Steer mounting ?

[Rocktown Gal]

I really do not know the answer to this question...so please be nice!

We have a man that has 6 horses and 1 steer on our property...this morning while feeding the chickens all of my highlands (7), steer and 1 horse was up by the fence could not really see what they were doing so upon further looking notice that the steer was mounting the horse. At this point the other horses took notice and came to the horses rescue and took that horse away. After this happened the steer then went after my cow that just had a calf in March. Arkle was not going for it and pushed the steer away. The steer was not heeding the message and kept going after the cow. Arkle would get in between the cow and the steer, push the steer away, just generally telling him this was not going to happen and the steer was being stubborn and just kept doing it. There was all kinds of ruckus going on here for like 30 minutes between the horses going after the steer and then Arkle going after this steer.

So my question is...is this normal horse/cow behavior? Never seen it happen before but I do not look at the pasture 24/7 either...

[tinknal]

A randy steer will mount just about anything. I've never seen one mount a horse, but it doesn't surprise me a bit.

[Rocktown Gal]

Thanks...me either

[bigfoot2you]

Yup, I too have witnessed it. Maybe they didn't get it "all" when the steer was cut/clamped/whatever. I've had horses and cows do this.....

[Rocktown Gal]

The man came by about an hour ago and we told him about it and that is what he said too "they must not have gotten it all".

[tinknal]

I doubt it has anything to do with "missing" anything. Some just have a stronger urge, and it isn't necessarily just sexual in nature. 3 week old calves do it.

Kinda like a neutered dog and leg humping.

[HighlandCowboy]

Tinknal is right. I have had steers, heifers, and bullls that it is not save to bend down around.

[RedDirt Cowgirl]

Normal? I've never seen a steer or a bull go after another kind of animal. Sounds like he has a loose screw, good on you for telling the owner. Any animal harrassing other stock should be separated, whether it's biting, kicking, or what looks like sexual behavior.

[tinknal]

Originally Posted by RedDirt Cowgirl

Any animal harrassing other stock should be separated, whether it's biting, kicking, or what looks like sexual behavior.

I've never seen a group of animals of any kind that did not engage in all of the above mentioned behaviors.

[topside1]

I've had my share of loose screw steers here...those boys will hump a stump when your not looking...Good thing my goats have 20/20 vision or else....Topside

[RedDirt Cowgirl]

I only know beef cattle and horses; maybe folks just have more space to spread out in here, but I've chatted it around a bit and no one thinks it's good practice to have stock stressed by any kind of hounding. "Takes off weight." "You see it when you've got 'em a bunch, but you don't wanna have that." "You'd have to have one hell of a cutting horse to keep a biter on the place." I'm talking chronic here, not the occasional dust-up. Example we have on the ground now, Darlin', the f. cowpony, can't bear to be out of sight of Rooster, the gelding cowpony, but she gives him a swift kick once in a while. She has to stay by herself.

Maybe another reason is that beef stock is generally separated according to their feed demands, steers aren't mixed up with anything so you don't have to run the others around to separate them out for market. Horses are kept separate from cattle. "It just doesn't make any sense to run everything together" is the consensus here.

[tinknal]

Generally mounting is an occasional issue and does no harm. Where it is a problem is in a feedlot. The steers will gang up on one and continually mount him. The one getting mounted needs to be removed and put into a "buller" pen.