Got any Cattle working advice?

FarmerDavid · #1 01/08/13, 12:49 PM

Going to work my herd tomorrow. It's been quite a while since I've helped work any cattle and I was young enough I probably wasn't really help then. What all advice do you have for me?

MO_cows · #2 01/08/13, 01:10 PM

Stay calm, cool and collected. The fastest way to work cattle is...slow and easy. Watch out for your safety and theirs. Get out there today and preview your plan and facilities for what might cause a problem or injury.

Bret · #3 01/08/13, 01:11 PM

It's like falling off of a bike.

Go slow. Help them go where the want to go. They will know when you are pushing them.

Always give yourself an out.

Don' get into the habit of turning your back on them.

Read often. Learn to read your cows too just by watching them alot.

Have fun.

G. Seddon · #4 01/08/13, 03:29 PM

Spray your headgate (all the moving parts) with a long-lasting lubricant (I'd do that today so the smell is gone by tomorrow). Clean any debris and trash from the chute area so they don't spook. Get everything set up before you bring any animals into the working pens. Don't isolate one animal by itself in a pen; that always generates a nervous chain reaction. Hope you have a few people on hand to help as that makes it easier. Good luck, hope it goes well for you!

greatwhiteape · #5 01/08/13, 05:47 PM

I guess it depends on what you're doing with them what kind of advice I have.

haypoint · #6 01/08/13, 07:16 PM

Be quiet and stay calm. You can change your “threat” by crouching down and becoming little or hands high in the air.
There is a simple way to move cattle, but it is easier to show than tell. But I’ll have a stab at it.
Let’s say you want to move the cows south. Get on the east side of the group. Slowly walk towards them. A few will be watching you. As soon as the very first cow moves/flinches turn north and walk slowly until you are well past the herd. They will calmly walk away from you, not worried because you are going away from them. Now, turn east and a bit south. Once you are directly east of the herd, start walking west, towards them again. As soon as the first cow moves, turn and walk north. The herd should mosey south some more. Keep up this silent, sort of triangle pattern.
If you get to a place you want to change their direction, get yourself away from them and then begin again.
Let’s say you had them going south and now they need to turn to the east. You have been working them from the east. Move around behind them, keeping a good distance so they don’t think you are going to chase them. Get south west of them and walk towards them. As soon as one moves, turn and walk west. They should walk south east. Now get around to the south and walk north towards them. When one moves, turn and walk west. The cows will now have turned direction and will be walking east. Continue.
Gates wired together will not hold most cattle. If that’s all you’ve got, get them off the ground a foot. Be aware, bulls may try to go under a raised gate and have the power to do it.
Another way that is far more common, but not as effective: Go up to the Tavern, see who is up for some rodeo action.

Give each one a cowboy hat to slap on their leg and a whip. Best if you have 3 or 4 four-wheelers. “Yeehaaw” must be the sound of the day. Circle the herd with the four wheelers, kick up some dust and then chase them along that old barbed wire fence you’ve been repairing for 30 years. If it is hot, it is best to get them winded before you get up to the barn, so a few big circular stampedes around the pasture might help tire them out first. Bring a camera. They’ll be talking about that day for a long time. You might want to rent one of those big BBQ grills that can do a whole cow, just in case one has a heat stroke or is cut up too bad to stich up.

francismilker · #7 01/08/13, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by haypoint

