A day in the life of 2 cowboys

tinknal · #1 03/17/12, 05:05 PM

I just got to thinking about a day many moons ago, and started chuckling and thought I'd share. I was working on a large cow-calf operation. The cow boss and I were riding the "big pasture" during calving season. We would catch any new calf and tag and vaccinate them for e.coli, and look for sick cows and cows having calving trouble.

We found a Limousine cow calving, and the calf was hiplocked. We stepped off our horses and the boss tied his horse to a nearby fence. We pulled the calf out, and the boss, thinking that the cow would take some time to recover from the event drug the calf around to the front of the cow so she could lick him off and mammy up while she gathered her strength.

As soon as the cow saw my boss (did I mention that Limousines are crazy?) she was off like a shot on a mission to kill him. Surprising how fast a fat, short middle aged man can run. Of course he had been a professional bull rider in his younger day so he had plenty of experience running away from cow critters. Bear in mind that I was standing there about 4 feet from the calf. She never looked at me, and I just stood there enjoying the scene. The cow held the boss off at about a hundred yards, and every time he would try to return she would put the run on him (remember, his horse was tied near the calf). He finally crossed the fence, walked down to the horse, and walked him from the opposite side of the fence about a hundred yards away where it was safe to cross the fence and remount.

It was a red letter day, and it was about to get better!

Soon after this, we came across a Charolais calf that was about 3 days old. As anyone who knows anything about range cattle knows, about the only thing faster than a cow horse is a 3 day old Charolais calf. We made a run at the calf and I managed to rope it by one rear foot. We both stepped of our mounts, me to throw the calf and him to tag and vaccinate. As soon as he hit the ground that old cow was after him like a shot, and she had the benefit of three days recuperation since calving.......... I should mention here that the only thing faster than an angry Charolais cow is a short, fat, middle aged retired rodeo cowboy. Again, I was sitting there safe as could be, pinning the calf to the ground, being ignored by the cow. The last thing I heard as the boss and his ardent pursuer went over the rise was the boss yelling "let the calf gooooooooooo.........."

It was a very good day!

bama-newsteader · #2 03/17/12, 07:43 PM

Thanks for the chuckle Tinknal! Enjoyed the stories.

genebo · #3 03/17/12, 08:51 PM

"let the calf gooooooooooo.........."

I love it!

ksfarmer · #4 03/17/12, 09:17 PM

Limousine and charolais,,,,,my two all time favorites. I can remember a few memorable moments with them myself. Thanks for the memories.

**gone-a-milkin** · #5 03/17/12, 09:39 PM

Great stories, especially since you were just the innocent bystander.

I am not taking the new BC puppy out to bring in the dairy herd until this calving is all done.
She is a great little thing with plenty of push, but this is her first season with the Killer Mama Cows.
There are 2 old veteran Holsteins who believe ALL calves are theirs
and they usually get the Real Mom of the calf into the dog stomping mood too.

Of course you know where that puppy runs to when she sees just how much trouble she is in...

They dont even SEE me, they are so intent on getting the dog who is...hiding behind me.

allenslabs · #6 03/17/12, 10:31 PM

LOL! Nutty animals make life interesting. Had a horse once that tried to take all babies as her own. She REALLY made things interesting. Had one away from a momma cow once and we had to put the calf on the 4Wheeler...my dad was driving and I was to hold the calf on the back to keep it from falling off. That crazy mare ran laps around that 4Wheeler kicking at it trying to get us to stop and let "her" baby off. Nutty thing. We had a basket on the front that held all our fencing tools and my dad was throwing everything at that horse (which I later had to retrieve as she was my mare). I was holding the calf down and running behind kicking up every once in a while trying to scare the mare away. Funny thing was...my mom saw us acting stupid and got the video camera out. Didn't know till later that we were being ran down for kill!!! LOL! Nutty mare.
Animals do make things fun don't they? LOL!

springvalley · #7 03/17/12, 10:40 PM

Wonderful stories Tink, I think we all have a few of those stuck away in our past. Did the old cow boss live to a ripe old age ? > Thanks Marc

ErinP · #8 03/17/12, 11:50 PM

When our kids were little, before starting school, tagging new calves was a family event. Every day we'd go out with Dad on his morning loop.
One morning DH happened to jump a calf that belonged to a cow who wasn't full of bluff afterall. She tried to take him twice.
He dodged around the pickup one way, she cut him off. He dodged the other, she caught him again. Then she charged at the exact same time he vaulted the side of the box into the back. It was a very impressive leap.

