Texan
Well-known member
All of the abuse that the new guys and hobby guys take from time to time got me to thinking. Believe it or not, in spite of what Caustic might want you to think, you new guys don't have the market cornered on doing stupid stuff. All of us have done something stupid. Anybody that claims otherwise is nothing but a liar.
So I thought it might be fun for some of us 'experienced' cattlemen to 'fess up to those dumb antics and stupid mistakes involving cattle. This is intended to be fun, but should also serve as a learning experience for everyone. And just maybe it'll give you new guys something to laugh at the rest of us about. Fair enough?
I think everybody with at least 10 or 15 years of experience should participate. I won't call any names or challenge anyone specifically, but if you new guys don't see the name of one of your favorite posters telling off on himself/herself, feel free to ask them.
It's only fair that I start it off. I'll have to admit that I had a little trouble deciding on the single dumbest thing I've done relating to cattle over the years. I did get it narrowed down to two, so you guys can choose for yourself......
This first incident happened sometime in the early or mid 80's. As bad as I hate to admit it, even back then I was old enough and experienced enough to know better. I was branding some cows with two or three guys helping me. I don't remember exactly who was doing what, but I do remember that I was running the electric iron.
We were using a manual WW chute and working them through pretty fast. Sometimes back then we would run 600 in a day and you couldn't help but get sloppy and careless toward the end of the day--no excuse, though. I had my iron plugged in to an outlet on the opposite side of the chute from where I was standing and branding. It had worked fine like this for literally thousands of cattle.
A crazy tigerstripe cow was balking going into the chute, so the guy operating the headgate set it where it would catch her and he and I backed off just enough to let her go in and catch herself. When I backed up, I pulled too much slack in the cord that was running over the top of the chute and it was hanging down in the chute and spooking her. I reached out and just sorta flipped the slack out of the cord to get it out of her way. When I did, it coiled back over one corner of the headgate at the top---just as another guy hit her with a hotshot.
She hit that headgate so hard that the ground shook. It was the last thing she ever did. She was fried on the spot. When I flipped the cord to get it out of her way, it had gotten pinched in between the headgate and the catch and got cut right in two when she hit so hard.
It was only a miracle that we didn't lose a man and more cows, too. Because everything around the chute was all welded up together. Moral to the story---now I have electrical outlets on both sides of the chute and I hang the iron overhead so that all of the cord is always above any of the working parts of the chute. Like I should have done to begin with.
The next 'mishap' happened probably a year or two later, but it was with the same WW chute. But just me and one other guy helping me. We were working a little bunch of old, junky salebarn cows. The kind that weighed about 800 soaking wet that you could buy for $200 or $250 and a lot of them would be bred. Those type cows would make a pot full of money in those days.
There were only about 30 or 40 of these little cows, so I figured that two of us could do it pretty quick. The guy helping me was big enough that I didn't even need a squeeze chute. He was about 6'8" and weighed 270 or 280---all of it muscle. He was working the head gate and I don't remember exactly what I was doing. Doesn't really matter.
One of the little cows got in the chute and was really acting crazy. Jumping and kicking, getting her hooves hung up in the sides of the chute. You name it, she did it. We squeezed her down hard, let off, did everything we could think of to get her settled down so I could get her worked and turned out.
I was really getting mad, so I told this guy to "tap her across the nose with something and see if she'll settle down." He picked up a little piece of pipe that we used to go across the chute to keep cattle from backing up. I saw him "tap" her on the nose and it really didn't look too bad---sorta like me tapping a pencil on the table. But when the sound got to me, it sounded more like somebody had hit a dozer blade with a railroad iron. Thunkkkkk!
This little cow dropped so fast that her tail was standing straight up in the air when she hit the floor of the chute. She wasn't just knocked to her knees, she was graveyard dead and never took another breath. I was a little hotheaded back then and probably could have been the next one to go down. Because I looked at this guy standing there still holding the pipe and I was fixing to cuss him like a dog....but the look on his face probably saved my life.
He was looking down at that little cow and his mouth had dropped open so wide I could have set a roll of hay in it. I couldn't help but laugh and that's probably what saved me. He finally started laughing with me and said he didn't know how he'd ever be able to pay for that little old cheap, sorry cow. I told him not to worry about it because it was my mistake. Moral to that story was that from then on if I wanted a cow tapped across the nose with something, I did it myself.
