The most dangerous breed of bull?

[Nesikep]

there was a big kerfuffle on facebook about a piglet playing with a pitbull.. some were concerned about the piglet getting mauled, others were concerned about the piglet becoming mean later on.
Most mammals play fight, and that's where they learn their social skills... play too rough and someone bigger will put you in your place or bite you. This pitbull was evidently enjoying it, and was playing nice, no doubt piglet, if he bit too hard would have gotten a swat back or something.

Same goes with cattle.. they need to know what's acceptable behavior and what isn't. I've had a few heifers that were far too bossy with the others.. so I put them with the cows for a while where they learned some manners, and when they were put back with their mates (ONE AT A TIME), the mates ganged up on them and kept their attitude in check... They've been well behaved ever since.

This year I have 3 heifers.. the smallest is definitely the most bossy by nature, the medium one has horns, and the biggest, well, she's got the weight advantage.. it all evens out. The medium and large ones are buddies, they're often pushing and shoving but I can tell it's just fun, the small one fights to win.

 

[lithuanian farmer]

Are dairy breed bulls inherently more dangerous than beef breeds? I'm not sure... Would they be that bad if they were raised on their dams, out in the pasture - like our beef bulls? IDK.
But... they're not. They're removed from dam on Day One, hand-reared by humans, so they have little fear/respect of us, and are often kept isolated from other cattle - except maybe other young bulls - and only have exposure to humans, which, once they reach maturity and the testosterone begins surging, they regard as rivals/challengers. No person is a match for 800-2400 pounds of furious, testosterone-fueled bone and muscle.
We see similar dangerous behavior in hand-reared llamas - referred to as 'berserk male syndrome' - and in hand-reared stallions. They're TOO familiar with humans, and have no fear/respect of them... regarding them as rivals or herdmates to be subjugated.
The Spanish/Mexican fighting bulls (de Lidia) are selectively bred for aggressiveness - even the females have selection pressure placed upon them for the propensity to fight rather than run away. Docility has not been purposely selected for in breeding dairy cattle for many years... milk &/or component production is the goal... and generally, dairy cows are not so aggressively dangerous as the bulls.
Availability of AI has greatly diminished the incidence of dairy farmer deaths, at least on this continent, from encounters with bulls... but it still happens far too frequently.

Have a neighbour, which has dairy cows, but keeps them as sucklers. Calves are with their moms until weaning and they see their owner maybe once a week at the best... The owner himself has been attacked by his bulls. Another person been threatened by the bull, when it was out from the pasture. The young ones choose to run away once they see a human walking somewhere not far away, but those bigger, 2+years old bulls are less scared and more confident.

 

[76 Bar]

The bucket technique apparently fell short of the mark for this guy:
https://www.drovers.com/article/nebraska-man-killed-bull-while-checking-cattle

 

[Dave]

I just spent the weekend driving back over to the coast to attend a memorial service for a friend who was killed by a Holstein bull. The most dangerous bull is the one on top of you that has you pinned to the ground.

 

[christon115]

Bulls are no joke. Here's an interesting video from back in the day.

That lion got his a$$ kicked.

Thats so danger bull :cowboy:

 

[Bestoutwest]

Our Select Sires rep said the reason that dairy bulls get mean is that as they age their skull puts pressure on their brain. Jersey are worse than Holstein for this but both can be miserable to deal with.

I'm not sure I buy this theory. I'm betting it's testosterone, maybe a lack of handling? I have been to a ton of ox pulls, and I've seen a bunch of older Holstein and Jersey steers, and none of them were mean. They were very, very gentle. If their skulls were to put pressure on their brain they wouldn't behave well at 6+ years of age, no matter if they were castrated or not.

 

[Ky hills]

Our Select Sires rep said the reason that dairy bulls get mean is that as they age their skull puts pressure on their brain. Jersey are worse than Holstein for this but both can be miserable to deal with.

I'm not sure I buy this theory. I'm betting it's testosterone, maybe a lack of handling? I have been to a ton of ox pulls, and I've seen a bunch of older Holstein and Jersey steers, and none of them were mean. They were very, very gentle. If their skulls were to put pressure on their brain they wouldn't behave well at 6+ years of age, no matter if they were castrated or not.

I think you are right about it being hormonal, and I think because most of the dairy calves are raised by humans that they have no fear of people at all. Then add to that that they are in close proximity to people when working with the cows on a daily basis. I raised a Holstein and a Jersey bull for use in my nurse cows, I didn't keep them long. By about a year of age they were putting on quite a show and I didn't want it to go any farther. Of all the beef bulls of several breeds most of all they would do is some might shake their heads or paw around on occasion, mostly just stand and beller if anything.

