Bull's Fence Fighting!

BJ · #1 06/10/07, 08:44 PM

Someone leases the land next door to ours and runs his angus cattle there in the spring & summer. We discovered yesterday that he has just turned an adult bull in with his herd. We have a 3 yr old red poll bull who was being taunted yesterday by the neighbors bull. By leading our cows from that side of our property we were able to finally lure our bull away from the fence where the other bull was strutting his stuff!

We really need our cattle to graze that 20 acres of our property as it is lush and green and is part of our pasture rotation. The attitude of the leasee is that bulls will be bulls and his bull may or may not stay on his side of the fence.

We have never had this problem before...but our bull was obviously riled by the presence of the neighbors bull standing at the fence. If one pushes over the fence...what will they do? Will they push & shove and eventually one give up? We need our bull to be with our cows and keeping him in the corral is not a good option for us.

What has been your experience with neighbor bulls and how did you handle it? DH says if that bull crosses the fence he may have to shoot it! Is that legal? Is there any way to make these boys tend to their business. Neither bull is doing the cows any good by standing at the fence fighting! We are frustrated with this situation!

fordy · #2 06/10/07, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BJ

Someone leases the land next door to ours and runs his angus cattle there in the spring & summer. We discovered yesterday that he has just turned an adult bull in with his herd. We have a 3 yr old red poll bull who was being taunted yesterday by the neighbors bull. By leading our cows from that side of our property we were able to finally lure our bull away from the fence where the other bull was strutting his stuff!

We really need our cattle to graze that 20 acres of our property as it is lush and green and is part of our pasture rotation. The attitude of the leasee is that bulls will be bulls and his bull may or may not stay on his side of the fence.

We have never had this problem before...but our bull was obviously riled by the presence of the neighbors bull standing at the fence. If one pushes over the fence...what will they do? Will they push & shove and eventually one give up? We need our bull to be with our cows and keeping him in the corral is not a good option for us.

What has been your experience with neighbor bulls and how did you handle it? DH says if that bull crosses the fence he may have to shoot it! Is that legal? Is there any way to make these boys tend to their business. Neither bull is doing the cows any good by standing at the fence fighting! We are frustrated with this situation!

...............have a meeting with your neighbor , tell him of the problem(no threats nor any mention of shooting !!!) , run a Hot wire parallel with the separating fence as far back as possible . the further the better . You can get a charger with a small solar panel so no need for running power . , fordy...

georgiarebel · #3 06/10/07, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fordy

...............have a meeting with your neighbor , tell him of the problem(no threats nor any mention of shooting !!!) , run a Hot wire parallel with the separating fence as far back as possible . the further the better . You can get a charger with a small solar panel so no need for running power . , fordy...

+1 on the hotwire

We had a problem with the bulls jumping the fence when we tried to separate them.

Ran a hot wire and solar panel with some standoffs on the t-post. Haven't had a problem since. (Fingers crossed)

GR

agmantoo · #4 06/10/07, 09:19 PM

Since both bulls have cows with them the situation will not be as bad as if one had no cows. If the fence is decent I expect things to be OK other than the bellowing/pawing

BJ · #5 06/10/07, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fordy

...............have a meeting with your neighbor , tell him of the problem(no threats nor any mention of shooting !!!) , run a Hot wire parallel with the separating fence as far back as possible . the further the better . You can get a charger with a small solar panel so no need for running power . , fordy...

We've heard that a "hot" fence should help..and we do have a solar charger. Our bull will probably respect it on our side....but what about the bull on the other side that has no hot wire and is the one who is doing the growling! We're already thinking maybe next year we need to AI! Keeping a bull year around has its challenges.

Up North · #6 06/11/07, 12:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BJ

... he has just turned an adult bull in with his herd. ... the other bull was strutting his stuff...

Two bulls that can smell, see, and hear each other will try to sort out the pecking order right off. They are deciding who is the boss, marking their turf, claiming their Ladies. Perfectly natural. Just don't get between them. Let the hot wire do that.
Once it's established who's who, things will most likely quiet down.

Gin64 · #7 06/11/07, 07:12 AM

Years ago Dad had a similar problem.He was going 100%AI and neighbor had a scrub jumper bull that would NOT stay where he belonged.Dad tried everything but neighbor refused to corral the bull or help fix fence.Wouldn't even come to get the bull when he was out,Dad had to put him back.Finally, enough is enough,Dad ran the bull in the barn and used his burdizzo clamps on him.Put the bull back in his pasture and had no more problem.

#8 06/11/07, 07:56 PM

Bulls are, well, bulls. You will just have to deal with it. You can't force him to take his bull away, after all he is no different than you, and also needs to get his cows bred. Legally I really doubt you can shoot him whether he gets in with your cows or not. If he is a REAL problem (as in out all the time and the neighbour doesn't do anything about it) you could have him impounded though.

They may just bellow at each other, or, they might get physical. Bulls can tear down a lot of fence, then they may just go their own ways, or you might have a big mix up. I'm not really sure what you expect your neighbour to do, unless his bull is in with your cows, and he doesn't come to get him out you really have no right to tell him what to do. If you are worried about it, put a hot wire on the fence. If the neighbours bull is jumping/crawling the fence then you call HIM about it. We deal with neighbour bulls in many of our pastures, if their bull gets in with our cows, we will either put him back ourselves, or call the neighbour same thing goes if our bulls are out. As for wrecked fences, as the saying goes it takes two to tango, and if the bulls get to fighting it isn't just the neighbour bulls fault, your bull is in on it too. The best thing you can do is to teach YOUR bull to respect the fence. Before breeding season keep him in an electric fence, at least that will lessen the chance of him wanting to tangle with another bull through the fence. And if the other bull doesn't have anything to fight with then he likely won't wreck the fence either.

Keep an eye on your cows, so you know quickly if there is a problem. It could just as easily be your bull in with his cows as vice versa. And don't be too disappointed if you end up with a couple calves from the wrong bull. It happens.

Oxankle · #9 06/12/07, 09:24 PM

Fussing about bulls is no good. One man has as much right to keep a bull as another. The trick is keeping bulls where they belong.

Run a hot wire on stand-0ffs along your side of the fence about 40 inches off the ground. If one of the bulls is the kind who sticks his nose over the fence put another hot wire on top of the fence.

Bulls will generally fight thru the fence, tearing up a hundred yards or more of fence, before one of them breaks thru for a real fight. The hot wire will stop all of that. I've seen bulls stand twenty feet from a fence, bellowing and pawing the ground but getting no closer. This is a dead give away that they tried the hot wire and did not like it.

Neighbor has braford and crossbred brahma bulls, sale barn stuff, but they are big and have horns. My registered angus bull tried them a few years ago, wound up in the neighbor's pasture. They whipped him so thorougly that he would not come out of the brush for three days. Finally got him home with a bucket of feed and a dog--he simply did not want to come out with those other bulls around. I had to drive them over the hill before I could manage my bull.

I put a hot wire up there even before I fixed the fence. It was really torn up.
Ox

ksfarmer · #10 06/12/07, 09:30 PM

When dealing with cattle and fences , just remember "the world is round". Your bull could just as easily be at fault. Your neighbor has as much right to put in a bull as you do. I would try the electric fence idea and try to stay on a friendly basis with the neighbor. Shooting his bull is no answer,,next time yours might be in his pasture.