Giddy Cattle, ease my mind please

P_Cash

bought 4 bullocks on sat, around the 1 yr old mark. all came form there origingal herd.

they were quiet cattle in the pins/scales/ring etc. fed them nuts when i got them home.
kept them in sat night and as i would normally do, gave them more nuts sunday morning and then let them out on sunday mid-day.

well they ran crazy. snapped a few electric fences on me. thankfully stayed in my land.

they have nested themselves now in one plot beside the house.. .

only 1 bullock was quick to the nuts in the shed, but didnt think anything of it.

anyway, story now is, i have the nut feeder in the same plot, put some in it. but they havnt came near that side of the field yet. ..
this morning i went out, rattled the bucket, and nothing. standing up on the hill from me. . . . . and so i decided to walk towards them a bit, . . heads lifted and started to move quick in the other direction, needless to say i walked away. . .

these are the first for the year, was planing on missing the mart next saturday. . but now think i should go and see can i put a few more with them. . . . but is this petrol on fire or a good idea...

like a lot of cattle now a day, they dont seem to have had much human contact.
if i had only kept them in the shed a bit longer. .

only afraid now one would get sick and thats it, curtains.

any tips?

moy83

Id say persist with the nuts until they get a taste for them . Even the worst of them like the nuts and will eventually get fond enough of them to follow the bucket or bag .

P_Cash

Thanks, was thinking same, twice a day and hopefully ill crack them.

If they would only come over to the dam feeder

bbam

I know it's late now but we would always train stock to the electric fence in the yard for a few hours.

It makes sure they stop when they see it in the field.

Also never let them straight from shed to field. They always stand for 3 - 4 hours in the yard with the fence to get used to being outdoors where they are under right control.

Stick with the nuts and give them their time.

biddy2013

also dont just arrive into field, if you talk or whistle or something they will know you are coming.

MfMan

Can you put a quiet older bullock, or cow better, in with them to 'mentor' them?

P_Cash

Ya . . Make sure they hear me before they see me,


as this is the first lot i have no other animals.

But thinking if i go to mart next week, should i look out for an older bullock. . .a 18 month old AA or some thing.

Muckit

The main thing is not to panic. It's nothing that won't sort itself with time. How much of a run have they? If they are in a big field they will have a good pick of grass and won't want to see a nut.

You can wait til they eat it down or you could speed things up by putting up another electric fence to keep them to one area. Make sure they can see it. I'd use tape and even mild steel tying wire to carry current and might'nt snap the line as quick if they go to run through it. Regardless what they do, DO NOT REACT. Just calmly keep plugging away until you have them fenced into a corner.

Id then run a line around your farm boundary of that area that you have them fenced. Make sure that there is a good belt off it.

Now leave them alone for a day or so to get used to their surroundings. Let them eat things bare and they'll get hungry. Now introduce a small shake of nuts. Also pull back a few stakes to give them a mouthful of grass. Hopefully you'll gradually put manners on the little rascals!!

Round Bale

If you had an oldish calm quiet cow or two you could introduce to the field, it might help. Keep the cows coming for a bit of nuts. Soon enough, the boyos will join the party.

Muckit

Yes the old cow trick is a good one but he doesn't have any other animals other than these 4 bullocks.

Wouldn't advise him go out and buy a n old cow to keep four bullocks happy!

P_Cash

They must have a 3acre plot.

Plenty of picking,

Says you. . Dont panic. . .

Ill do my walk to the trough twice a day. . Making my call and rattle the bucket of nuts.

Good idea about putting electric fence in yard or even split shed in two with it. . . Keep them in for a few days. .

Hindsight is a great thing . .

Thanks lads. .


Im the nervous type when things dont go to plan. .. . Almost what the hell am i going to do now. Grrr

bbam

P_Cash wrote: »

They must have a 3acre plot.

Plenty of picking,

Says you. . Dont panic. . .

Ill do my walk to the trough twice a day. . Making my call and rattle the bucket of nuts.

Good idea about putting electric fence in yard or even split shed in two with it. . . Keep them in for a few days. .

Hindsight is a great thing . .

Thanks lads. .


Im the nervous type when things dont go to plan. .. . Almost what the hell am i going to do now. Grrr

If both you and the stock are nervous, don't move too fast.. Don't expect to walk through them straight away.. For the first few days keep your distance in the field and move closer each time..

Try two buckets, but just a small amount of meal, maybe 1kg. Drop one in the field where you stand.. The will be curious and smell it out when your gone, they find the meal and get used to your smell as well.. Swap it the next day..
Very soon they will realise your bringing the meal and come to greet you..

Farmer Pudsey

I would have left in the shed a week and have cooled them down before they were left off. Lots of lads that sell cattle have them very hot at the sales (getting nuts and good silage up to sale). I am cooling cattle down at present to let off. I am lucky as I can feed back and front of pens. I take them off nut/ration a month before let off and cut back silage for last week. Do not feed for last 24 hours before letoff. They generall put the heads down for a week to 10 days.

You made a few mistakes always let cattle off hungry never with a full belly. For suckler type cattle keep inside for a week after buying to get used to you. It si not unusal for cattle outside not to want nuts/ration. Try a small bit of weanling crunch or a bucket of molassed minerals. Molasses itself in the trough will carry a sent accross to them. Buy a bucket fed weanling a Friesian weanling at present will not break the bank (1.2/kg) feed him ration/weanling crunch( just a little bit half a kg) for a few days inside then let him off hungry rattle the bucket a lot before you feed him in shed when he hears it in the field he trot over to the trough.

If you have a small yard to let them off in for a few hours do so in future I have not got any so this is what I do.

bbam

I meant to add...
Once theyre still on your land all is not lost..
Paitence is required now and they'll soo get used to their new boss

P_Cash

Gees. . From the sound of it . . Ive been a lucky lad for yrs. .