 

[SBMF 2015]

I do agree that jersey bulls are probably more likely to be dangerous do to the way they are raised (bottle fed) and the high strung playful nature of jerseys. Every bull and every cow can be dangerous and could kill you. However, most animals do threaten before they attack. I think many people just don't recognize the threats. I've raised horses for 50 years and trained racehorses for about 25. I cannot tell you the number of times a horse will be practically begging someone to get out of their space by pinning ears, shaking tail, stepping around, lifting legs, ECT and a person will be standing there oblivious to these warnings. Then when they get kicked or bitten they say it came out of nowhere. Bulls threaten in less obvious ways. They speak cow. You need to learn to speak or stay out if the pasture. My current young bull is a year old now. Very laid back. He was bottle fed a few weeks but then raised in the pasture for 7 months on a cow. He has been halter broke so we can work him. He isn't too scared of me but enough that he is very respectful. He is currently in with our show steer until June when I put him with the cows. The show steer is taken out every day. The bull isn't. A few months ago we debated about which one to castrate and which to keep as the bull. The bull looked better and had a better growth rate so he stayed a bull and the other became the show steer. Now I can see we made a good choice as the steer is really a bit if an asshat now that he is on a lot of feed. The bull is still very quiet. Right now you are way more likely to get run over by the steer. He would have become dangerous as a bull very quickly. The other day my daughter went to lead the steer out of the pen and the bull bashed the steer in the butt. My daughter kicked the bull in the side so hard it almost knocked him to the ground. When she put the steer back the bull backed away from her when she came in the pen. He knows she is the boss cow. We hope to keep the bull a few years. The day he starts showing any aggression to people he will move to the freezer.

Agreed.. People are OBLIVIOUS to their surroundings a lot of the time.

Once I dropped off a longhorn bull and a few steers at the sale barn, they were in the staging area while things got cleared.. bull was all calm, I think he was chewing cud.
Now there were some people who wanted to get by, so they jumped the panels and went into the next pen where there were two VERY MAD Angus cows.. I swear I nearly saw 3 people get smashed in the course of 5-10 minutes.. and they didn't even see what happened!
This happening at a sale barn I'd ASSume that most of these people would have had at least a bit of cow sense to them and been alert.. it's definitely not like those two cows had a switch that flipped and they went from docile to mean.. they were mad from the get go!.. They weren't any better in the ring and nearly climbed into the auctioneers lap

I sorted at our local sale barn and worked for the sale barn vet for ten years. I could write books on stupid people and some of the wild cattle that I have seen. I totally agree. There are a lot of people that can work there ten grass calves at home, but when they get to the sale barn and around strange cattle they barely qualify as novice.

 

[VaCowman]

SOB

Isn't that the truth. The calf she is nursing E has claimed, her and her daddy are halter breaking it. She has named it Poppy. Now the problem is it not her calf it's the farms, so I had to negotiate with a seven year old. Her cow has a really nice Abundance calf at side so I told her I would trade her bull calf for Poppy. She said no I want the monies when we sell the bull.....no E that isn't the way it works if you want Poppy the farm gets the bull. Took two weeks of negotiations but she finally agreed to trade. Now her sister wants daddy to halter break her a heifer calf. The good news is her cow had a heifer this year. Daddy is fixing to get really busy! He has been hoping and praying they would be interested in the cattle and it finally looks like they are. Have to confess GG is pretty excited they are interested as well. The only problem is to show in 4-H they have to be 8 by September 1st and their birthday is the 19th which stinks.

Gizmom

I can't wait to see those proud GG pics once the grands start showing. I always enjoy viewing your (and other members) cattle.

 

[Hippie Rancher]

one should always be careful around any species of intact male.

 

[sstterry]

one should always be careful around any species of intact male.

I have a steer that is not "intact" and I am very very careful around him.

 

[TCRanch]

one should always be careful around any species of intact male.

I have a steer that is not "intact" and I am very very careful around him.

Spot on! One of my steers tried to hunch me 3 times last year but I was able to dip-spin-pivot before I full out face planted. My bad for not paying attention in the first place. He was super docile - which can obviously be just as dangerous.

 

[SBMF 2015]

one should always be careful around any species of intact male.

I have a steer that is not "intact" and I am very very careful around him.

Spot on! One of my steers tried to hunch me 3 times last year but I was able to dip-spin-pivot before I full out face planted. My bad for not paying attention in the first place. He was super docile - which can obviously be just as dangerous.

Awh, raising cattle the ultimate contact sport!

We finish cattle in confinement. We walk pens once or twice a day. Reading bunks and cattle. Every turn where is a couple strs that loose there fear zone and try pet me when ever I walk pens. They usually end up going on a load before they are quite finished.

My best friend's dad finishes a lot of Holstein strs. He says every once in a while they get a str that has heat seeking technology. It will come across the pen through the group to try and kill you every time you go in the pen. Those strs usually get a stagy look, and they figure they probably have a belly nut.

 

[TCRanch]

I have a steer that is not "intact" and I am very very careful around him.

Spot on! One of my steers tried to hunch me 3 times last year but I was able to dip-spin-pivot before I full out face planted. My bad for not paying attention in the first place. He was super docile - which can obviously be just as dangerous.

Awh, raising cattle the ultimate contact sport!

We finish cattle in confinement. We walk pens once or twice a day. Reading bunks and cattle. Every turn where is a couple strs that loose there fear zone and try pet me when ever I walk pens. They usually end up going on a load before they are quite finished.

My best friend's dad finishes a lot of Holstein strs. He says every once in a while they get a str that has heat seeking technology. It will come across the pen through the group to try and kill you every time you go in the pen. Those strs usually get a stagy look, and they figure they probably have a belly nut.

Most of my calves are hand feeders by the time they're weaned and love a good scratch. But they're still not pets!

We finished a stag a few years ago and won't do that again - zero respect for my personal space and I didn't trust him at all. He was delicious ;-)

 

[Dave]

The most dangerous bull is one that is about a foot behind your back and gaining fast. It doesn't matter what breed he is, just know this is going to hurt.