certherfbeef
Well-known member
Cull cows are the ones that you cut from the herd and ship. Mine are usually sold as canners & cutters.
Worst mistake?
- Thread starter dcara
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Campground Cattle
Well-known member
At times I think its being a cattleman. For some strange reason I like the abuse. The praying for or cussing rain, drought, sick cows, bad prices for cows, being kicked stopped or gored. And most of all I Hate HAY other than that its great.
certherfbeef
Well-known member
My worst mistake was last spring. I almost forgot untill I almost pulled the same stunt this afternoon.
I have this obsession with everything in the field needing an ear tag. With only 60 head I can tell you who is who from across the holler. But it bugs me if something is not tagged, calves in particular.
Last year there was a 2 week old calf laying in the weeds, sound asleep. She did not have a tag cause mamma is very protective. We had been having problems w/ yotes. It was almost dark and I had the tag in the saddle bag and could not resist. Mamma seemed to be far off grazing. Anyhow, I dismounted, pounced on the calf for a quick "gotya tagged nanana" kinda thing. She let out a beller and the next thing I knew that mamma cow had her head on my chest telling me what I did wrong.
Her and I have a understanding now. And her calf does not wear a tag. Moral of the story: Don't mess with calves at dusk during calving season. Those cows are on High alert and will do anything to protect their babies.
cherokeeruby
Well-known member
I learned not to step on a rake in tall grass..................
WHOP right between the eyes, just like in the cartoons.
LOL
OH, and never grab the top wire of the electric fence to step over it>
OUCH
WHOP right between the eyes, just like in the cartoons.
LOL
OH, and never grab the top wire of the electric fence to step over it>
OUCH
Tod Dague
Well-known member
Don't know which was my worst mistake but I will list some of the ones that really stuck in my craw.
Buying long bred commercial heifers at the sale barn. Pulled a bunch of calves. Some calves died, some cows never bred back, and some cows bred late. When I buy commercial I buy pairs or 3 in 1.
Holding my stockers to long. When the grass starts getting low it is time to sell. You can't make money feeding them hay.
Keeping my cows fat all year long. Cows don't need to be fat all the time but do need to be somewhat fat prior to calving. This one is still hard on me as I think BCS 6 & 7 cows are beautiful.
Trying to push (herd) cows through a gate while I'm on foot. The best lasso is a sack of cubes (cotton seed, corn, or meal depending on conditions and price) and a horn. Lees stress on the cows and most importantly the cattleman.
I haven't been in the cattle business to many years but am striving to make it a fulltime profession someday. I read as much as I can and try to listen the cattlemen that have been there and done that (can be hard for us young know it all folk).
Tod
Buying long bred commercial heifers at the sale barn. Pulled a bunch of calves. Some calves died, some cows never bred back, and some cows bred late. When I buy commercial I buy pairs or 3 in 1.
Holding my stockers to long. When the grass starts getting low it is time to sell. You can't make money feeding them hay.
Keeping my cows fat all year long. Cows don't need to be fat all the time but do need to be somewhat fat prior to calving. This one is still hard on me as I think BCS 6 & 7 cows are beautiful.
Trying to push (herd) cows through a gate while I'm on foot. The best lasso is a sack of cubes (cotton seed, corn, or meal depending on conditions and price) and a horn. Lees stress on the cows and most importantly the cattleman.
I haven't been in the cattle business to many years but am striving to make it a fulltime profession someday. I read as much as I can and try to listen the cattlemen that have been there and done that (can be hard for us young know it all folk).
Tod
frenchie
Well-known member
Not a cattle incident........butThe worst mistake I ever made was mowing hay, when I was dead tired. I ended up in a p.t.o accident.I was very lucky that I was able to crawl away from that encounter with all my limbs but missing some skin.
Now if i get that tired ,I shut it down.
Now if i get that tired ,I shut it down.
TexasCountryWoman
Well-known member
Worst mistake, just recently. Allowing a bull yearling to get too big prior to loading to market. He is unloadable due to his size, Bos Indicus touch, horns and our futile attempts at loading him in a run down chute. He has learned he didn't have to load when he popped a gate back at me and broke my finger and busted both my hands (my precious goat milking hands!). He realized he was tough. He is sixteen months old now and we desperately need the 75 acres he is hogging to himself. I don't want him to breed the cows in with my good bull, so we have to watch the fences like hawks. I will unfortunately have to pay local cowboys to rope and load him. They will take their cut and will lose out big time. He isn't the nice fat animal he was months ago, but a long, rangy BULL that I didn't castrate because he was born in bad weather. Next project, new loading corrals! (but I need new goat facilities and new poultry coops too!) Does the madness ever end?
galloway fan
Member
sidney411":1q4vr193 said:Yeah, I tried the barbwire fence herding thing too, with the same results, except mine were on the hiway and had to be roped since she decided she would run to town.
