]

I think it was one of my neighbors cows that actually taught this calf not to respect the wire. Before we rebuilt the property line fence last October one of his would come over the fence onto my place, go straight to my fenced in hay area a half mile away, go through that fence and help herself to some hay. Some of my calves would follow her. Fortunately, none of the 20 momas I had in that pasture back then picked up that bad habit.

I had a RA bull calf 18 months ago that I was hoping to use as a sire but he ended up moving on at about 10 months old after his third time walking thru a fence in about a week. Not sure where he picked it up cause he or none of the others had ever done it before until I had started supplementing him with feed for about 45 days.

 

[AngusLimoX]

I think it was one of my neighbors cows that actually taught this calf not to respect the wire. Before we rebuilt the property line fence last October one of his would come over the fence onto my place, go straight to my fenced in hay area a half mile away, go through that fence and help herself to some hay. Some of my calves would follow her. Fortunately, none of the 20 momas I had in that pasture back then picked up that bad habit.

I had a RA bull calf 18 months ago that I was hoping to use as a sire but he ended up moving on at about 10 months old after his third time walking thru a fence in about a week. Not sure where he picked it up cause he or none of the others had ever done it before until I had started supplementing him with feed for about 45 days.

If you ever had anything to do with self defence you will have heard the term "goal oriented". Once they learn they can have whatever they want if they ignore the wire and press on, they are lost.
And, like Johnes :lol: , it is very contagious. Good Luck Doug.