What the heck did I buy…….. they ain’t longhorn corriente or a angus

[kenny thomas]

I have been gone to hurricane duty for 14 days and when I drove into my barn lot this morning 3 brahama cross were the first to hear my truck and come running.

 

[Nesikep]

When we are out on the prairie catching cattle we may circle a group of 100+ mommas in a trap by the hole 6 or 7 times before they decide to go. It's an extremely slow and tedious process. We make slight, slow, movements. If we have to communicate its minimal hand gestures. If you have to talk you talk slow and calm and quietly. Your energy will effect that whole group of cattle.

We do not move or push those cattle... we communicate with our positions and movements where we would like them to go.

I was not there for the train wreck but a cow tried to break out the group and rather than holding the group a newer guy decided to try to cut her back like some competition on TV. He sent the whole group through two barbed wire fences... busted wires, snapped posts, the whole 9.

I was there the next time a couple weeks later after they got them caught again. It was very touch and go with cattle that know they can do that.

It's a totally different world than what people imagine. I've sat for 15 or 20 minutes with 5 or 6 guys guys outlining a group right in front of the hole. Every one dead silent... dead still. Some cows locked on us... some looking back and forth from the gate to us... some with their heads down just hiding in the pile. Then all at once... with out any reason... the whole group piles in.

It's amazing when it all comes together like that. The silent communication between the people and the animals in those instances is fascinating. You can watch the people, the cattle, the horses, all locked in on each other in a stand off looking for any gesture.. to give them a read.. on the other.

sounds like you need a few of them that are bucket trained!

 

[DCA farm]

When you hear brimmer's are rank you know your talking to someone that hasn't been around to many. Now when you start crossing them it seems like some sorta switch gets tripped.

Been run up a tree and up a board corral fence more times than I can count them brimmers out the marsh don't bluff they will put it on your ass quick. I'm sure like every animal raised on a feed sack there are plenty of dog gentle ones my personal experience with brimmers are the ones that see a person 1 time a year at weaning time other than that they don't get touched.. this particular heifer won't even know whay it's like to not get fooled with she's at my actual house pasture between me wife and kids she will be around someone every day

 

[SmokinM]

Sounds pretty much like just the difference between range type cattle and pet/handled type cattle as well as the difference between people that can work stock and can't work stock. Not sure the brimmer part has all that much to do with it. I have seen angus do everything y'all have described too.

 

[callmefence]

Been run up a tree and up a board corral fence more times than I can count them brimmers out the marsh don't bluff they will put it on your ass quick. I'm sure like every animal raised on a feed sack there are plenty of dog gentle ones my personal experience with brimmers are the ones that see a person 1 time a year at weaning time other than that they don't get touched.. this particular heifer won't even know whay it's like to not get fooled with she's at my actual house pasture between me wife and kids she will be around someone every day

I guess you got me . Idk bout dem brimmer's out the marsh...

 

[50/50Farms]

Breed plays a part in docility and handling, but there's got to be a compromise. Just as much as you can't force a 1,500 lb animal to go into a hole they don't wanna go in, you also take a gamble having cattle that can't be cut off or hazed along without wanting to fight. I think environment is as key as anything, bucket cows respond to buckets, gently worked cattle respond to being worked gently, and range cattle that only ever get cowboyed will play your game in as much as that you can eventually get them somewhere but they aren't fun to be around on foot. A loooot of people buy a looooooooot of cattle they don't know the raising of, and then are surprised when a rope-crazy timber property cow puts Farmer Jim on a Life Flight because he turned his back on her in a two-chambered working pen.

 

[Warren Allison]

Breed plays a part in docility and handling, but there's got to be a compromise. Just as much as you can't force a 1,500 lb animal to go into a hole they don't wanna go in, you also take a gamble having cattle that can't be cut off or hazed along without wanting to fight. I think environment is as key as anything, bucket cows respond to buckets, gently worked cattle respond to being worked gently, and range cattle that only ever get cowboyed will play your game in as much as that you can eventually get them somewhere but they aren't fun to be around on foot. A loooot of people buy a looooooooot of cattle they don't know the raising of, and then are surprised when a rope-crazy timber property cow puts Farmer Jim on a Life Flight because he turned his back on her in a two-chambered working pen.