Try to herd cows on foot- this does not work! One will always break free they there they all go!
Try to chase a calf on a 4-wheeler- this does not work! It will head for the nearest fence and break right through it then you have to spend 4 hours searching through the neighbors grown-up, not shredded in 10 years pasture.
There are a lot more stupid things I have done but I can't bring myself to tell you all because the more I think about some of the things I have done, they sounded good at the time and later I realize I must have had my head up in the clouds or something because I wonder where I come up with these ideas
A simple word of caution. Don't buy a tractor that has been really used up. If you buy a piece of shunk thinking that you can alwasy fix it, you'll eventually find out that it's costing a fortune and you're spending more time working on it then you are working with it.
After having spent a week riding a tractor 8-10 hours a day I've come to appreciate that I sold my two old shunkers a couple of years ago and got a new tractor. It's so nice to be able to do routine maintenance instead of constantly fixing something.
dun
After having spent a week riding a tractor 8-10 hours a day I've come to appreciate that I sold my two old shunkers a couple of years ago and got a new tractor. It's so nice to be able to do routine maintenance instead of constantly fixing something.
dun
sidney411
Well-known member
galoway fan -
I understand what you are saying, but I don't think you understood me. To better clarify what I was saying was when I herd cows on foot I mean to MAKE them go through a gate, pasture, or anywhere they do not want to go. Not call them. Ours are cube broke and will follow a bucket anywhere you want them to go and I can call them from anywhere in the pasture and they will generally come running, but if there is a momma and a new calf she is not the least bit interested in the cubes no matter what. If you try to herd any such animal that doesn't want to go on foot then you will ALWAYS lose! No person can outrun a cow. That is the point I was trying to make. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
I understand what you are saying, but I don't think you understood me. To better clarify what I was saying was when I herd cows on foot I mean to MAKE them go through a gate, pasture, or anywhere they do not want to go. Not call them. Ours are cube broke and will follow a bucket anywhere you want them to go and I can call them from anywhere in the pasture and they will generally come running, but if there is a momma and a new calf she is not the least bit interested in the cubes no matter what. If you try to herd any such animal that doesn't want to go on foot then you will ALWAYS lose! No person can outrun a cow. That is the point I was trying to make. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Dave
Well-known member
The worst mistake ..... the ex-wife brought home a border collie cross dog that would not allow cows to go through a gate or into a trailer. The dog wasn't the mistake it ended up getting hit by a car anyway. The ex-wife who brought it home. Now there was a mistake.
Dave
Dave
galloway fan
Member
sidney411":3tb449j9 said:
I would agree that a cow can run faster than a person. We have been in a drought here for several years and all our cows --even ones with young calves, will come when called. We handle most of ours enough that we can tag newborn calves OK without too much fuss from their mothers --though we did have one mum who thought otherwise for about a week.
A
Anonymous
One question to everyone: would an electric fence keep a bull or cows from running through it? I want to learn from mistakes but I haven't heard anyone mentioned this specific topic.
Yes, no, maybe!
Depends on the incentive to go through it.
You have to remember that an electric fence is a psychological barrier, not a physical barrier like multi-strand barb or field fence. One herd here with Braunviehs uses electric to keep the bulls from the cows when not in breeding season. They are only physically seperated by the width of a drive way and they don't have any problems. Once they learn they don't mess with it. But if they're being chased by soething, in our case it was an emu raising around the pasture, they will run right through it, but they also went through 5 strand barbed and two fences of field fence.
If they are not trained with adequate voltage to teach them, it's amazing how much they will put up with and just shut their eyes and push through, even if the voltage has been increased.
If you use a single strand they may jump it (bulls) but the cows usually don't even bother, even if they're hot to trot and the race track is on the other side of the fence.
dun
Depends on the incentive to go through it.
You have to remember that an electric fence is a psychological barrier, not a physical barrier like multi-strand barb or field fence. One herd here with Braunviehs uses electric to keep the bulls from the cows when not in breeding season. They are only physically seperated by the width of a drive way and they don't have any problems. Once they learn they don't mess with it. But if they're being chased by soething, in our case it was an emu raising around the pasture, they will run right through it, but they also went through 5 strand barbed and two fences of field fence.
