We had our bred heifers and last season heifers with their calves(although separated) in the corrals treating for flies. We ran the 60 head of cows into the corral alleyway to get them in line for the tub and then chute.
This group is flighty. Last spring, they pushed through a fence and before we knew it, they were 5 miles away. Someone called and asked if our cows were out, there were some on highway 37 that looked like ours. I laughed and said, that couldn't be our cows as I turned to look in their pasture.. I was like, SH!+.... We got them all back, but this group had done this kind of thing several times. They get out, they take off....
Anywho, we had them in the alleyway, its about 15 ft wide and 60 ft long, approx.. I saw one push into the group making her way to the other end once they were all locked in the alley. That set off something in the rest that turned and did the same. By the time they could go no further, there were some on the ground, I could hear wheezing, heads were stuck through the fence, legs poking out everywhere. It was darn scary how packed tight they were and the ones in the back just kept pushing.. I know a few of them have knots on their heads where we whacked them till they backed off. Luckily we didn't lose any, but it was seconds away from some croaking. We got a few of them separated and closed a gate(there are 3 gates in the alleyway) and the bigger group did it again. I looked over at them and saw no one on the ground so we ignored them. It seemed worse when we went over there..
The rest of the time we had to be very careful any time we got in there to run some into the tub. These are not crazy cattle. I just don't know what or why they seem to be prone to being flighty.... My FIL one time got caught in that situation and luckily got high enough on the fence to keep from getting crushed. THis was maybe 20 years ago and a different set of corrals, but since, this is the first time its happened.. Really thinking about retiring and planting our pasture in trees.
This group is flighty. Last spring, they pushed through a fence and before we knew it, they were 5 miles away. Someone called and asked if our cows were out, there were some on highway 37 that looked like ours. I laughed and said, that couldn't be our cows as I turned to look in their pasture.. I was like, SH!+.... We got them all back, but this group had done this kind of thing several times. They get out, they take off....
Anywho, we had them in the alleyway, its about 15 ft wide and 60 ft long, approx.. I saw one push into the group making her way to the other end once they were all locked in the alley. That set off something in the rest that turned and did the same. By the time they could go no further, there were some on the ground, I could hear wheezing, heads were stuck through the fence, legs poking out everywhere. It was darn scary how packed tight they were and the ones in the back just kept pushing.. I know a few of them have knots on their heads where we whacked them till they backed off. Luckily we didn't lose any, but it was seconds away from some croaking. We got a few of them separated and closed a gate(there are 3 gates in the alleyway) and the bigger group did it again. I looked over at them and saw no one on the ground so we ignored them. It seemed worse when we went over there..
The rest of the time we had to be very careful any time we got in there to run some into the tub. These are not crazy cattle. I just don't know what or why they seem to be prone to being flighty.... My FIL one time got caught in that situation and luckily got high enough on the fence to keep from getting crushed. THis was maybe 20 years ago and a different set of corrals, but since, this is the first time its happened.. Really thinking about retiring and planting our pasture in trees.