Normally always let them out the day after. . Id never feed them, just keep them in for 24hrs. .

Never had a problem.

Mind you, never had animals where they didnt know the sound of nuts in a bucket .

The friggers are in the same plot now 24hrs. And still hasnt gone near parts of it, . Almost circling the same patch. . .


Think ill buy two on sat. . . Keep them in. .
Make pets out of them. . Get them used to me. . And then let them join up with the others. .
Meantime keep trying with meal nuts.


Thoughts on this plan.. or is it petrol on fire

Muckit

What I usually find is to stay off boards for a while.

People would have you paranoid and drive you half daft with 'well what you should have done...' and 'well what I always do and I never had anything this silly happen to me in my life...'

bbam

Muckit wrote: »

What I usually find is to stay off boards for a while.

People would have you paranoid and drive you half daft with 'well what you should have done...' and 'well what I always do and I never had anything this silly happen to me in my life...'

Sometimes its handy to get a few hints from fellas that have been through the hardship before...

The father used to just let out stock straight from winter housing here and it was a real dose.. you'd be sure some would break out and then plenty of running around and shouting would ensue.. Not Fun !!

When letting them out we learned three things that help..

• Hungry, keeps their heads down when they go out.
• Let them stand in the yard to get used to being off the slatts.
• Fencing, we stretch a fence across the middle of the yard so they well know to leave it alone when they see it in the field !!

P_Cash

Lol cheers muckit. .

On a finishing note. . 8x5 aerlite, nice trailer. .

Jockey wheel a bit low though. . .will have to keep an eye on it. . .

Muckit

P_Cash wrote: »

Jockey wheel a bit low though. . .

I thought this aswell when I first got a trailer with a jockey wheel. You wound it up to the last right?..... but you can also open the little handle on the jockey wheel housing (down on the drawbar) that will allow the shaft of the jockey wheel to slide up

P_Cash

Muckit wrote: »

I thought this aswell when I first got a trailer with a jockey wheel. You wound it up to the last right?..... but you can also open the little handle on the jockey wheel housing (down on the drawbar) that will allow the shaft of the jockey wheel to slide up

Yes. . Done both. . . Still seems low. .
Think i narrowly skimmed the black plastic on the wheel off a speed ramp at the mart . .

Wonder could i take the wheel off while travelling

Muckit

I don't know would I agree with this as a rule of thumb, but each to their own. Bloat would be a concern of mine with a sudden change of diet and young hungry cattle. Possibly not a concern this early, but on a wet farm if you were letting cattle out next month when growth really starts to take off, it would. So I don't think it should be advised as a solution for everyone.

jmurf100

Bought a few heifers last summer, now they were'nt wild or anything like that, but they would not come to a bucket of nuts no matter how i rattled it. I had bought them private and remembered that I had seen the guy that owned them putting nuts in a trough from a plastic nut bag. I tried a few nuts in a bag, and as soon as they seen me coming in the gate with the white bag they came running to the trough!

keep going

Goggle "the woman who thinks like a cow"or "temple grandis".if you get her way of working it works surprisingly well

biddy2013

it will just take them a while to get used to their new surroundings. My cows got a fright yesterday- lad with post driver started driving posts in paddock they are in- they went straight through 2 paddocks:mad:

Bodacious

Muckit wrote: »

I don't know would I agree with this as a rule of thumb, but each to their own. Bloat would be a concern of mine with a sudden change of diet and young hungry cattle. Possibly not a concern this early, but on a wet farm if you were letting cattle out next month when growth really starts to take off, it would. So I don't think it should be advised as a solution for everyone.

I was just going to post the same, we would always (now quiet cows/ yearlings here as no.'s are small etc) give them feed in morning and definitely bit of dry hay.. id be afraid of grass tetany and bloat letting them loose on lush green grass empty... I always with yearlings throw a feeder out and keep a bit of meal with them for first week also just to maintain some consistency in diet and settle them. again in a beef finishing enterprise this may not be cost efficient and may be seen as over kill but with small no.s I do it

P_Cash

persistence paid off,

turned the corner this evening with me white dulux bucket of nuts and 2 came running towards me.

didnt expect it to happen that easily.

moy83

P_Cash wrote: »

persistence paid off,

turned the corner this evening with me white dulux bucket of nuts and 2 came running towards me.

didnt expect it to happen that easily.

Good stuff , the beef nuts are as good as all the fencing , herding and dogs you can get most of the time

bbam

P_Cash wrote: »

persistence paid off,

turned the corner this evening with me white dulux bucket of nuts and 2 came running towards me.

didnt expect it to happen that easily.

Like cocaine addicts to a score...

HArd to beat a shake of meal..

Mad4simmental

This might sound daft, but if you have one that stayed a bit flighty, what I youst to do was walk to a diffrent part of the field where they can see you, just walk around as if they arnt there and around them. Don't look at them, get closer, with the corner of your eye when you see the flighty one put the head up stop for a few seconds and head on back where you came from. If you can see them twice a day even better. They are just weary and nervouse. We ust to buy allot of heiffers every year and a few of them would be crazy. At the end of the summer I could pet a few of them in the field and no meal.

Muckit

It's true the wildest of them can be tamed with perseverance and a cool head. Getting vexed will only drive yourself and the cattle scatty.

Bodacious

Muckit wrote: »

It's true the wildest of them can be tamed with perseverance and a cool head. Getting vexed will only drive yourself and the cattle scatty.

I bought in a heifer weaning and she calving down now @3 years after feeding her for 3 winters and she was cracked / nervous but she so full and heavy in calf she stood up the last day and let me scratch her in the field = breakthrough !

Never got stick and be calm around her and just time she came round