Stubborn Calves

[MudHog]

I have 4 calves that I plan to sell early next year. I built a creep gate for my pen and been feeding sweet feed in the pen. Two of the calves go in and out easily. The other two seem to have no interest what so ever. One of the two is very skittish and the other just doesn't have interest. I saw the skittish one one time in the pen, but quickly came out once she saw me.

I feed range cubes to my herd and even tried range cubes at the gate. Still only the same two would enter the pen. I have never caused a commotion with the two that enter, so not like they know the pen is a bad thing.

Any ideas?

 

[M5farm]

Keep the feed pan full and leave them alone they will figure it out.

 

[MudHog]

Thanks M5. I have been feeding about a month now. I haven't kept the pan full, but I wait for them to get low and then put a new bag of feed in the pan. Below is my setup (I've since added a lower horizontal bar 12" from the top). You can see the creep panel and get the idea of the pen. The pen is attached to my barn and the barn acts as one side of the pen. From inside the barn I can put out hay into the pen through an opening in the barn wall which is under the lean that you see in the background. The two cattle gates are used to squeeze the calves into the trailer which is backed up to the opening. There is concrete just inside the pen and I have even had a pan of feed right there for a couple weeks. The same two calves would eat it. I'll keep feeding them, but one seems content eating hay and the other is just to skittish.

 

[M5farm]

i had a similar set up up till a about a month ago. And had a couple that never would come in a eat. I bought a calf creep feeder and keep it full and I have seen all of them eating out of it. 9 calves are eating about 300# a week.

 

[MudHog]

Do you find that helped getting them in the pen? I'm not so much trying to feed, I'm more trying to get them penned up.

 

[M5farm]

The creep feeder does help as I set it up outside the pen to get them used to it and then moved in the pen and they all come in and eat. If your wanting to catch them I would suggest they have to come in the pen to eat hay, creep, water.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Any ideas?

Yep. You have way too much money on your hands. Feeding that much would cut deep in to my profit. No creep. Cubes once in a while to keep 'em coming to the pen.

 

[skyhightree1]

I creep feed all year to all my calves and I will tell you to not cut into the profits as bad I use jumpstart and mix with a commodity blend which cost about 4 bucks a bag and the jumpstart I pay 8 per bag both bags are 50 lbs and I do a 50-50 mix

Edit I have some calves I bought to fatten and sell in the spring that are really skittish and when they see me in there calf pen they dont come near me or go way around me but when its time to sell I will not have issues with catching them in there cause soon as I leave they haul arse in there to eat out of the barrel I regulate there intake of the creep feed.

 

[MudHog]

Well, $50, 2 dogs, three guys on horse and the calf going through 4 fences, she is back in the pasture. Guys that came help today called her "flighty". The dogs worked very well, but fence couldn't keep her in. Had a rope around her, but before the guy could get it tight, she got it off.

Will give a couple more tries without the horses and dogs, but she just might end up in the freezer.

 

[Alan]

Late to the party, but I think one of the biggest mistakes made with cattle/calves is getting too involved. Dump the feed, walk away, watch from a distance if needed ..... But walk away and don't push. Just wait some days and see what happens. Pushing = busted fence and flight cattle.

 

[MudHog]

Late to the party, but I think one of the biggest mistakes made with cattle/calves is getting too involved. Dump the feed, walk away, watch from a distance if needed ..... But walk away and don't push. Just wait some days and see what happens. Pushing = busted fence and flight cattle.

Been trying that, but it wasn't working. Our first try today was getting the herd in my Fall garden to have them in a smaller area. Soon as we brought the trailer to the fence and started tying up panels, she started getting itchy. We had one more rope to tie on the panels and she made her way through the barbed wire fence. Buddy and I tried to walk her back to the other cows and she would get to the fence, but would never go back in (even through the fence) or around to the gate. That's when I had him call some guys he knows with some dogs. When the dogs got there she jumped and cleared the fence into the garden. We had her where we needed her, but couldn't get her into the trailer. Then she got out again with dogs following her, but the dogs couldn't stop her. She jumped through my fence and my neighbors fence in one stride. Then I walked and pushed her back through the fence into our pasture and left her alone.

She has to have others with her to be somewhat calm. I've had her three times under my barn with corral panels and she manged to get out each time. That was almost a month ago with the three times being over the course of 4 weeks. The only time she eats any feed is when I put range cubes out and all of them are eating then.


When my dad and cousin comes help, I'm the one telling them to move slow. Myself, I am far from a pusher, but I'm at my whits end with this heifer and is why I called the guys with the dogs.

 

[Nesikep]

If you got room in the freezer it might be the easiest way to get rid of her... without giving yourself more fences to fix

Friend of mine 'inherited' some very 'flighty' simmentals.. I think it was a cow-calf pair, and they the end of the summer, they were bucket trained.. he sold them, and wasn't there to help load up.. well... A bunch of dumbasses were there and got all excited, broke half his fences chasing them.. not a nice surprise when he got home... so he told them to go sit in their truck and watch.. he went out with his bucket of feed, and they came running, right onto the trailer. He told them "Now go straight to the sale barn with these two".. they didn't listen.. they put them out on the range, no chance in heck to get them home in the fall. In the middle of winter, they were starved, 3" of snow, they went out on sleds and finally chased them until they gave up, hogtied them, and dragged them out on the hood of an old chevy truck.
I'd have taken them out quartered!

Perhaps if you made a really SOLID pen that's a bit bigger that they wouldn't be as scared to go into, you could at least lock them up in there and work them from there. Water is a great motivator.. Let them go without salt for a week, then give them salt and no water except where you want them to be.. Takes some time but it does work.. if you don't have too many puddles around