young bull question

[skyhightree1]

I have been raising a young bull to see how he turned out to either sell him or put him on some hereford cows eventually and hes always been kinda stand offish and today while feeding him some grain I started to pet his head since he really never stood still long enough for me to do it and he started doing the motion as if he was gonna but me but towards my hand like get your hand off me or maybe he was playing but while doing he kept walking toward me and i backed up he didnt paw the ground or anything was he playing or is he starting to get agressive and starting to feel his oats hes about year and half old. What do yall think? I am not bull expert nor animal behavior specialist. :lol:

 

[Jogeephus]

Next time swat him in the head with a stick. You don't need to make a pet out of a bull. You need for him to respect you and to have a little fear of you cause if he plays or if he tries to express his dominance on you - you lose.

 

[skyhightree1]

Thanks Jo it makes sense but I didn't want to be beating on him if he was playing especially since he just came around and let me handle him a lil more. But I see your point and I will have to crack him a good one I guess.

 

[Alan]

Agree with Jo, he needs to walk away from you when you approach, no bull should ever be a pet. By scratching his head you are making hima pet. With that said, my first ever bull i could feed him grain in the feed trough and while he ate I gave him vaccs or wormer, but never tried to pet him. As said you or the bull.... You lose.

 

[skyhightree1]

Yea, I didn't want him as a pet just wanted him to be able to be handled if need be without much problem. My grandmother told me dont be doing that shes been around cattle her whole life and said same hes product not pet.

 

[Jogeephus]

Sky, I had a bull once that I thought was exceptionally gentle and I figured he was the exception to this rule and I began breaking it many many times. I got to the point that I dropped my guard with him and one day he went nuts and ran me. Must have been his T level or whatever but he tried to get me and it taught me a valuable lesson. Thank God for hay rings!

 

[skyhightree1]

wow yea i dont need that bs thanks yall for potentially saving my life and showing me the light . I am hoping he wont be aggressive though but if he gets that way he will either be in my freezer or sale barn. the only aggressive animals i have experience are first calf heifers that butted me or chased me

 

[Commercialfarmer]

Sky, I had a bull once that I thought was exceptionally gentle and I figured he was the exception to this rule and I began breaking it many many times. I got to the point that I dropped my guard with him and one day he went nuts and ran me. Must have been his T level or whatever but he tried to get me and it taught me a valuable lesson. Thank God for hay rings!

x2 I don't mind them being trained with just a bucket, but a pet bull is no bueno. Way too many stories, and most begin with he was always so gentile and then all of sudden he turned. The ending varies a little. Best scenario is having to change your shorts.

 

[skyhightree1]

ruined undies is better than under sod in my book anyday...

 

[DLD]

In my experience, it's not a good practice to habitually scratch or pet anything (cattle wise) on the head. Even a kids show calf, no matter how gentle, will act like they're butting at you when they just want a scratch. When they get bigger, it's at the least a pain in the rear, but can be dangerous, even though they mean no harm. If I'm keeping a young bull, I want him to be gentle, too - I like to scratch 'em on the back. I try to halter break them if I get a chance, but halter broke or not, almost every bull I've ever owned I could load in the pasture with a bucket of feed. Doesn't mean I'm not always very careful around them, though - never had a close call with one of my own, but they all can get a little snorty at times.

 

[3MileRanch]

Just want to tell a story and add my two cents. I will tell the story first.

We had a momma go down last year shortly after calving. She was old and the calve was a huge bullock. Not sure where he came from, lol. Anyway, we hung her fromt he hips for a few weeks, but she never recovered so we finally put her down. The one who knows all was bottle feeding the calf and thought he was a pet. The calf would follow her around and she just thought it was the coolest thing when it would crawl under the wire and lay down on the porch waiting for her at night.

I finally had to explain to her that soon enough she would have a 1000 lb animal thinking it was normal to curl up on the porch and wait for her to come out the door, lol.

Ok, Maybe not funny, but Im going to blame it on my delivery.

Ok, thats the story, now my two cents. You want your animals to be comfortable around you, but still respect you. They shouldnt run for the fence line when you walk over, but when you get about six or seven feet from them they should be slowly moving away in an open space. Not running in fright, just moving away.

 

[greybeard]

Many many years ago, when I was home on leave, my kids were all very young, and we drove up to the farm. My father had a big brahma bull he was very proud of, and he was pretty docile. There's an old picture here-- of all my kids sitting on the back of that bull, with my father holding his nose ring--I took the picture. After I started raising my own cattle, I looked at that picture and thought "How stupid were you back then--your whole family right there in potential death's reach, all at once and you thought nothing of it".
Dad had to get rid of that same bull a couple years later when he developed a mean streak and no one could get near him.

 

[skyhightree1]

I gotta admit after reading the post I feel like a Jack ASK I guess I should have just tried to bucket train him and not be able to get close and work with him.

 

[J&D Cattle]

You want your animals to be comfortable around you, but still respect you. They shouldnt run for the fence line when you walk over, but when you get about six or seven feet from them they should be slowly moving away in an open space. Not running in fright, just moving away.

This is my theory and practice too.

 

[SRBeef]

Never touch a bull and always keep your eye on him no matter how docile he has been or appears.

Repeat: never touch a bull including "petting" him.

Jim

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Never touch a bull and always keep your eye on him no matter how docile he has been or appears.

Repeat: never touch a bull including "petting" him.

Jim

+1

 

[bigbull338]

as said never touch a bulls head because he will take a swing at you.i like all my bulls gentle enough to walk around an handle.an if a bull isnt that way i wont have him.but he has to respect me an my space.

 

[skyhightree1]

good point I was in the pasture today the bull wouldnt even come near me lol maybe he read the post about cracking him in the head with a stick lol