If they are not trained with adequate voltage to teach them, it's amazing how much they will put up with and just shut their eyes and push through, even if the voltage has been increased.
If you use a single strand they may jump it (bulls) but the cows usually don't even bother, even if they're hot to trot and the race track is on the other side of the fence.
dun
hillbilly
Well-known member
firsttimer2":17hf6xf1 said:
Don't buy old cows with borrowed money.
Sounds very simple....I must be a hillbilly.
Hillbilly
J Baxter
Well-known member
My worst mistake has to be buying some 3 period heifers at the local sale. Good looking heifers, but a little on the small side. They were supposed to be bred to angus bulls; instead they were bred to a block head charlais. I had one of them go down with calving paralysis and had to cut the pelvic bone on the other to get the calve out (in pieces). I'll stick to buying three to six year old animals or unbred heifers now (if prices ever come down- I'm not giving 1300-1500 for pairs). I'll retain a few heifers out of my best stock for now and sell everything else til the market comes down and it will.
JB
JB
D.R. Cattle
Well-known member
I'm nearly certain I haven't made my worst mistake yet. The older I get the more I realize there's a first time for everything and you don't ever even get close to knowing it all.
Man oh man - where do I start? I have so many to tell you about.
The latest was this Spring.
Wife and I were out looking for newborns in the willow patch. It's about 20 acres of low ground and we call it hospital corner because nearly every cow in our herd goes there to give birth.
It's pretty thick and the ground is dry and cool - perfect for those requiring a little privacy.
Wife has the "tag bag" with vitamins and selenium and so on. I am carrying a cane and a rope. It's a great day and we are actually just going for a walk - having a little chat and we even brought a thermos of coffee to enjoy while we sit on "the rock" in the middle of this ground. A perfect place to spot cows and calves.
Well, number 95 was obviously calved out - but we could never find her calf. We are now a week into looking for it. The calf is obviously sucking the cow, but she has it hid real good.
About 1500 hours I spotted her walking into the bush from the north pasture. I gave wife a nudge and told her we might get a chance to tag her calf today. Wife just grins and says - "We've never been successful with this cow in all the years we owned her - why today?"
Me - "Just a feeling."
So we sat there for about another 30 minutes and watch her leave the far side.
I waited about 30 minutes more and said - "Time for a walk - it's probably napping now."
Shaking her head, wife follows meekly along.
Found the not so little guy sleeping in the thickest part of the bush. No chance for a rope so I snuck up and hooked it with the cane handle. All heck breaks loose, but I wrestle it to the ground and wife prepares the syringe of selenium and the tag.
I always inject first and tag last. Calf has calmed down big time and I'm getting a little braver. So I let off of my death grip to take the needle from wife. Just as I prepare to give this guy a good start on life he bucks, I trip on a root - fall hard to the ground and immediately inject the entire 2 cc's of selenium and vitamin B into my jaw.
As I lay there on the ground, calf walks off and and gives me a dirty look. Wife looks at me and says in a very calm and matter of fact manner - "I wonder if that is going to help you tonight, or if you need to go to the hospital.
So, with a sore jaw and a non-sympathetic wife we walk back to the house. Wife calls the veterinarian. Now Ian is a great animal doctor, but his bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired. After he stopped laughing, which was a long time - he said he did not know if it was going to be a problem or not. So, he called the local hospital and talked with Ginnette - who just happens to live on the farm about three miles south of us.
Another not so sympathetic laughing matter apparently ocurred. Then Ginnette called me at the house. By now, swelling has started to go down as I have been applying ice. Wife answers the phone and the laughing starts again.
So much for professional medical opinions!
Anyway, it turns out the selenium does no harm and the vitamin B is good for you. And every time I go to the local feed store I get snickers from the help. Still not sure how they found out.
I am now 0 and 5 for tagging that cows babies. I don't think I am even going to try next year.
Best regards,
Bez
The latest was this Spring.
Wife and I were out looking for newborns in the willow patch. It's about 20 acres of low ground and we call it hospital corner because nearly every cow in our herd goes there to give birth.
It's pretty thick and the ground is dry and cool - perfect for those requiring a little privacy.
Wife has the "tag bag" with vitamins and selenium and so on. I am carrying a cane and a rope. It's a great day and we are actually just going for a walk - having a little chat and we even brought a thermos of coffee to enjoy while we sit on "the rock" in the middle of this ground. A perfect place to spot cows and calves.
Well, number 95 was obviously calved out - but we could never find her calf. We are now a week into looking for it. The calf is obviously sucking the cow, but she has it hid real good.
