Baby to big to have bad manners

SandraD · #1 10/03/05, 07:22 AM

Hello,
I am new to your group, but you all seem very knowledgable. I just bought a 8 month old bottle fed female Beefalo. They said she was "very friendly". What they meant was "we didn't teach her any manners". She is about 300 lbs. and has horns. She has no respect for my space and is hurting me with her head/horns. I have tried several things that don't faze her. Can someone tell me SPECIFICLLY what to do to get her under control and make her back off?
Thank you!!

Goat Freak · #2 10/03/05, 10:16 AM

Sray bottle?

Haggis · #3 10/03/05, 12:55 PM

I know nothing about buffalo but I do know that to control a bovine one has to dominate them, or show them that one can dominate them.

Fence your buffalo in a tight area and make sure the critter gets no feed or water except from you.

When you can, put a halter on the varmint and tie it up to show it that you can dominate it.T hey have to learn that they have no freedom unless you let them have it, no water unless you them have it, and no food unless you let them have it.

When the horned beefsteak understands a halter and doesn't fight it, put a collar on it and make a practice of tying it about the place.

You must let the creature know that you are in charge. Any bovine will try to dominate other bovines, animals, or humans if it can; it is the only language they speak or understand.

Do not fight the varmint as it will eventually fight back and it will win. Just watch other cattle, they rarely fight but each one knows who is above them on the pecking order and will rarely challenge their superior.

If all else fails buffalo burger is good eats. Better to burger the beast than than bury a buddy.

woodspirit · #4 10/03/05, 01:16 PM

There are buffalo farms around her. They also raise beefalo. The one thing that I am certain of is, bison can never be tamed. They are always wild and always dangerous. Even if you hear to the contrary. A woman was just killed out west who worked on a buffalo ranch. Happened less than a month ago. She was trying to move it into another pen or trying to load in a trailer. Anyway they said the animal just went nuts and killed her. The guys out here who keep them are very cautious when they are near them.

pygmywombat · #5 10/03/05, 02:59 PM

Get her dehorned, put a halter and lead rope on her and let her run around it with for a week so she respects the rope, tie her tight to a post when you have to work around her, and don't hesitate to whack her with something if she get's nasty with you- don't beat her, but a slap on the cheek so it makes a big noise generally wards off a badly behaved heifer long eoungh for you to get safe.

Philip · #6 10/03/05, 07:44 PM

Sell her, or freeze her, or bred off her then do either of the above, but don't trust her. If she has no fear of humans at this size she might not be worth the effort if she poses a danger to you or your family !
Have you asked the previous owners if you could swap her for a more docile animal, or get a refund ? No animal is worth putting yourself at risk for

agmantoo · #7 10/03/05, 10:08 PM

Cease to have one on one contact with this animal. Isolate her in a decent paddock and start feeding grain and good hay. When she weighs 500 lbs or so call the processing plant and have her delivered. She should eat very well and will not be large enough to hurt someone familiar with cattle handling at that weight. Now, go buy yourself a domestic calf and enjoy her. I have an acquaintance that has one leg, the other had to be removed after he was mauled by such an animal.

Ronney · #8 10/04/05, 04:59 AM

Hi Sandra,
I know very little about beefalo and don't know what your long-term plans were for this heifer, but I think I would have to go with the advice given by Philip and Agman.

Often my hand reared calves can get pretty stroppy as they grow and don't know their own strength but a few well-aimed smacks across the nose soon teach them that bunting me up the arse isn't the done thing. However, these are all Friesian, Jersey, Herefords and Angus and I suspect that isn't going to work for your girl. As Agman suggested, dump her in the freezer and get yourself something along the lines of the breeds I've just mentioned. There are many good breeds to choose from other than those but they will all give you satisfaction without needing to be fearful of handling them.

Good luck,
Cheers,
Ronnie

pygmywombat · #9 10/04/05, 05:46 AM

She would also probably make some excellent baby beef at this age. Gene Logsdon likes to butcher at 6 months for tender meat.

vtfarma · #10 10/04/05, 07:06 AM

If it was me, I would try a plastic bat across the nose first to see if that would get her attention - won't really hurt her - just will sting a little. I guess I would double check too whether she has lice and is itchy. Maybe she is like our sow was when she was so itchy. She would lift me right off my feet to scratch when I went it to feed and water her. Your little problem was probably more pet than anything and the previous owners didn't teach her that she wasn't a soft, fluffy kitten.

If all else fails put her in the freezer. Just from my standpoint I would need to exhaust all the possibilities before I butchered her. Oh, dehorn her too!

coso · #11 10/04/05, 03:19 PM

2 X 4 across the nose a couple of times when she gets you ! She will respect you after that.

wr · #12 10/04/05, 05:12 PM

I was of the impression that Beefalo were sterile or mostly sterile and unless my memory is failing me, this female would likely only be destined to join the food chain so it is simply a matter of deciding when it should happen. If she's breaching your space and making you feel uncomfortable, sooner seems like a better idea than later.

tatanka · #13 10/06/05, 11:12 AM

We raise Black Angus beef cattle and we manage a large buffalo ranch. We do not ever cross the two. However, they are not sterile and they can be bred back to a beef bull. We have raised orphaned buffalo heifer calves on a bottle and they are very tame during that time period but we always return them to the herd gradually when they are weaned and they always go back to the herd and stay semi-tame. I would never advise raising a buffalo or part buffalo bull calf on a bottle because they are just more wild from birth. We do dehorn all the bottle raised buffalo calves. They still have a tendency to walk up to us and are very curious when we are in the pasture whether we are walking, riding a four wheeler, in the pickup or on the tractor so we dehorn these calves to prevent them unintentionally hurting one of us later.

If you put your calf in a pasture situation with other buffalo or cattle then she will become part of the herd and tend to be more like them. However, she will always be more curious towards humans and may indeed injure you. You either need to break her with a halter and dehorn her or you need to dehorn her and put her out to pasture as a producer. She will never make a good pet and I would never completely trust her.

Marla