To sell or not to sell

[Crumudgen]

Besides the danger to property and person she's teaching the rest of the herd bad habits. Don't see a question here.

 

[TCRanch]

I don't care how good of a calf they raise if they're a jumper or if they have attitude. How much are you going to make off that calf? Will it cover your hospital bill? Or the potential liability? Trailer.

 

[Col Reb]

If she makes you uncomfortable you should sell her the first chance you get. It sounds like that is the case.
If you are truly on the fence about selling or keeping her there are a few questions to ask yourself.
Has she been a problem before now staying home?
How/why did she get out? Jump? Hole? Eating through fence?
How old is she? How productive is she? Does she calve every 365? Does she raise a good calf?
I guess what I'm saying is if you have lost your confidence in her, it's too late for her and she should go. But if she is a good producer and has a calf every 10-11 months and weans heavy, I can see hanging with her for a while. Pretty good chance she will always be protective of her calves but can be manageable if you're willing. Think of it like this, if she had not been protective of her calf this question would likely have been can I kill my neighbor's dogs for killing my calf?

To be honest, I almost sold her last year. She's one of those skinny boney cows that you just can't fatten up. However, she's only about 4 years old & has a good calf. Not really any skin off my back if I sell her. I'd just buy a coupe of heifers to replace her. But....she's had a nice calf every year just like clockwork. I can tell more in a few days. If the calf isn't around she'll come try to take the bucket out of my hand but it's gets real when the calf is with her. She hasn't tried to charge me for just standing there by her but I keep my distance & on alert.

 

[kenny thomas]

Send her to me. I would come get her but can't find enough gas to get there.
Give her a couple weeks to settle down and then see. One of the best cows I ever owned would try to kill me for 10 days after she calved. Great momma cow.

 

[OBAX]

All I'm saying is that nearly every cow that I own have at one time or another acted like an idiot, and if they have not they will. They are livestock and not pets. I will never fault a cow for trying to protect her calf. If it's an ongoing issue then we have a completely different situation.
I do not have, nor will I have, any eared cattle on my place because in my experience they are flighty, and hard to work and keep home. With that being said, I try to keep my cattle as docile and easy to work as I can but I also see them for what they are and that is livestock. They are often ornery, but so am I. I cannot remember the last time I sold a cow simply because she was hard to handle. It always plays in, but it is not a single incident, single trait decision. Unless it is a production trait. Not trying to offend anybody, just giving my opinion.
✌

 

[Lazy M]

Raising cattle would be boring without at least one or 2 nut jobs in the herd.. just think of all the good stories you wouldn't have without a psycho cow in the mix..

 

[Ky hills]

All I'm saying is that nearly every cow that I own have at one time or another acted like an idiot, and if they have not they will. They are livestock and not pets. I will never fault a cow for trying to protect her calf. If it's an ongoing issue then we have a completely different situation.
I do not have, nor will I have, any eared cattle on my place because in my experience they are flighty, and hard to work and keep home. With that being said, I try to keep my cattle as docile and easy to work as I can but I also see them for what they are and that is livestock. They are often ornery, but so am I. I cannot remember the last time I sold a cow simply because she was hard to handle. It always plays in, but it is not a single incident, single trait decision. Unless it is a production trait. Not trying to offend anybody, just giving my opinion.
✌

It is correct that they are unpredictable and there is always a chance for something to go wrong when dealing with livestock. Everybody's management and expectations are different. I like docile cattle too, but I have no problem culling a bad acting animal. If it's one that's just protective of a new calf for a couple weeks that's fine with me. I don't like working with wild or aggressive ones, they can get you hurt fast and serious or worse. If we come across one like that it doesn't matter if she's the best cow in the world, she is out of here. There is going to be good and bad dispositions in any breed. I have seen some high strung ear cattle, but some of the ones I have had have been as or more docile than some of our straight bred Herefords or Angus. We have a Beefmaster cow that is dog gentle. Have also had some Santa Gertrudis females that were very calm too.

 

[Ky hills]

View attachment 4364
Raising cattle would be boring without at least one or 2 nut jobs in the herd.. just think of all the good stories you wouldn't have without a psycho cow in the mix..

I'll take boring at point in my life. Already got more than enough stories about psycho cattle.
My biggest problem cow, was a little BWF that got to where she would come after you from a long ways off with or without a calf.

 

[OBAX]

Good thing about it, even those wild ones are good on the grill!

 

[kentuckyguy]

For my personal style of management the cow works for me not the other way around.

If I can't grab a bucket of feed and get the cow to follow me she's gone.

