Well thats a first

[FarmGirl10]

This morning we were loading a steer to bring in to get butchered and there were four of us waiting for a fight. The last steer that we had to load broke 3 gates when we were trying to load him. Well we split the steer off from the rest of the herd and we were bringing him over to the trailer and he saw the gates that were funneling him onto the trailer. And guess what he did....he walked right on. Apparently he thought he was going back out to pasture. That was the easiest loading I've ever done (first time my dad ever remembers having that happen), how often do people have that happen? Even when we feed on the trailer for a couple days before taking steers off of pasture they don't load that easy. :banana:

 

[bigbull338]

dont ya just love it when they load easy.

 

[TexasBred]

Farmgirl...you always gotta let them think they have found a way to get away. An escape...usually works.

 

[DaletheDairyFarmer]

Just when you think you have them figured out they throw you for another loop! Personally I think they're smarter than they usually let on. They like it better when they have you guessing. :???:

 

[Frankie]

This morning we were loading a steer to bring in to get butchered and there were four of us waiting for a fight. The last steer that we had to load broke 3 gates when we were trying to load him. Well we split the steer off from the rest of the herd and we were bringing him over to the trailer and he saw the gates that were funneling him onto the trailer. And guess what he did....he walked right on. Apparently he thought he was going back out to pasture. That was the easiest loading I've ever done (first time my dad ever remembers having that happen), how often do people have that happen? Even when we feed on the trailer for a couple days before taking steers off of pasture they don't load that easy. :banana:

If you have this much trouble loading your cattle, perhaps you need to either rethink your cattle handling techniques or introduce some calmer genetics into your herd. It can't be good for the meat quality for one to be so stressed when you load him for slaughter. Our cattle are easy to load. We do have a good set up with high solid fences that doesn't offer them any many options.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I feed most of my steers out at home. There's only 16 acres there and no real handling facility. I simply park the trailer in the pasture hooked up to one of the old trucks and feed the steers in there. It gets kind of cumbersome when you have to get four in so you just have to be patient and move the feed to the front of the trailer.

 

[Lammie]

Farmgirl, I pray to have the same experience next time. I am feeding out some wild and crazy calves out there. I am trying to get them used to me at the moment. And yes, good genetics help. Would someone please explain this to my husband? One must always wonder just what the heck he's thinking.

 

[TheBullLady]

Let him load the steers Lammie.. maybe he'll figure it out quicker that way.

 

[Lammie]

Let him load the steers Lammie.. maybe he'll figure it out quicker that way.

Oh believe me, he will. I dont load them. I feed them.

 

[FarmGirl10]

Yeah, the calmer genetics would really help out in loading, but those steers that were breaking gates were my brothers holsteins. A lot of it did have to do with the way they were handled, sometimes my brother and dad try to run them on the trailer (left over from having pigs). :roll: Which makes no sense to me or my mom, because they get scared and look for an exit. Since this was one of my steers i made everyone do it my way, which was walk him very slowly until he saw the flake of hay on the trailer. Hopefully they'll try my way more often now.