I hate it when cattle get out...

[Karin L]

Especially when you've got to chase them home that's a mile away (or more, in some cases), they've jumped the fence during a particularly bad thunderstorm (result of having the top half of a spruce tree fall on them), have a flight zone of 50 feet and are panic-striken, haven't been home, or near home, in 9 hours, there's road construction going on not a quater of a mile away, and the neighbour's cows and bulls are distracting them by coming up to see whats going on.

Oh yeah, and it's too blamed muddy to drive a truck (or even a quad) and you've gotta walk, AND your in the neighbor's GPS-seeded, weed-free, barley field. So I think by know you have a good idea of what I mean.

Well, that's all that was against us when I was trying to help bring four escapees home. ALL four of them where wild (not the type that would let you touch them with a 50-foot pole), and no matter what, they took off at a dead run, leaving us behind to walk to catch up to them. And we did not want to run them either.

So. No quad (don't own one b/c it's not needed hardly), no truck. But walking. We caught up to them, over a half-mile later, when they were cornered beside the neighbor's pasture, with trees behind them, an electric fence on one side, us on the other, and no other direction to go forward. Again, they ran. But apparently, the electric fence wasn't electrified.

And they went right through it. To join the neighbor's cow herd instead, leaving us behind with nothing else to do but to phone the owner and let them know they got four extra cattle in their herd, and fix fence.

No word yet when we'll see them again, but I'm guessing we'll probably we'll get them back at the end of the grazing season.

Now, these four steers: 3 of them were bulls that had to be sent to the vet a few months ago, and the fourth an animal with a shoulder abscess. All four of these I posted about on here. All four I had to separate from main herd for their own medical reasons. All four, at some level or other, have this thing of giving me, mom, or dad, the deer-in-the-headlights-look whenever we're near them or with them. All four have ("temporarily") moved away.

Good thing there's more tamer ones that I can mess around with and be with more than them.

[travlnusa]

Next stop, sale barn.

[de Molay]

The first thing you should do, is to make sure they know what a bucket of sweet sweet oats is. I have never seen a cow in my 50 years of farming who could resist a bucket of oats. They will follow that bucket through hell and high water. Go to the feed store and buy some sweet feed. Get a 5 gal white pail and half fill it with oats, wait until they are on the other side of the pasture and walk up to them shaking the pail and call out to them. I always call coboss coboss. and and put a small pile on the ground in front of them, after you have their attention. Then walk towards the barn, and stop and let them eat what you put out. Then do the same thing again. All the way to where ever you want them to go. You will experience the opposite effect. They will break down fences. To follow you home. And they will ignore all other distractions. Unless they are in standing heat for a bull. In that case wait until the bull finishes his job and walk the free bred cow home. It works everytime and never fails. Oats is like herion to cows and horse's.

[Karin L]

I know about the oats thing (prefer barley 'cause it's grown here way more than oats), but we didn't have no buckets to bang on or have with us...never even thought of it, actually. THanks for the reminder. Would've made our work a lot easier.

They won't last long around here anyway. They'll be gone by this fall.

[floramum]

That Is A Nightmare. Last One We Had Did That, Spend 4 Days In A Row Going Down To Get Her Out Of The Neighbors Lush Tropical Woods. They Are Wonderful Neighbors, Thankfully. Finally Brought Her Up Here To The House Where We Had Brought Her Calf On The First Day. We Had Also Brought A Bigger Calf Which Was Ready To Wean. They Were Confined. After Having Her Up Here For A Week, We Let Them Out......she Nursed Both Of Them....boy That Extra Calf Was Not A Bit Too Proud It Wasnt Her Own Mama.... Finally Took The Calves To Another Pasture........where That Extra Calf Promptly Took Up Company With A Fresh Cow....or Tried Too.

[Sunraven]

You needed a dog. They try and run off you just tell the dog to get ahead and after a couple times of the dog turning them back they learn not to run.

[JulieLou42]

I use Corn-Oats-Barley mix WITH molasses from the feed store. She always comes for that...knows the sound of the No. 10 can I use...it's a real heads up for her.

[jnap31]

Yeah it's tuff when they run off.

[redroper60]

A good horse, a nylon rope and a half top trailer come in handy too.