We figured out why the person who lost the bull didn't come running to claim him again.
He was scheduled to be shipped today. Our livestock hauler was going to come between 7:30-8:00 AM to pick him up.
Dad had been planning how we would catch and contain him. He had two nice cattle gates and a third, slightly shorter cattle gate we had picked up at an auction. A hay bale was placed in the panels and we had cattle panels leading up to the area. We guided him into the area, along with our two steers, managed to get the heifers out. Dad pulled the panels around and closed the gap. It was a bit smaller than dad had thought it would be, but seemed fine. Well, this bull has *never* been in a confined space here since his arrival August 4th. They've had 80 acres to run. He does not handle confined spaces well. This was around 7:50AM. He started panicking and looking at how to get out. He tried to climb out over the bale, but dad stopped him. He turned and proceded to climb over the shorter panel and smooshed it in the process.
He was out and moving up the road, but slowly. Now that he was out he was fine again.
So we are quickly unfastening panels and formulating a new plan.
A younger neighbor drives by in her little red car. She's about 17 or 18 and has lived down past us for most of her life. She, her cousins along with my siblings and I used to play together as kids.
We live on a Dead End street with about 7 families past us (one of them being my younger sister and her two kids).
So she drives by, slows down behind the bull. At this point he has stopped moving and is situated on the edge of the road. Plenty of space to get around him and he isn't even moving. She pulls up behind him (directly across from our group of heavy bred does) and lays on the horn. He starts moving and she proceeds to chase him up the road in her car swerving to stay behind him, blaring her horn the entire way.
Needless to say, we were not able to just bring him back the way he had come. He was at a full run by the time he hit our drive and headed back to the fields. So dad follows him back out into the fields and we manage to get him back to the corner where we were trying to catch him.
I spent about two or three minutes calming myself down so I wouldn't spook him with my vibes. I was incredibly mad.
He was still a good bull. Quite co-operative. We were able to guide him with ease. He even went back into the catch area with the heifers and steers. At that point I just held them there while we waited for the hauler. I was guarding a 12-16 foot area, but he was fine. Calm. Just stood there. A half hour or so later the hauler shows up.
I gave dad my suggestions for how to load since I had had time standing there studying the set up to figure one out.
We lucked out. George's trailer was empty. Half the time we have to load with other animals trying to get out.
He went in, banging around and pulled one section forward so the bull had a smaller forward section. We guided the bull over and he didn't hesitate one iota about going right in and to the end of the trailer. George hopped in and quickly closed the second gate. That's when it happened.
That bull *EXPLODED.* He was bashing around, climbing the walls, snorting, pawing....one unhappy bull. I kept waiting for the trailer to either fall over or for him to break through the wall.
George said it had been awhile since he had one that bent out of shape. That bull kept that up for the next five minutes at least and was still bashing around when George pulled out.
Yikes!
Hopefully, George did not go ahead with his plan to try and put another cow up front with him. He was saying he might have to cancel one of the animals.
He's used to our hand raised bulls that go by 15 months old and are led onto the trailer with a halter.
I respect bulls even more than I did. I have never seen a bull like that...Ever.
Dad said he hadn't either, but he's never had anything that could confine a bull for them to get to that state. They get unhappy and they can usually just climb over and out of anything we have to work animals.
So....he's gone and after seeing that, I'm glad it went as well as it did.
