Do cattle roost?

[duluthralphie]

When I lived closer to the ocean, this was a fairly common sight...



You had to really watch yourself out on the water!

So can cattle roost? Don't see why not!

When we lived on the Pithacoteehahaceewitchawatcheecottee river in Port Richie we use to see those things all the time. I even caught one trying to steal my boat right off the lift! We were less than a half mile from the open gulf though so I suppose that is why we saw them. They used to scare the manatee. Which would tick me off, I was about to get a clean shot at a huge Manatee, with dreams of manatee liver for supper, and one of those things came along!






edited to add: as a side bar, have you noticed the weird hard to pronounce names of rivers in Florida?

 

[Tumbling K]

true rib eyes of the skies........

 

[duluthralphie]

I am always amazed at how large caw wings are compared to buffalo wings...

 

[Tumbling K]

and don't forget pigs.......

although, the buffalo are more similar to the cows, and their roosting habits.

just showing the pig wings for reference.

 

[Blooie]

Be sure to check with your neighbors to let them know what you are planning to do. Some of them can be picky about cows in their area, but you might be able to bribe them into silence with milk and T-bone steaks. And cows can be noisy. Do a search for Old MacDonald's Farm Supply store and pick up some No Moo collars.

As for roosting, I would think that training them to sleep huddled together in a pile would be better than allowing them to roost. First of all, roosts are tricky to build correctly - you need to have them so far from the walls that the roost often ends up in the middle of the coop, and that makes it hard for you to do your chores without bumping your head. Other folks have mentioned how high cows like to roost - if you have them trained for floor sleeping you don't have to worry about that. If they insist on roosting, you might find one day that the highest place they could find to roost is the roof of your house, and a few dozen cows on your roof puts a lot more pressure on the structure than snow load does. Also cow load doesn't smell as nice as snow.

 

[duluthralphie]

We are lucky up here in Minnesota. During the winter we can normally get them to go into a Mama Heating pad brooder.

They will really try to huddle under it on the cold nights. The other day I had 12 of my own and 4 of the neighbors in my Mama Heating Pad brooder. But it was 12 below that night.

When setting up a Mama Heating Pad brooder for cattle, you have to make sure you raise the roof of the pad up to a full 4 inches. Some of the larger cows have trouble getting under a 3 inch brooder.

 

[N F C]

See? They do roost in trees!

P.S. Ralphie, yeah I've noticed that pronunciation thing with the rivers down here. I don't even try anymore.

 

[BBQJOE]

Here's my problem with the cattle. I have found that they do roost, but they roost in Saguaro cactus out here. The spines, or punchers, as we call them aren't so bad. But we are currently trying to harvest them a piece at a time.
I prefer the ribeye. So i"m currently trying to cut it out, sewing the cattle up, and hoping it grows a new one,.
It's a bit messy. They don't seem to mind so much after the ball peen hammer is delivered.
My major concern is when they're flying, and the poop just ends up everywhere. The chickens don't seem to like it in their pen, and I hate it on my cars.

 

[Spookwriter]

Corks...Big corks be the answer. Before letting them out to roost, or fly...
cork them up. After flight, lead each cow over to the compost pile and
remove cork carefully.

What, no corks handy? Try tying a five gallon bucket under each tail.

 

[duluthralphie]

Corks...Big corks be the answer. Before letting them out to roost, or fly...
cork them up. After flight, lead each cow over to the compost pile and
remove cork carefully.

What, no corks handy? Try tying a five gallon bucket under each tail.

Corks is not the right answer...


I know a guy (ole) that wanted to try corks..

He was afraid to pull the corks himself..


So he trained a monkey to pull the corks out.. It appeared the cattle did not like corks. Plus the guy figured pulling the corks after a week or two would be dirty work..... He worked with this monkey over and over pulling the corks... Ole put the corks in then give the monkey a banana for pulling the cork out..

The monkey did the cork pulling on command. It was really impressive. I was not sure of his plan but it made good sense. The manure would be wherever he had the monkey pull the cork.... The plan was to pull the cork in the garden to fertilize it.

Ole called me one day and said he was going with the plan.... "The cork is going in" Were his exact words...

About 2 weeks later I saw him and his Monkey at the local watering hole and asked him how it was going. He said he had not pulled the corks yet.. He was going to do it the next day.

It was a Sunday afternoon, I was sitting on deck sipping a Mike Hard lemonade and talking to the DW. All of a sudden we heard a terrible rumbling explosion.. My Wife is a nurse, so out here in the sticks the neighbors call for all kinds of weird medical help whether it be kids or animals.

The phone rang it was the guys wife she was frantic saying " Ole has been hurt come quick, I think he is dead!"..


We hurried and finished our Mikes and headed right over. ( I think we actually finished them on the way).... We got there and his wife was crying and sobbing in the back yard.. I asked her where Ole was... She pointed towards the garden. I ran to the garden, my wife was trying to calm the wife....


As I got there I saw Ole was not dead. I was so relieved, I grabbed a Mikes for him, (it was my Mikes for the trip home..)

I went over to Ole, he was covered in manure, he was bleeding and had welts everywhere. There was no monkey any where around, Which surprised me, as Ole took the Monkey everywhere and bragged about his cork pulling abilities.


Ole just pointed over his shoulder behind his self and mumbled something about "that way" He was really hard to understand. I thought he might have a concussion but I could not see his pupils. Mainly cause his eyes were covered in manure....


I wanted to see how his mind was working or if he had any memories. I asked him what happened.

He had no answer...

I asked him what was the last thing he remembers before waking up with me handing him the first Aid Mikes.

He sat straight up and said, " That was a smart little monkey"


I said " what's that that got to do with anything"

He said " I never taught him how to put the cork in"

I said Ole " concentrate, think, What's the last thing you remember?"

Ole got the look a person gets when their kid wins a spelling bee and says " That cute little guy scrambling like a son of a female dog to push that darn cork back in"."


So I am guessing you should not try the corks either. Ole has never been the same since the accident.