Getting the cows home

The post "The cows are out" reminded me of my cattle. I started by putting two five gallon pails of corn in the manger in the barn and calling them from the field..they wouldn't come so I went out and drove them in..next day the same thing and after four or five days the older cows heeded my call and headed for the barn. After that I would alternate salted hay and corn and then I did it randomly. The cows would come when I called them and the older smarter cows would hear the shute close when I threw corn down and I would watch their heads come up and they would come on the run...behavior of an animal by random positive reward. Finally the cows came whenever I called them, calves as well and they were occasionally rewarded. All I needed to do was get out of the truck in the yard and holler for the cattle and in a few minutes they were all in the yard where I could count and check each one. It made my life easier.I would walk around them and spray each one for flies,curry comb the bull and spray him and sometimes put a bit of used motor oil on their backs to deter flies and ringworm. The bull even liked getting sprayed with the garden hose,he would stand there as long as I sprayed him. Animals can be taught a lot of things and can learn a lot more that you think. I had an old cow with horns who could get the tip of her horn on the latch, lift it and shove it open and open the door into the stable..kinda miss the cattle in a way.

Remember rail fences? My mother said they had a cow that would use her horns to unstack the rail fence and get out. (Early 20th century)

KEH

When we milked cows,we had 44 stanchions and every cow stood in the same one every time. Even when we were switching as many as 24 cows,the ones coming in the second time would come right in to the same place every time.

I remember seeing some black and white still pictures one time of an automatic feeder that some college had built to dispense feed at certain intervals. The cow in the pen learned to associate the turning of a sprocket with the feed coming down and would reach up and turn the sprocket with her mouth.

I usually feed my cows in the Winter with the Oliver 1365 and they will be come when they hear that tractor,I can run almost any other tractor and they won't pay any attention.