 

[OBAX]

For my personal style of management the cow works for me not the other way around.

If I can't grab a bucket of feed and get the cow to follow me she's gone.

There's value in cows being "dog gentle", but for me it's way more dangerous for 200 head of gentle cows trying to follow my bucket and get their head in it, or chasing my feed truck, than a crazy or two that hang back with their head up.

 

[Col Reb]

Part of the problem is solved. Got her home. Had to cut the fence & put in a gate. Probably needed one anyway. Will be a lot simpler if another gets over. Now just gotta see how she's gonna act now that she's back home.

 

[OBAX]

Good luck!

 

[callmefence]

There's value in cows being "dog gentle", but for me it's way more dangerous for 200 head of gentle cows trying to follow my bucket and get their head in it, or chasing my feed truck, than a crazy or two that hang back with their head up.

Good point.

 

[kentuckyguy]

There's value in cows being "dog gentle", but for me it's way more dangerous for 200 head of gentle cows trying to follow my bucket and get their head in it, or chasing my feed truck, than a crazy or two that hang back with their head up.

I agree I am just a small timer. 20 cows and 5 or 6 heifers is about the most I ever have here.

Our pastures are split by the road so having cattle I can walk across the road easily to another pasture is a must.

I wouldn't wanna have a bucket of grain near any more than that. Sometimes 20 gets sporty.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Mine all know what feed is.
That being said, I cant walk across the pasture with a bucket or bag of feed. I'll get mobbed and ran over maybe! Perhaps a bit too gentle.

I shake the bag or bucket where I want them to come.

 

[annmariemz23]

We have had a lot of experience with this. Just recently we were putting some cows from our back pasture across a nice green pasture, across a creek and up to our front property so we could calve them out and feed them at the same time. Like idiots who didn't know better, we lazily said, "We don't need to get horses..." We went after them on 4-wheelers. The cows became impossible to move when they hit the green pasture, because although the feed was very short, it was very delicious. We fought them across the pasture with no dogs because many had baby calves, and dogs and baby calves don't mix. In the middle of the whole thing, one cow jumped into the neighbor's pot-patch woodlot along with her new baby. I developed a healthy nose bleed at about the same time while crawling underneath a barbed-wire fence. I also was nursing some significant hip pain.

We got the rest of the cows into an easement lane, finally and went back for the cow and new calf. The cow went ballistic, breathing fire and flipping us off (you know, when they flip their nose upwards at you?) We got cornered behind some tiny ash saplings on a rotting log. My son shot his pistol towards the cow trying to back her off. She just flipped us off again and snorted, never even flinched from the noise of the pistol. We finally retreated back through the scratchy, clingy blackberries and downed wood, and out another gate, opening it, and hoping she would follow the other cows, which she did. My son went back to drag the calf out into the open pasture so the mother could find it, and we finally got everyone back together. I ended up in the emergency room an hour away for blood loss due to the nose bleed.

The cow got completely over it. I theorized she had post-partum depression.

Another heiferette who had her first calf was not hard to handle horseback, but when we got her in the corral, she jumped out over the fence after we pressured her gently on foot. She missed the sale truck because it was full, and we thought maybe she had post-partum depression too. Easy to handle on horseback. Indistinguishable from the other cattle. But later, when we went to work her in the corral on foot, she jumped out again leaving her calf. We think she has PTSD from going through the fires with all the fire personnel and trucks where she was pastured on the mountain. She will have to go. If you give them a chance to be hand fed and settle down and they still have panic issues, it isn't worth it. Now if we were always going to handle her horseback maybe she would be ok, but we don't know if she will be hard to capture once she gets back on the mountain range. Just not worth the risk.

Twenty years ago, had another cow, Elvira, who suddenly attacked me in the corral, knocking me flat and jumping over me. We kept her awhile, but she was crazy, and would attack our horses. (No baby as an excuse.) One of my mares reared up while we were driving her and struck her between the eyes, and she left us alone after that. Driving her while leading the horse and heaving large stones at her head kept her from attacking. We didn't think we would ever get her on the sale truck. Any more, one like that would go on the truck first thing.

If you work them on foot and hand feed them and they continue to be aggressive even after their calf is a month old or so, then you don't want them in your herd. But mothers with tiny babies need special treatment. If we pick them up with a bunch of cows, we cut them back and leave them alone. They should not be hassled at all. Just flat leave them alone.

 

[Shoestring]

Besides the danger to property and person she's teaching the rest of the herd bad habits. Don't see a question here.

I had 1 that would teach every calf her bad habits. Had