Be quiet and stay calm. You can change your “threat” by crouching down and becoming little or hands high in the air.
There is a simple way to move cattle, but it is easier to show than tell. But I’ll have a stab at it.
Let’s say you want to move the cows south. Get on the east side of the group. Slowly walk towards them. A few will be watching you. As soon as the very first cow moves/flinches turn north and walk slowly until you are well past the herd. They will calmly walk away from you, not worried because you are going away from them. Now, turn east and a bit south. Once you are directly east of the herd, start walking west, towards them again. As soon as the first cow moves, turn and walk north. The herd should mosey south some more. Keep up this silent, sort of triangle pattern.
If you get to a place you want to change their direction, get yourself away from them and then begin again.
Let’s say you had them going south and now they need to turn to the east. You have been working them from the east. Move around behind them, keeping a good distance so they don’t think you are going to chase them. Get south west of them and walk towards them. As soon as one moves, turn and walk west. They should walk south east. Now get around to the south and walk north towards them. When one moves, turn and walk west. The cows will now have turned direction and will be walking east. Continue.
Gates wired together will not hold most cattle. If that’s all you’ve got, get them off the ground a foot. Be aware, bulls may try to go under a raised gate and have the power to do it.
Another way that is far more common, but not as effective: Go up to the Tavern, see who is up for some rodeo action. Give each one a cowboy hat to slap on their leg and a whip. Best if you have 3 or 4 four-wheelers. “Yeehaaw” must be the sound of the day. Circle the herd with the four wheelers, kick up some dust and then chase them along that old barbed wire fence you’ve been repairing for 30 years. If it is hot, it is best to get them winded before you get up to the barn, so a few big circular stampedes around the pasture might help tire them out first. Bring a camera. They’ll be talking about that day for a long time. You might want to rent one of those big BBQ grills that can do a whole cow, just in case one has a heat stroke or is cut up too bad to stich up.

I'm assuming you've been to SE Oklahoma and seen many of the redneck wannabe cowboys work cattle here haypoint! You can't imagine the rodeos I've seen over the years that could've been avoided if they would've taken my grandpa's advice, "the fastest way to work cows is SLOW!!!"

Great advice on moving cows at the first of your post. I prefer to use the "lead them with the feed bucket" method though.

coolrunnin · #8 01/08/13, 09:29 PM

I have always fed in what I call my gathering area, just a large funnel shaped area. They are used to coming up there for feed so it only takes me and the boy to get them into the facilities. Work 'em slow and steady and have fun.

Awnry Abe · #9 01/08/13, 10:02 PM

I am a rookie and have done the whole herd less than a half dozen times, but I just worked our herd this weekend and these are things that come to mind:

1) move slow. When the animal decides it wants to get past you, it wins every time, so dont get in the way. But they do honor a good bluff. If you are having a difficult time getting the cows to go where you need, they probably just have a vision problem with your gating. I struggled with one batch mightily last weekend until I realized that one of the sorting gates was open at an odd angle. Swinging it the other way solved the problem.

2) we sort our cows from calves before starting. Calves tend to try to hop in the chute with their mom, which can a real bad deal.

3) prep the corral before you start. Make sure the head gate is working, the panels and gates are sound, etc. Remove feed buckets and other remnants of chores that may trip you and get you under hoof. Staying on your feet is job #1.

4) if your corral permits it, work in small batches. We use a crowding tub with a center pivot swinging gate. When we gate too many cows in, they jam and it works poorly. When we move 5-6 in, it works great.

5) I prefer to do calves first, because they wear me out more. The cows are usually more relaxing.

6) move the herd into the corral well in advance of working them to get them calmed.

7) have fun. I enjoy working the cows. Sometimes they frustrate me, but at the end of it all, it is a satisfying feeling to have it out of the way.

8) and finally, if a certain steer decides to turn tail and tear out away from you in the middle of a muck filled sorting pen, close your mouth lest you end up eating a mouthful of e-coli laced glop. (I went to school on for lesson on Sunday.)

Valmai · #10 01/10/13, 02:59 AM

Depending on how it goes getting them into the yards (SLOW is the fastest speed), if they or you are a bit frazzeled chuck in some hay (and water if it is hot) and walk away to give all of you a chance to calm down before you attempt whatever work you have to do. If it all goes pearshaped walk away and come back 30/60 minutes later, for some reason the 2nd time round is usually a charm.
Oh and since noone else has mentioned it yet (LOL) slow, calm and quiet is the ONLY way to move cattle safely.
There is a 'balance point' (cant find an example on the net) a meter or two to the side and back from the front shoulder. When you have the time and inclination go out and practice this. Get your position right and it is soooo easy to move any number of cows.

