Loose Cows

[3PonyFarm]

We have from time to time, cows that have gotten loose in our area. They are not mine and I know nothing about cows but I’ve been asked to help with them before.

I’m looking for some general cow handling tips. One time a gang of baby cows (deep reddish color) got out and I shook a bucket of my horse’s grain and they followed me back through their fence. Another time, different neighbor’s cows (black ones) got out and into the road so I tried the grain in a bucket and they did nothing. I tried to shoo them back in their fence and they almost ran me over. I found out they get just grass and round bales, no grain.

Recently a bull got out (Scottish highland-cute and furry) and he was sweet and easy to handle. Then the neighbor’s reddish bull got out into the road and he was terrible. He had traffic stopped and a car honked at him and I thought he was going to flip the car. I did get him off the road and left him to eat their flower garden until they got home.

Any tips?

[Caligirl83]

So this is a little long, but really worth a read.

https://www.grandin.com/behaviour/principles/flight.zone.html

Basically cattle have flight zones and respond to body language in humans. Confidence is important, but keeping the energy low is important (just like with horses). One of the biggest mistakes novice people do is walk up to a cow head on, like you would a horse to turn them. For cows, it actually is inviting a charge (since cattle fight for dominance by butting heads/ horns if they have them like deer). A bull or cow can never charge you if you are behind them, which is where you want to be (to drive them away from you). Pressure , timing and release is essential (when working cows from the ground the release is to stand still or back up a step or two). Anyway take a look at the article and hopefully that helps a bit!

[3PonyFarm]

Thanks! I will check it out!

[3PonyFarm]

That was an interesting article!

[Scribbler]

I did a couple of lessons in cattle penning on horseback a few years back. Basically we “pushed” the cattle on horseback same as you push a horse in groundwork. Come up from behind to the side and just gently move your energy towards them with intention.

[3PonyFarm]

We did have a group of about 6 baby cows that were loose for about 4 or 5 weeks. No one could catch them until a group of people on ropers and cutting horses got them rounded up in record time.

The bulls Im not thrilled with except for the Highland Bull, they ride him and he is sweet. The other one, the red one, is supposedly very docile for a bull.

I won’t help with bison at all, I did that once and I thought they were dangerous.

Thanks for your reply!

[Caligirl83]

So a herd of baby calves is impossible to herd … depending on how old they are. Usually they will follow any large animal that might be mom… but they won’t necessarily move away from pressure the way an adult will. Herding calves on horseback is almost impossible. It’s a little easier on foot or if you can grab the most alpha one and then have the rest of the herd follow you + alpha calf.

Bottle fed calves do not respond correctly to human pressure.

Cattle in a herd (bulls or heifers or momma cows doesn’t matter) are the easiest to herd in my opinion, if they respect the horse/human or the horse/human mounted team. Single animals are more difficult.

Just like with a horse, a very alpha or dominant momma cow or bull who has a good reason not to leave the area you’re trying to get them to leave (baby calf is sleeping in a bush, or there are tasty roses, or fun female cow friends or who knows insert a fun cow reason here . Our bulls enjoy religion and visiting the monasteries next door ).

Anyway, more people die via cattle every year than get hit by lightning, so if you don’t know what you’re doing let animal control handle it.

This is a great book that compares horse vs human behavior, and has sections on pretty much every scenario one can imagine involving cattle:

Manual of Stockmanship by Steve Cote

Manual of Stockmanship by Steve Cote

[3PonyFarm]

Thank you! We have had some farmers killed over the years handling bulls so I take that very seriously. A lot of times I can get a local cattle person to help or to take over. Most of the cattle farmers have high tensile wire fencing that is electrified and I am amazed that the cows can still manage to get loose.

[freshman]

My only tip for anyone otherwise inexperienced and unprepared is to avoid attempting to interfere with any adult cattle, period. Stay away from them. If they are loose on a public road or in an area immediately adjacent to busy roadways or a populated area so that they might pose an imminent risk to motorists, then call local law enforcement. Then call the owner if you know who it is and have their contact information. Otherwise start calling anyone else you know in that area that know this information. You might carefully follow the cattle at a safe distance in your vehicle in the meantime just to monitor and report their location to law enforcement/owners/other people.

All cattle pose a significant risk to motorists on the roadway and to anyone on the ground. Bulls are well known to be aggressive and dangerous, but actually maternal cows are the most dangerous cattle of all, in my opinion. They can be just as or even more aggressive than a bull in a bad situation, and if they are out of their pasture on the loose, then that is a bad situation. You won’t even know or be able to predict what might set them off, especially if you are unaware of their calf’s position or they are just stressed and ready to take any real or imagined threat badly and ask zero questions later. Don’t try to guess. Basically, treat them like grizzly bears. By which I mean stay away from them, if possible. They can be just as dangerous. You cannot guess which strange loose cattle might be bucket trained or otherwise predict their behavior. Don’t try to guess on this based on coat color or hairiness to guess some generally know to be calm breed or even behavior from perceived interest/friendly cattle that might even seem eager to approach you. I’d almost run faster from those!

My only advice is that if they are loose but happen to ALREADY be in a fenced area then just slam the door aka gate on them. Then get back into your vehicle and make phone calls.

[3PonyFarm]

Thanks for your reply! My neighbor who owns the cows gave me a list of people to call who are experienced if the cows get out again and they are not home. Hopefully the cows will behave and stay put!

[Where_sMyWhite]

@freshman

Stay away from them. If they are loose on a public road or in an area immediately adjacent to busy roadways or a populated area so that they might pose an imminent risk to motorists, then call local law enforcement. Then call the owner if you know who it is and have their contact information.