Those are the best I could come up with. If I think of something better, I'll be sure to post it. I'm ready to hear from somebody else now. I'm not gonna call any names, but I've sure got some expectations. ;-)
So I thought it might be fun for some of us 'experienced' cattlemen to 'fess up to those dumb antics and stupid mistakes involving cattle. This is intended to be fun, but should also serve as a learning experience for everyone. And just maybe it'll give you new guys something to laugh at the rest of us about. Fair enough?
I think everybody with at least 10 or 15 years of experience should participate. I won't call any names or challenge anyone specifically, but if you new guys don't see the name of one of your favorite posters telling off on himself/herself, feel free to ask them.
It's only fair that I start it off. I'll have to admit that I had a little trouble deciding on the single dumbest thing I've done relating to cattle over the years. I did get it narrowed down to two, so you guys can choose for yourself......
This first incident happened sometime in the early or mid 80's. As bad as I hate to admit it, even back then I was old enough and experienced enough to know better. I was branding some cows with two or three guys helping me. I don't remember exactly who was doing what, but I do remember that I was running the electric iron.
We were using a manual WW chute and working them through pretty fast. Sometimes back then we would run 600 in a day and you couldn't help but get sloppy and careless toward the end of the day--no excuse, though. I had my iron plugged in to an outlet on the opposite side of the chute from where I was standing and branding. It had worked fine like this for literally thousands of cattle.
A crazy tigerstripe cow was balking going into the chute, so the guy operating the headgate set it where it would catch her and he and I backed off just enough to let her go in and catch herself. When I backed up, I pulled too much slack in the cord that was running over the top of the chute and it was hanging down in the chute and spooking her. I reached out and just sorta flipped the slack out of the cord to get it out of her way. When I did, it coiled back over one corner of the headgate at the top---just as another guy hit her with a hotshot.
She hit that headgate so hard that the ground shook. It was the last thing she ever did. She was fried on the spot. When I flipped the cord to get it out of her way, it had gotten pinched in between the headgate and the catch and got cut right in two when she hit so hard.
It was only a miracle that we didn't lose a man and more cows, too. Because everything around the chute was all welded up together. Moral to the story---now I have electrical outlets on both sides of the chute and I hang the iron overhead so that all of the cord is always above any of the working parts of the chute. Like I should have done to begin with.
The next 'mishap' happened probably a year or two later, but it was with the same WW chute. But just me and one other guy helping me. We were working a little bunch of old, junky salebarn cows. The kind that weighed about 800 soaking wet that you could buy for $200 or $250 and a lot of them would be bred. Those type cows would make a pot full of money in those days.
There were only about 30 or 40 of these little cows, so I figured that two of us could do it pretty quick. The guy helping me was big enough that I didn't even need a squeeze chute. He was about 6'8" and weighed 270 or 280---all of it muscle. He was working the head gate and I don't remember exactly what I was doing. Doesn't really matter.
One of the little cows got in the chute and was really acting crazy. Jumping and kicking, getting her hooves hung up in the sides of the chute. You name it, she did it. We squeezed her down hard, let off, did everything we could think of to get her settled down so I could get her worked and turned out.
I was really getting mad, so I told this guy to "tap her across the nose with something and see if she'll settle down." He picked up a little piece of pipe that we used to go across the chute to keep cattle from backing up. I saw him "tap" her on the nose and it really didn't look too bad---sorta like me tapping a pencil on the table. But when the sound got to me, it sounded more like somebody had hit a dozer blade with a railroad iron. Thunkkkkk!
This little cow dropped so fast that her tail was standing straight up in the air when she hit the floor of the chute. She wasn't just knocked to her knees, she was graveyard dead and never took another breath. I was a little hotheaded back then and probably could have been the next one to go down. Because I looked at this guy standing there still holding the pipe and I was fixing to cuss him like a dog....but the look on his face probably saved my life.
He was looking down at that little cow and his mouth had dropped open so wide I could have set a roll of hay in it. I couldn't help but laugh and that's probably what saved me. He finally started laughing with me and said he didn't know how he'd ever be able to pay for that little old cheap, sorry cow. I told him not to worry about it because it was my mistake. Moral to that story was that from then on if I wanted a cow tapped across the nose with something, I did it myself.
Those are the best I could come up with. If I think of something better, I'll be sure to post it. I'm ready to hear from somebody else now. I'm not gonna call any names, but I've sure got some expectations. ;-)
