Stray cattle?

dixiegal62 · #1 05/19/14, 06:21 AM

I got up Saturday morning to find 2 young bulls had broken into our pasture with our 2 heifers, calf and bull. So far we can't find the owners. Nobody around here has seen them before, I'm pretty sure they're belted Galloway's so they stand out around all the Angus close by.

I printed a flyer for the local gas station stating if someone was missing some cattle to call and identify. It makes me nervous having them in our pasture to be honest, people are different these days and I worry a bit about the owners thinking we stole them.

1shotwade · #2 05/19/14, 06:29 AM

This happens every year or so around here. My neighbors SIL lost 2 back in Feb and haven't found them yet. Someone sees them every week or so but can't locate them when they try. I really don't think they have gone so far south that these are the same,but,we did have a winter that would make anything want to go south!

WADE

G. Seddon · #3 05/19/14, 06:47 AM

Report to feed stores, animal control, sheriff, ag. agent, etc.

When the owner is identified, you'll want to make sure he's aware that your heifers might have been bred by his bulls so that he can cover the costs of the vet visit(s) and check with your ag. agent about any possible reimbursement from the owner for fence damage, feed consumption, etc. by these bulls. Are your animals vaccinated?

I don't know how long they'd have to be there before you "own" them.

dixiegal62 · #4 05/19/14, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by G. Seddon

Report to feed stores, animal control, sheriff, ag. agent, etc.

When the owner is identified, you'll want to make sure he's aware that your heifers might have been bred by his bulls so that he can cover the costs of the vet visit(s) and check with your ag. agent about any possible reimbursement from the owner for fence damage, feed consumption, etc. by these bulls. Are your animals vaccinated?

I don't know how long they'd have to be there before you "own" them.

We're new to owning cattle. These are our first bottle raised heifers almost 2 years old. We are ready to breed and we have the loan of a friend's bull. I'm surprised the bull is putting up with them in there with him. One of the heifers is going into heat so we figure that's why the bulls showed up. Though I'm not sure how far a bull would travel to breed.

They're young and I'm not sure how old a bull has to be before it can breed. My husband thinks they're not old enough but they are big enough to mount and seem more than willing to try. No we didn't vaccinate. The bulls look well cared for an healthy but I know that doesn't mean they are. Don't think they ever saw a salt lick before though because they seem starved for salt

I don't know the laws about how long before you own either or even if you can do that. I did try looking them up and found the laws too confusing to understand but I have always had trouble with 'legal speak'

It read ( to me ) like you have to notify within 24 hours, and something about putting up notices within 5 days... looked like you had to turn them over to the state to be auctioned off for their expenses but that didn't sound right. It says you have to notify with description, sex and any markings but it seems to me that anyone could read that call you up and claim to own them even if they didn't. How would you know if they really owned them or just wanted free meat?

I plan on running an ad in our local paper but it only comes out twice a week. Still unsure about the whole adding a description thing. I'll place flyers in our 2 feed stores today. Animal control around here is a joke so I won't be calling them. Hate to get the sheriff involved yet and costing the owners fines they may not be able to afford.

mary,tx · #5 05/19/14, 09:44 AM

I would think it's standard to notify the sheriff when you have lost or found livestock. Around here, anyway, that's just one of the things the sheriff does. You call him if cattle are in the street, for instance, and he'll come around knocking on doors and looking for the owners. (Of course if I see cattle out here, I pretty much know whose they are, and just call the owner.)

dixiegal62 · #6 05/19/14, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mary,tx

I would think it's standard to notify the sheriff when you have lost or found livestock. Around here, anyway, that's just one of the things the sheriff does. You call him if cattle are in the street, for instance, and he'll come around knocking on doors and looking for the owners. (Of course if I see cattle out here, I pretty much know whose they are, and just call the owner.)

People around here aren't much for calling authority's about anything and feel it's better to settle things between ourselves than to get the law involved, my husband and I share the same view.
It's a pretty morning so I went riding through our area stopping to visit with everyone who had cattle in pastures. Nobody knows who they belong to. I did have 2 farmers tell me about another farmer who just went out of state and bought cattle and that he is bad about his cattle getting in with theirs and never going to get it. One said he's had his for about a year and he won't come get it. For now between informing neighbors a found ad in the paper, flyers at a few places and I'm done until I hear from someone.

Tex- · #7 05/19/14, 01:36 PM

Many southern states have all but abandoned their old brand laws these days. One thing you can do is load them up and haul them to your local salebarn. When you get them there, have a list of all your charges ready. Charge for fence repair, boarding (days in your pasture eating your grass), your time and fuel hauling them in and be sure to make the expenses high enough to cover any future costs. The salebarn will get ahold of the proper authorities to make it all legal. When the animals sell, you will get your check.

I would not allow two unknown bulls to be in a pasture with my breeding age females. Trich is a very real concern that could ruin a cow herd. It is a vinereal disease that causes cattle to abort. There is no vaccine and there is no cure.

It sounds like you are doing what you can, but you need to protect your livestock too. Call your sherrif and let him know they are there. If the bulls are infected with anything, they could infect your cattle.

Tex

ksfarmer · #8 05/19/14, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tex-

Many southern states have all but abandoned their old brand laws these days. One thing you can do is load them up and haul them to your local salebarn. When you get them there, have a list of all your charges ready. Charge for fence repair, boarding (days in your pasture eating your grass), your time and fuel hauling them in and be sure to make the expenses high enough to cover any future costs. The salebarn will get ahold of the proper authorities to make it all legal. When the animals sell, you will get your check.