LE often maintains stock owner contact info so yes, contact LE.

If you are in a rural area where cattle get out frequently, often LE has the practical experience to herd those loose puppies back through a fence (maybe not where they actually belong but close; ear tags will help stock owners figure out who owns what).

Also calling LE, depending on your state range laws, helps LE track chronic offenders (ie, cattle that get out frequently). If there is a motor vehicle crash involving livestock and there is property damage (vehicle) or human injury or death there may be grounds for a civil suit to be filed and if the livestock are shown to be a chronic problem, may help with that suit.

I spend three years helping, as a volunteer, LE in my rural county handle loose livestock. When I’d teach new volunteers some cattle ‘handling’ tips, first thing I taught them was to count the dangly bits - 3 (bulls) are far more problematic than 1 (steers)

[3PonyFarm]

Thanks! The neighbor just reinforced his fence/gates so hopefully they will stay where they belong!

[anon81364900]

Absolutely, LE needs to know about repeat offenders. It’s truly not your role to be calling around for help–I’m floored this landowner expects this of you. Other farmers do not respect someone who doesn’t fence their livestock securely, not to mention it violates code. I can almost guarantee you he’s getting you to call around for help because he knows they otherwise would not come, or he’s too embarrassed to ask for help. Stop enabling this.

Hopefully the recent fence repairs hold, but next time they get out, you call the owner, no one else. And if they’re on the road, also call LE non-emergency number to let them know there’s a hazard (you don’t have to tell them whose cattle they are, just that they’re in the road). That’s it. And if the cattle damage your property, hand your the neighbor the bill to pay for it.

[3PonyFarm]

This neighbor is pretty nice to me so and Ive only rescued his twice. He is pretty conscientious and careful with his animals. His fence is pretty stout and I am surprised they got out. He also put locks on the gates so no one opened them randomly and put up cameras. Another neighbor, an elderly lady, saw them out and called me. He gave her and me a number to call if it ever happens again. We wonder if someone left a gate open who was maybe casing his barn out. There have been thefts in the area. Another time a friend ask me to help her with the Highland as she was taking care of it for her neighbor. The other instances were where I happened to be driving by in my area and saw other peoples cows out. I have called the sheriff before on repeat offenders.

[candyappy]

Your safest option is to call the police and let them handle it. You run a huge risk to your own health and safety when you try to manipulate someone else’s cows to go where they might not want to go.

A good neighbor will maintain their fences in a way that their cows stay in.Cows are good at finding that one little flaw in the fence line. It may take someone hitting a loose cow on the road and a hefty fine to get that done, but so be it.

If you get trampled by one or more of his cows trying to " save " them I doubt he will pay your medical bills and lost wages.

[anon81364900]

oh, I misunderstood / misread, I thought all of these jailbreaks were his cattle.

[3PonyFarm]

Thank goodness no! The other neighbor’s got out once when a tree fell on the fence and the little ones hopped out. I’ve put horses back (not mine-knock on wood) goats, cows. Im definitely going to look out for my safety in the future and leave it to the pros.

[goodhors]

Being LOTS more careful is a good idea. Horned cattle scare the bejeesus out of me! They KNOW how to use those horns and I don’t want to be a victim. The neighbor guy with Highlands has been gored twice. I am surprised he survived, they were so bad. He blames himself for getting too close to the new calves (minutes old). It was a cow observer near the calf who hit him, not the mother! Birthing smells get all their protective instincts going full bore.

Bulls are also very unpredictable, especially dairy breed bulls. The lovely eyed Jersey bulls have the worst of reputations for hurting people! Beef bulls are bred to be more placid, but individuals will vary in that. Not keeping bulls around is why artificial insemination is so popular! You just do not know what might set them off, and many never go stupid… But best to be really wary near them.

If the cattle got out once, they probably will again. They are ALWAYS testing fences, will find any weak places. Is there hot wire in front of the gates? That helps prevent rubbing, perhaps breaking gate closures to escape again. Cattle are itchy, rub on anything they can.

You sound like a dream neighbor, keeping an eye on the neighbors livestock for problems!

[3PonyFarm]

He has high tensile wire fence with every wire hot and hot wire over the gate too. Both neighbors with cows have over 100 acres each with maybe 15-20 beef cattle on each farm. One herd is Wagyu and Im not sure what the others are. You would think the cows would be happy with that except if they learned they were beef cows-I would run away too!

I’ll tell him I’m a dream neighbor!

[Where_sMyWhite]

The challenge with cattle in general is they have much thicker hides than horses. Equine deterrents may or may not deter a cow.

More than once I ‘pushed’ calves and older beef cattle back through a 3 strand barbed wire fence. The fences, IMO, did meet the legal definition of a fence with respect to range law but for me, pretty flimsy. Often, I wouldn’t even try to find the spot where they got out.

Loose cattle, get them into the closest field and let the stock owners sort them out; they all have ear tags. Even though we were not obligated to get them behind the fence, best that they were, otherwise 20 seconds later the grass on the other side of the road looked more tasty

I should note that my comments were based primarily on beef not dairy cattle. Sometimes angus and sometimes I don’t know… sometimes moms and calves and sometimes yearling steers. Rarely bulls and if a bull was out, I usually called LE (yes, I was volunteering but I’d call a deputy to assist as yeah, those bull are not the best). Many of the volunteers I trained were ‘city folk’ which is why I taught them about the importance of counting those dangly bits.