About 1500 hours I spotted her walking into the bush from the north pasture. I gave wife a nudge and told her we might get a chance to tag her calf today. Wife just grins and says - "We've never been successful with this cow in all the years we owned her - why today?"
Me - "Just a feeling."
So we sat there for about another 30 minutes and watch her leave the far side.
I waited about 30 minutes more and said - "Time for a walk - it's probably napping now."
Shaking her head, wife follows meekly along.
Found the not so little guy sleeping in the thickest part of the bush. No chance for a rope so I snuck up and hooked it with the cane handle. All heck breaks loose, but I wrestle it to the ground and wife prepares the syringe of selenium and the tag.
I always inject first and tag last. Calf has calmed down big time and I'm getting a little braver. So I let off of my death grip to take the needle from wife. Just as I prepare to give this guy a good start on life he bucks, I trip on a root - fall hard to the ground and immediately inject the entire 2 cc's of selenium and vitamin B into my jaw.
As I lay there on the ground, calf walks off and and gives me a dirty look. Wife looks at me and says in a very calm and matter of fact manner - "I wonder if that is going to help you tonight,
or if you need to go to the hospital.So, with a sore jaw and a non-sympathetic wife we walk back to the house. Wife calls the veterinarian. Now Ian is a great animal doctor, but his bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired. After he stopped laughing, which was a long time - he said he did not know if it was going to be a problem or not. So, he called the local hospital and talked with Ginnette - who just happens to live on the farm about three miles south of us.
Another not so sympathetic laughing matter apparently ocurred. Then Ginnette called me at the house. By now, swelling has started to go down as I have been applying ice. Wife answers the phone and the laughing starts again.
So much for professional medical opinions!
Anyway, it turns out the selenium does no harm and the vitamin B is good for you. And every time I go to the local feed store I get snickers from the help. Still not sure how they found out.
I am now 0 and 5 for tagging that cows babies. I don't think I am even going to try next year.
Best regards,
Bez
CattleAnnie
Well-known member
Oh Bez! That just had to hurt, but thanks for sharing the tale...it's uplifting to read a little humour. I hope your wounded pride healed as fast as that sore jaw.
Take care.
Take care.
A
Anonymous
Ok, this may not be about my worst mistake, but it was the most painful...
One day I was treating a Charolais bull with grain overload. The client didn't have a chute (first part of the mistake) and in case he went down, I didn't want to have his head stuck way through a hole in the gate. I had him on a halter and he was standing about 3 feet from a feeder. I treated him, and was just listening to his guts, standing at his side (beside the feeder). Now he wasn't a nasty bull at all, he just wobbled sideways back and forth once. Unfortunately, I was pinned against the feeder by this 3000 pound animal for a few seconds. My side hurt a bit but I had to keep going with my day.
Another call that day had me treating animals inside a chute with solid sides, so I had to go over a gate to treat each one. My boot slipped a couple of times and of course I landed on the same spot on my side. By the end of the call I was popping ibuprofens like crazy. After that, I had to drive like a maniac down to the skydome in Toronto to go to a concert with a friend. I was in so much pain that I didn't enjoy the concert. Finally the next day, I went to the hospital for x-rays. I had broken 4 ribs on that side. At the time they did nothing but painkillers for broken ribs, so the guy I was working for wouldn't give me even an afternoon off.
For me, the moral of the story is when working with bull, make sure you consider all outcomes.
One day I was treating a Charolais bull with grain overload. The client didn't have a chute (first part of the mistake) and in case he went down, I didn't want to have his head stuck way through a hole in the gate. I had him on a halter and he was standing about 3 feet from a feeder. I treated him, and was just listening to his guts, standing at his side (beside the feeder). Now he wasn't a nasty bull at all, he just wobbled sideways back and forth once. Unfortunately, I was pinned against the feeder by this 3000 pound animal for a few seconds. My side hurt a bit but I had to keep going with my day.
Another call that day had me treating animals inside a chute with solid sides, so I had to go over a gate to treat each one. My boot slipped a couple of times and of course I landed on the same spot on my side. By the end of the call I was popping ibuprofens like crazy. After that, I had to drive like a maniac down to the skydome in Toronto to go to a concert with a friend. I was in so much pain that I didn't enjoy the concert. Finally the next day, I went to the hospital for x-rays. I had broken 4 ribs on that side. At the time they did nothing but painkillers for broken ribs, so the guy I was working for wouldn't give me even an afternoon off.
For me, the moral of the story is when working with bull, make sure you consider all outcomes.
