A tiny bit kicked...

**gone-a-milkin** · #1 10/14/07, 03:07 PM

Oh, I am just fine~! A little bruise is all.

We keep the SS dump bucket just outside the gate. It is ALWAYS in this exact spot. Somehow one of the ladies managed to kick it over and have it roll under the gate, across the concrete floor. She kicked it a few times, causing it to ring like a bell, BONG! Then it rolled under the next cow...it bumped her on the front foot and she kicked it into the gutter.

Okay, I was watching and also NEEDING that stupid bucket for someone on the other side..Dumb, dumb, dumb...I got a shovel handle,no shovel attached, and attempted to fish it out of there. That cow saw the stick and WHAMO, in the blink of an eye, there I am holding onto my arm.I probably could have gotten it w/o the stick and she wouldn't have swiped me.(guessing)

Do I know better? Will I ever do THAT again? Thankfully it was a glancing blow and not a bonebreaker. The amazing thing is that it had never ever happened before. Probably couldn't recreate it if I tried..

Once in a while those cows will pull some pretty creative stunts to keep you guessing. Safety first!

tinknal · #2 10/15/07, 08:32 AM

Well, I've been kicked around a thousand times. Cow kicks are the most gentle. A steer can pack a wallop. Calves are lightning fast and can put a hurt on you. The worst are heifers, 400 to 800 lbs. They have the perfect combination of speed and power. Catch one of them in the berries (I have) and you will do the "roll and groan" for a bit. Only kick that put me in the hospital was a horse. A cow just can't hold a candle to a horse in a kicking contest.

Interestingly enough, I've never been kicked by a bull. Must be because them big old nads are just hanging there and they KNOW that I can get even in a hurry...............

dcross · #3 10/15/07, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinknal

Well, I've been kicked around a thousand times. Cow kicks are the most gentle. A steer can pack a wallop. Calves are lightning fast and can put a hurt on you. The worst are heifers, 400 to 800 lbs.

Yep, had a smallish heifer lay me out with a charlie horse once! My leg turned the prettiest colors...

65284 · #4 10/15/07, 10:52 PM

I know what you mean, I got nailed tonight. I was sitting on my stool milking one cow and the Jersey heifer in the next stanchion got me. Not entirely her fault. I failed to shut the door and one of the dogs slipped into the barn without me seeing her and was apparently was nosing around the heifer. She kicked the dog and got me too. Wow, three, I think, kicks so quick I hardly realized what had happened. She got the dog and also got me at least twice. I guess I was what's called collateral damage. My ribs and hip are sore and bruised, it's already painful. I'm not looking forward to what it I know it will feel like in the morning.

sammyd · #5 10/16/07, 01:03 AM

Had a cow get me once when we had the technician in vaccinating the herd. I don't think the needle ever really penetrated the skin she was so fast. Caught me right in the crotch and knocked me across the aisle into the gutter. The lady technician was all freaked out but my mom and sis could hardly stop laughing. After I was able to walk I put the kicker on every animal before the tech administered the shot.
Nothing gentle about that cows kick.

tinknal · #6 10/16/07, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sammyd

Nothing gentle about that cows kick.

Well, it's NEVER gentle when you catch one on the "boys".

**gone-a-milkin** · #7 10/16/07, 08:41 PM

Tinknal, How on earth could you have gotten kicked a thousand times? I have been wondering that all day! I usually get it good a couple of times per year.Although I will never forget a springer we called "White Lightning"...she is no longer with us...maybe I could have racked up a few hundred kicks from her, if she was still around though.

My last good whack was administered by a bull calf, 3 days old. That was one angry looking kneecap for many days. My own fault too, cause I had been Warned. He is also no longer with us, hmmm...

tinknal · #8 10/17/07, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gone-a-milkin

Tinknal, How on earth could you have gotten kicked a thousand times? I have been wondering that all day!

Well, I grew up with a registered Angus herd, Worked a year on a 800 pair cow calf operation in MN, Spent 2 years on a large ranch in MT, and spent a year on a 23,000 head feedlot in KS. I figure that I've handled upwards of 100,000 head of cattle. If only one in a hundred kicked me that that works out to about 1000 times. If it is an exaggeration it isn't much of one. I only have ONE cow now, and I bet I've gotten kicked 20 times by her training her to hand milk.

**gone-a-milkin** · #9 10/17/07, 09:20 PM

Okay, now that makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up for me. I guess I have mostly been around dairy cows, no feedlot work.

tinknal · #10 10/18/07, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gone-a-milkin

Okay, now that makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up for me. I guess I have mostly been around dairy cows, no feedlot work.

Yeah, I didn't even mention dairy cattle. I did relief milking for a couple years. Hard for a cow to get a good shot in though when her head is in a stantion.....LOL

Eunice · #11 10/20/07, 01:45 PM

I had a few whollops in the about 45 years I have been working around cows - and still love most of them. I am now a relief milker at a 100 cow dairy. Recently my boss sent a nice four year old cow to the butcher because she was mean with her kicking - you could tell that she was aiming for you to the best of her ability. She was less than two months fresh and milking 100 pounds a day. We don't need a cow wanting to injure people He has also sent a few nice looking springing heifers to the auction because they were just too high strung. I can milk all 100 cows, including first fresheners without the kickers in a herring bone parlor.