Beef cows, yes sometimes they are stupid!

First of all I am NOT trying to high jack JDSellers post about beef cows.

I am a STO with 10 calves that I feed everyday. I have been feeding them commercial feed for 45 days in the same area of one pasture/paddock. I am also control grazing then so my graze will last much longer. I have been control grazing them for 10 days. Every day I have to go lead them with a feed bucket to the gate that separates the graze from the "home paddock". Once I lead them to the gate they will go through and to the feed troughs and wait for me to pour the feed out. They usually watch me drive up with the feed, so they know what is going on. They must sit back and laugh and think to themselves: " we have this farmer trained well"

I am sure others have stories of how stupid you think your cows are from time to time.

That's the way to do it. You will never have an emergency - if they ever get out all you have to do it drive up with a bucket.

I said cows not calves. LOL

Feeder calves and heavy steers are sometimes the stupidest things on the planet.

Have them standing in an open 16 foot gate and they try to run down a 1 foot wide hole between the pickup and barn. That is feeder calves.

The good thing is feeding them with a bucket. I always give my cows or calves some feed whenever they are out on pasture and fences. Even if it is just a few buckets each week. You can take a bucket and walk any of my cows just about anywhere.

That's the way I handle my big herd, of 3 cows and 3 calves, They sure do love that barn yard buffet, molasses grain! Will follow any white bucket, whether I have any thing in it, or not.

had an old mazda i used to feed with and once i happened to be sittimg watching and all of a sudden truck started bouncing here was a cow climbing in back!! remembering a guy had a pet steer and he would let him in with the calves so he got to be boss had him trained to go right into semi the rest would follow then he would bring his pet off and leave the rest on.
the early cattle drives out west were rotational grazing the would start north as soon as the grass got green .they would also use lead steers that they would bring back next year.
grazing is a lot of fun watching cattle

I have just this winter started feeding some of mine with a bucket. Saved my butt the other day when I tried to pull off 5 cows and calves from the 2 that haven't calved yet. Those 2 first time heifers followed the bucket back to the lot they were in after I let them all out to the other side so I could get things "OUT" of the barn yard the calves were born in. Sometimes you have to be smarter than they are.

I rotation graze my 20 cows and calves, and regularly (3-4 times a year) have to move them across a county road to the 20 acres pasture on the other side. I also have 4 other areas on this side of the road that I use in the rotation.

Well it takes no more than 2-3 minutes to move them from one area to the other.....they soon learn that the grass is really, "greener on the other side of the fence". All I have to do is start the Gator and I will have there full attention from anywhere on the farm if they are within earshot. And if that Gator moves towards a gate, they will be there in short order wanting to go to the other side.

Once in the new pasture, they are quiet as a mouse, but let that grass get ate down to a certain point and they will let me know it's time to move...some days I'd like to cut the vocal cords right out of them, lol.

the thing that really amazied me was when i started grazing pigs how quick some were to learn. one memory i have is i ran a mixed herd jerseys and holstiens and i strip graze thats move fence as needed then bring in back fence like green chopping but i moved the wire and the jerseys were the lead cows well it wasnt long and they got pushed out the next thing i knew the jerseys were all over on the old strip making out like they had the best grass in the world sure enough the holstiens came over pushed the jerseys out and where did the jerseys go and they had there bellys full by the time the holstiens wised up

Young feeder calves and old cows are completely different animals when it comes to smarts.

I can lead them to the gate and they will not pass through it for nothing. Fight for half an hour to just get one through so the others will follow.

Same cows, same gate, I open it to pull the tractor through and they all will be in a dead run past me before I can get back on the tractor.

Not stupid, retarded...........

And yes I have tried the tractor trick when I want them to come in. They just stand there as I pull through it.

Freakin mind reading retarded SOBs.

I have dairy cattle (Holsteins') I've told my vet, "If you guys ever come up with a vaccination for bovine stupidity, don't ask, just sign this herd up".

Used to lead FIL"s big Angus bull around by rubbing a handful of hay on his nose. He was huge, but gentle as a kitten and would follow that hay virtually anywhere.

I agree on cows vs calves and the bucket. Have a rye patch I will open this spring. I already know that once I put them in there the calves will let the cows through the gate to get to water, watching them go through it, and then run down the inside of the fence to the far end where there is no gate and stand there and beller.

Mark

(quoted from post at 14:39:55 01/06/14) I agree on cows vs calves and the bucket. Have a rye patch I will open this spring. I already know that once I put them in there the calves will let the cows through the gate to get to water, watching them go through it, and then run down the inside of the fence to the far end where there is no gate and stand there and beller.

Click to expand...

Ain't that the truth! Since I've always done most of my cattle moving work alone, the white bucket is my best tool. I got them trained so that hearing some grain rattle in a bucket from 1/4 mile away will get them come running.

When they split at a gate - yup, the dumb young 'uns will always be the ones running down the wrong side of the fence - I lead those that are on the "right" side of fence back along the fence to the gate - the troublemakers will follow them on the wrong side of the fence. As soon as I get them all to the gate, I turn 90 degrees and take that bucket directly away from gate. The dumb ones see the herd following me and they will come through the gate to follow them before they realize what they've just done. Put some grain on the ground and then circle back and close the gate....

A few winters ago, the neighborhood kids all came over to sled ride on a big hill in our pasture. My wife fixed one of those big thermos jugs full of hot chocolate, and carried it across the pasture to them. It was a funny sight - all the cattle were lined up single file following her. They thought she had a bucket of corn for them.

I have a different group of steers ever year. Every time I open the gate to the small pasture area in the spring its the same thing. One or two will stay back in their lot and spend half the day balling until they finally figure it out. I even go in and try to chase them out with usually no luck.

I grew up on a dairy farm. I think dairy cows are really stupid.

Every time I pull into mt friends place to deliver hay, his cows are standing there watching us, they know its the feed wagon, what shocks me is there's god knows how many other diesel trucks coming in and out of the place, so I don't know if it's the trucks sound, or they visually can tell?? Maybe they can recognize my truck and trailer, I dunno.

Agree. Sometimes I just put some cubes 10-20' past the gate to
stop them there and allow the shy ones time to figure out that they
CAN pass through and it won't bite them. After a couple of doses
of that the problem is solved.

Thanks,
Mark