I would not allow two unknown bulls to be in a pasture with my breeding age females. Trich is a very real concern that could ruin a cow herd. It is a vinereal disease that causes cattle to abort. There is no vaccine and there is no cure.

It sounds like you are doing what you can, but you need to protect your livestock too. Call your sherrif and let him know they are there. If the bulls are infected with anything, they could infect your cattle.

Tex

Thats the way it works in Kansas. Usually notify sheriff and he oversees the sale. I think if no-one comes forward, you eventually get the whole sale proceeds. A note of caution, 3 bulls togather can cause a lot of damage to your facilities as well as injury to heiffers and your bull.

tommyanunnaki · #9 05/19/14, 05:13 PM

I would just notify local law enforcement and let them know that these guys wandered onto your place. If you report it, no one can ever claim that you stole them. If they're not tagged, tatted, or branded then I would just say thank you and put them in the freezer.

G. Seddon · #10 05/19/14, 05:33 PM

Check them for eartags and numbers; might be able to track the owner that way. Perhaps these young bulls are registered.

dixiegal62 · #11 05/19/14, 05:45 PM

Thank you. I shared you're info and advice with my husband. He feels since one of the farmers I talked to was going to send word out about the bulls we should wait a day or two and see if anyone shows up. Meanwhile we'll be separating the bulls from our small herd and calling the sheriff on Wednesday to report them.

dixiegal62 · #12 05/19/14, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by G. Seddon

Check them for eartags and numbers; might be able to track the owner that way. Perhaps these young bulls are registered.

I couldn't find any markings on them. I'll take another look when we get them up tonight.

southernmom · #13 05/19/14, 05:46 PM

Adding a voice to the chorus-ask around. Out here there are so many pastures connected and most of them are leased so we may have to call 3 different people to get ahold of the owners who live 2 hours away to handle cows that are one fence over.
Yes, bulls can cause an insane amount of damage. I've seen two bulls fighting roll up an entire run of barbed wire, get the fighting out of their system and walk away like nothing. Of course you have a day of fence building ahead of you after that.
So I would definitely do all you can to find someone responsible. Good luck!

dixiegal62 · #14 05/19/14, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by southernmom

Adding a voice to the chorus-ask around. Out here there are so many pastures connected and most of them are leased so we may have to call 3 different people to get ahold of the owners who live 2 hours away to handle cows that are one fence over.
Yes, bulls can cause an insane amount of damage. I've seen two bulls fighting roll up an entire run of barbed wire, get the fighting out of their system and walk away like nothing. Of course you have a day of fence building ahead of you after that.
So I would definitely do all you can to find someone responsible. Good luck!

We have no pastures connected to us at all. A road in front of our pastures and woods all around. Lots of woods around us with few pastures. There is one large pasture across the road I checked with him first. To look today I had to drive roads that ran parallel to our road we live in a area with lots of side roads I tried to cover all I thought where close enough for the bulls to wander from. Still, whichever direction they came from they had to go through a lot of thick woods to get to us.

I pretty much watched these bulls all day except for when I went looking for the owners. They all grazed together with no issues and even all laid under the trees together this afternoon. Maybe because their younger? Anyway the strays are moved to our smaller pasture and hopefully will stay put until we make our call Wed. if the owner doesn't show up first.

G. Seddon · #15 05/19/14, 08:01 PM

What happens Wednesday and why not tomorrow?

dixiegal62 · #16 05/19/14, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by G. Seddon

What happens Wednesday and why not tomorrow?

Me and my husband decided since I spent the morning talking to cattle owners in our area and they all promised to spread the word we would give whoever owns them till Wed morning before calling the sheriff like some suggested.

It's my understanding once I call the bulls will be impounded (maybe I'm wrong?) and we'd like to give the owner time to claim them before fees have to be paid to get them back.

I'm still not comfortable calling a sheriff into this but it seems to be the way it's handled so that's what we'll do. Seems much more neighborly to give the owners time to find them and work it out that way instead of causing unnecessary fees. It took 5 minutes to fix our fence, nothing else was damaged so far but like I said we're new to owning cattle.

Skip · #17 05/19/14, 08:38 PM

My cows had got out. I spent a day tracking them through the woods to discover it was a moose I was following when I saw the droppings.
The sheriff may be who the owners notified in searching for their cattle? Could they be steers? Would it be odd for someone to keep two bulls?

dixiegal62 · #18 05/19/14, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skip

My cows had got out. I spent a day tracking them through the woods to discover it was a moose I was following when I saw the droppings.
The sheriff may be who the owners notified in searching for their cattle? Could they be steers? Would it be odd for someone to keep two bulls?

Defiantly not steers. I just got a call from one of the farmers I spoke with today. He heard of someone they could belong to, he didn't have a number for them and is going drive over to talk to them tomorrow. Hopefully it's the owners.

dixiegal62 · #19 05/19/14, 09:47 PM

The way word travels fast is one of the reasons I love country life. The owner has been found and will be picking up his bulls in the morning. Mystery solved. If money wasn't so darn tight this year I'd be making an offer to buy one, they're so darn cute with their bangs

dixiegal62 · #20 05/20/14, 05:37 PM

Well the owner was a no-show this morning and not answering the phone, I'm hoping he'll come by this afternoon. Meanwhile one of his bulls jumped the fences again and has been fighting with our bull who is at least 3 times his size and I'm really concerned his bull is going to get hurt but there is no way I'm going out there alone to herd them apart again. I now see the wisdom in calling someone right away and am telling hubby if this ever comes up again I will do so.