SueMc · #11 01/10/13, 05:28 AM

My husband and I attended a one day cattle handling seminar put on by Crystalyx. Our feed guy hosted it at his farm. The presenters talked about a lot of ideas, then demonstrated what they had talked about with a small herd. A lot of what they talked about is here (with diagrams):

http://grandin.com/B.Williams.html

haypoint · #12 01/10/13, 08:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SueMc

My husband and I attended a one day cattle handling seminar put on by Crystalyx. Our feed guy hosted it at his farm. The presenters talked about a lot of ideas, then demonstrated what they had talked about with a small herd. A lot of what they talked about is here (with diagrams):

http://grandin.com/B.Williams.html

I have been lucky to have been able to attend a few of Temple Grandin's talks.
I think Figure 4 best shows what I was trying to tell about. Except in that figure 4, the area in and out of the flight zone looks small. Not sure everyone can properly identify the flight zone to insure they are in it when walking in the opposite direction and out of it when they are moving forward.

In a herd that knows you and can identify a feed bucket, luring them with feed works well.

SFM in KY · #13 01/10/13, 08:48 AM

Not much advice, unfortunately, other than to repeat "slow". Although I grew up on a cattle ranch and have worked cattle much of my adult life it's all been range cattle and horseback. Most of the cattle I've worked didn't know what a feed bucket was (although they would know what a pickup load of baled hay was) and many of them would have been corralled over the next hill if they saw someone on foot trying to move them.

hiddensprings · #14 01/10/13, 08:53 AM

I'll just add to the advise from the others, work in cow-time, which translates into "slow". I'm rather new to cows and hubby and I have discovered that my girls will move where ever I want them too but run for the hills if he enters the pasture. So when we need to work them, hubby stays away until I get them in the working area. Once they are confined, he comes in. Maybe its because I'm the nice lady with the feed and he is the evil guy with needles.

tinknal · #15 01/10/13, 10:59 AM

Find a big strong dumb brave kid to work in the crowding pen. Every place I've ever worked cows on did this (guess who the kid was?)

Actually, the kid needs to be "cow smart".

SueMc · #16 01/10/13, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by haypoint

I have been lucky to have been able to attend a few of Temple Grandin's talks.

You are very lucky! I have a couple of her books and she is very intriguing.

tinknal · #17 01/10/13, 08:35 PM

About the whole slow and quiet thing, this is good advise, but someone experienced around cattle (especially pasture or range cattle) knows when to switch from slow and quiet to loud and fast. Take a situation where you have a large herd of cattle and you are trying to get them through a gate. They stop and start milling around. They are threatening to bolt. At the right time you dive in whooping and hollering. The thing is that you really need to understand the herd mentality to make this work, and it isn't foolproof. Another time is when you are working them in the A-pen behind the chute. When the cow sticks her head in the chute and hesitates this is the time for a yell and a slap on the rump.

**gone-a-milkin** · #18 01/10/13, 09:20 PM

I wish there was a way to really 'teach' cattle working skills.
Seems like some people come by it more easily than others.

Most of the time I would prefer a good dog's help over most human workers.

Never underestimate the power of cattle panels to spring back or dance around, and gates to reach past their intended swing.
Keep well back from the fencing, as much as possible.

Awnry Abe · #19 01/10/13, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinknal

Find a big strong dumb brave kid to work in the crowding pen. Every place I've ever worked cows on did this (guess who the kid was?)

Actually, the kid needs to be "cow smart".

That was me this weekend, but picture Don Knotts instead of Tinknal. I am still a bit sore.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinknal

About the whole slow and quiet thing, this is good advise, but someone experienced around cattle (especially pasture or range cattle) knows when to switch from slow and quiet to loud and fast. Take a situation where you have a large herd of cattle and you are trying to get them through a gate. They stop and start milling around. They are threatening to bolt. At the right time you dive in whooping and hollering. The thing is that you really need to understand the herd mentality to make this work, and it isn't foolproof. Another time is when you are working them in the A-pen behind the chute. When the cow sticks her head in the chute and hesitates this is the time for a yell and a slap on the rump.

By the time they make it into the narrow chute heading into the squeeze chute, all polite behavior comes to an end. At that point, it is pretty much whatever it takes to get them moving forward. As to rump slapping, it definitely hurts me more than them, I'm sure.

Also, this maybe just a narrow observation, but they seem to kick more when it is dark. Not that I would recommend working them after dark, but it happens to us in the winter.

tinknal · #20 01/11/13, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrownRanch

Also, this maybe just a narrow observation, but they seem to kick more when it is dark. Not that I would recommend working them after dark, but it happens to us in the winter.

Another observation is that a 6 month old calf can kick 4 times harder than a full grown cow.