She tried to crawl in after him but gave up after she couldn't hoist her backend up there.

Meanwhile the kids were both smashed up against the back window watching this whole show in great delight.
"Daddy's playin' with a cow, Mom!!"

tinknal · #9 03/18/12, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErinP

When our kids were little, before starting school, tagging new calves was a family event. Every day we'd go out with Dad on his morning loop.
One morning DH happened to jump a calf that belonged to a cow who wasn't full of bluff afterall. She tried to take him twice.
He dodged around the pickup one way, she cut him off. He dodged the other, she caught him again. Then she charged at the exact same time he vaulted the side of the box into the back. It was a very impressive leap.

She tried to crawl in after him but gave up after she couldn't hoist her backend up there.

Meanwhile the kids were both smashed up against the back window watching this whole show in great delight.
"Daddy's playin' with a cow, Mom!!"

We had an Angus cow when I was a kid who was bad about her calf. To tag the calf I would jump out of the truck and head for the trees with her in hot pursuit and my Dad and brother would tag the calf . There was a horned Hereford cow in Montana that was also bad. We would circle the calf with a pickup until we got between the cow and calf and I would jump out, grab the calf, and throw it in the back of the truck. One year the tailgate was missing and she got halfway into the truck.

SFM in KY · #10 03/18/12, 10:03 AM

We had a couple of 'interesting' Hereford cows at the ranch ... one was bad enough my Dad always took a 2 x 4 in with him when he went to tag her calf (well, we earmarked back then, not tagged).

MO_cows · #11 03/18/12, 11:07 AM

Good stories! We are always very cautious handling new calves. So far none of the cows have taken offense. Our very first calf born here, the momma was charging at the chickens for getting too close, so my heart was beating fast when I went to weigh and tag it. I waited till he laid down next to the fence so I had an escape route. But she trusted and/or respected me and just watched. However, our son came down the next day for a visit and she bluffed a charge at him when he went out to see the calf. You just never know.

ErinP · #12 03/18/12, 11:21 AM

Well most of tyhe time she IS bluffing. But now and again she really will try to take you lol

tinknal · #13 03/19/12, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErinP

Well most of tyhe time she IS bluffing. But now and again she really will try to take you lol

Funny, as much folks talk about bulls, the only time that I have been hunted and attacked by a cow-critter (outside of a rodeo arena) it was by a cow, and not just during calving season. I've been roughed up several times while AIing, more than a month after calving.

ErinP · #14 03/19/12, 06:20 PM

Me too. I don't know if it's because I'm more cautious around bulls, expecting them to be unpredictable. Or if it's just that their rep is more hype than necessary...
But cows are the ones that I'm more likely to worry about, too!

tinknal · #15 03/19/12, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErinP

Me too. I don't know if it's because I'm more cautious around bulls, expecting them to be unpredictable. Or if it's just that their rep is more hype than necessary...
But cows are the ones that I'm more likely to worry about, too!

It could be sheer number, 25 cows to one bull, or the fact that you rarely really have to mess with a bull, but I think it is more of a case when a bull is on the prod he just wants you to leave. When a cow is on the hunt she wants to kill you.

lonelyfarmgirl · #16 03/19/12, 07:44 PM

That is so awesome! We have one charlois cross cow. We just sold her 2 week old bull calf yesterday. We got the pair into the loading chute and DH held him down (he's BIG) and sat on him while I got the halter on his face. That poor cow was standing over DH and mooing right in his face, I'm talking inches. Talk about scary! I bopped her on the nose and although she had that crazy look in her eye, she backed off. While we were running the calf to the trailer, she kept running back and forth looking for a place to jump the fence. She didn't, whew!

whiterock · #17 03/19/12, 09:56 PM

I lost a neighbor about 10 years or so ago to a cow.
Ed

tinknal · #18 03/20/12, 04:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whiterock

I lost a neighbor about 10 years or so ago to a cow.
Ed

So did we. One to a steer too.

whiterock · #19 03/20/12, 10:01 AM

I've had a few cows try to get in my pants the same way. Never know what a cow beast will do...or when.