I agree! As I have said before on these forums, I will not get in any kind of enclore..1000 acre pasture to a corral on foot. I take a horse when I go to look at cattle to buy...even take one for the seller if they know how to ride. I do not use a truck or ATV or any motorized vehicle to " go check on the cows"...I ride. And this includes any Brahma I have fooled with. I find them no harder or easier to work horse back than any other breed.

 

[tex452]

I bought 15 Braimer heifers, I have them in a 7 acre trap, their easy to get in the pen because I feed them in there.
There still pretty wild but will run in the pen wanting sweet feed.

 

[50/50Farms]

I agree! As I have said before on these forums, I will not get in any kind of enclore..1000 acre pasture to a corral on foot. I take a horse when I go to look at cattle to buy...even take one for the seller if they know how to ride. I do not use a truck or ATV or any motorized vehicle to " go check on the cows"...I ride. And this includes any Brahma I have fooled with. I find them no harder or easier to work horse back than any other breed.

I will, but I'll watch them pretty close.

 

[Brute 23]

I bought 15 Braimer heifers, I have them in a 7 acre trap, their easy to get in the pen because I feed them in there.
There still pretty wild but will run in the pen wanting sweet feed.

In a lot of cases they will learn the difference between being fed and being worked. I do all kinds of stuff like close the gate on them, make them walk out the chute, etc. As soon as you walk out with your tools for working cattle or a trailer they can act totally different.

 

[lavacarancher]

Oh she's a brimmer for sure one of the most friendly I've ever been around. She will let you pet on. Her

Yes, Brahman and Hereford. Can't really assign meanness to breed. I had a Brahman bull once that would pester you to no ends for a cube or to get his back scratched. My kids rode him like a horse.

 

[Rafter S]

In a lot of cases they will learn the difference between being fed and being worked. I do all kinds of stuff like close the gate on them, make them walk out the chute, etc. As soon as you walk out with your tools for working cattle or a trailer they can act totally different.

Which is why I take just my pickup with feed to pen my cattle, then go back home and get the truck and trailer.

 

[farmerjan]

When we go to pen cattle, and they are used to just one person feeding/working around them in the pasture....then only 1 person goes out there to do the "same ole, same ole" routine... and the other one is sitting waiting just up the road or the driveway with the truck/trailer. Often taking the trailer is not the end of the world as we have often gone into the field with the trailer around the cows. But some places we do not get within eyesight of the animals we are trying to get it, and then as soon as they are penned, moving the trailer up and all doesn't seem to be such a big deal.
Most of our cows are used to getting on the trailer to go to grass, so it is not near as big a deal and they are actually teaching the calves that the big scary trailer is just another thing to "do"....
I took the trailer up to a pasture and was cleaning it out and got a call about other cattle that were out (they weren't ours after all)... and my little truck was right near there so I just took it to go check the "out cattle".... came back to 3 cows and 2 calves standing in the trailer like they were waiting to take a ride.
Granted there are alot of cattle that won't do that... but if they get used to it, many will not get overly upset about the trailer.
We have one "family" of cows that are miserable WITCHES to get in the catch pens.... they raise some of the biggest calves.... once in the pens, you get them loaded and that's it... but they are always looking for a "trap"... and it seems to be not only learned but in their DNA. Those are ones that you go and feed as normal and then go back with a trailer...

 

[Warren Allison]

I bought 15 Braimer heifers, I have them in a 7 acre trap, their easy to get in the pen because I feed them in there.
There still pretty wild but will run in the pen wanting sweet feed.

What a fine looking group of Braham heifers. How old are they in this pic? What do you plan to breed them to, Tex?

 

[tex452]

What a fine looking group of Braham heifers. How old are they in this pic? What do you plan to breed them to, Tex?

We picked these up from the sale at different times, we're guessing 6-10 months old.
The plan is to sell them late spring if prices are good.
We bought some ourself and had a buyer buy some, we were very picky.
We're planning on selling them open, their too young to breed anyway.

 

[Warren Allison]

We picked these up from the sale at different times, we're guessing 6-10 months old.
The plan is to sell them late spring if prices are good.
We bought some ourself and had a buyer buy some, we were very picky.
We're planning on selling them open, their too young to breed anyway.

What ever Brahma heifers are brining at the time you sell them, these should bring top price. In May the younger ones will be a year old, the oldest about 16 months. Good age to sell open Brahmas. It doesn't bother me at all...matter of fact, I prefer it..to wait til a Brahma is 20 mos old or so to breed it.