I just sat down here from finishing doing the same exact thing. 2x4 studs covered by 2x4 welded wire. Going to pick up some goats tomorrow for a local friend.
The Old Folks Home
- Thread starter Wisher1000
- Start date
I just sat down here from finishing doing the same exact thing. 2x4 studs covered by 2x4 welded wire. Going to pick up some goats tomorrow for a local friend.
I wish we were brave enough to have cattle on our farm.
Before you all go "huh?" Let me explain. My husband is a retired eye doctor. I worked with him as office nurse and manager. One of our patients came in to our office one day, he was an elderly gent walking with a walker. Mentally harp as a tack but his body was obviously a wreck. Seems as though they were moving a gentle bull between pastures and happened to walk him past a paddock with another bull in it. Not so gentle bull challenged gentle bull, gentle bull answered the challenge, swung around and proceeded to tap dance on elderly gentleman breaking every rib, his pelvis, and a lot of other really important bones in his body. By some miracle the old guy was from tough stock and survived the stomping. Unfortunately the bull didn't. They said he was delicious.
Story two. Called vets office asking what to use on our 4 month old pups with ring worm. Said they would get back to me. Phone rings, it's the vet. He always called back so I didn't think anything of it. Told him the problem, he asked if hubby had any appointments open he needed to have something looked at. I gave him a time and he said he'd bring by some shampoo and cream to use on the pups. Great. Doc walks in and his wife is with him. I look up, say "Hi Guys....OH MY GOD!" in the same breath. Vet is standing their and the entire orbit of one eye is cold black, horribly bruised and so is his cheek bone, in fact one whole quarter of his face is solid black and yes, raw red. His eye is swollen shut. He is the most miserable individual I had seen in a long time. Seems as though he had been called to pull a calf from a heifer that was going through her first calving and when he got there discovered that the heifer had never been gentled or handled and no, the calf wasn't viable to be pulled, the calf was dead and hanging half out of the cow who was in obvious agony. When they tried to subdue her so the vet could get a needle into her, she reared up and came down, right on his face, blowing out the orbit of his eye. The heifer went totally bat crap crazy at that point, damaged two pickup trucks along with the vet before being shot and put out of her misery. His vision was affected for months, he had to undergo multiple surgeries to repair the broken bones........moral of the stories....................................
Under the right conditions there is no such thing as a gentle bull/heifer/steer/cow............and that is why we are not brave enough to have cattle on our farm.
Before you all go "huh?" Let me explain. My husband is a retired eye doctor. I worked with him as office nurse and manager. One of our patients came in to our office one day, he was an elderly gent walking with a walker. Mentally harp as a tack but his body was obviously a wreck. Seems as though they were moving a gentle bull between pastures and happened to walk him past a paddock with another bull in it. Not so gentle bull challenged gentle bull, gentle bull answered the challenge, swung around and proceeded to tap dance on elderly gentleman breaking every rib, his pelvis, and a lot of other really important bones in his body. By some miracle the old guy was from tough stock and survived the stomping. Unfortunately the bull didn't. They said he was delicious.
Story two. Called vets office asking what to use on our 4 month old pups with ring worm. Said they would get back to me. Phone rings, it's the vet. He always called back so I didn't think anything of it. Told him the problem, he asked if hubby had any appointments open he needed to have something looked at. I gave him a time and he said he'd bring by some shampoo and cream to use on the pups. Great. Doc walks in and his wife is with him. I look up, say "Hi Guys....OH MY GOD!" in the same breath. Vet is standing their and the entire orbit of one eye is cold black, horribly bruised and so is his cheek bone, in fact one whole quarter of his face is solid black and yes, raw red. His eye is swollen shut. He is the most miserable individual I had seen in a long time. Seems as though he had been called to pull a calf from a heifer that was going through her first calving and when he got there discovered that the heifer had never been gentled or handled and no, the calf wasn't viable to be pulled, the calf was dead and hanging half out of the cow who was in obvious agony. When they tried to subdue her so the vet could get a needle into her, she reared up and came down, right on his face, blowing out the orbit of his eye. The heifer went totally bat crap crazy at that point, damaged two pickup trucks along with the vet before being shot and put out of her misery. His vision was affected for months, he had to undergo multiple surgeries to repair the broken bones........moral of the stories....................................
Under the right conditions there is no such thing as a gentle bull/heifer/steer/cow............and that is why we are not brave enough to have cattle on our farm.
politicalcenter
Songster
- Feb 10, 2015
- 674
- 83
- 109
I just wish we had enough ground for cattle. PS...nice calf.
Yep same goes for horses.... 2000 lbs or 400 lbs they are still bigger and stronger than you.... Best for all concerned is not to get complacent.
Cattle are twice as strong as horses.... lower center of gravity and muscles in the neck designed for defence.
deb
They are all bigger than me and with
just 3/4 of acre I cannot have any
Oh man...that older gentleman and your vet were very. very. very fortunate!
Totally agree with all of you; cattle, horses and even sheep (probably goats too...lol) can be very, very dangerous. It's usually the quiet ones that'll get a person. An no one is immune to the possibilities of being hurt, no matter how good they are with animals.
I did not know that about cattle being stronger than horses. I would have guessed it the other way.
If our son decides a different path in life...as he was just discussing with me, I can't imagine we'd have cattle for much longer down the road. We have 4.5 quarters that's not worthwhile breaking up. We'd rent them out to someone for their cattle. We don't rent anything out at the moment...disease risks. I'd still like to put up hay to sell it though.
Totally agree with all of you; cattle, horses and even sheep (probably goats too...lol) can be very, very dangerous. It's usually the quiet ones that'll get a person. An no one is immune to the possibilities of being hurt, no matter how good they are with animals.
I did not know that about cattle being stronger than horses. I would have guessed it the other way.
If our son decides a different path in life...as he was just discussing with me, I can't imagine we'd have cattle for much longer down the road. We have 4.5 quarters that's not worthwhile breaking up. We'd rent them out to someone for their cattle. We don't rent anything out at the moment...disease risks. I'd still like to put up hay to sell it though.
Wickedchicken that is a very handsome bull for sure. It's wonderful that you do selective breeding and raising your heard.
My husband has raised cattle his whole life here in Alabama we sold off his large heard many years ago when the guy he leased his land from sold the property.
While I had turkey and chickens I did selective breeding.
Pc Thanks. Most people around here lease land for either raising livestock or farm plots. We have have a small farm.
My husband has raised cattle his whole life here in Alabama we sold off his large heard many years ago when the guy he leased his land from sold the property.
While I had turkey and chickens I did selective breeding.
Pc Thanks. Most people around here lease land for either raising livestock or farm plots. We have have a small farm.
Cattle are king around us. The land around our area is too hilly to seriously put crops in but perfect for grazing. There are a lot of cattle, sheep and goats especially in the Amish farms and in all honesty, grass fed beef around here draws a premium price. It's not unusual to hear of a grass fed beef going for thousands of dollars.
I have to admit also that I have a big weakness for dairy cows. They have the sweetest faces. There have been times when we have driven by Holstein Dairy cows standing by a fence and I've said that I really wouldn't mind having a sweet girl around for milk. DH reminds me of our two patients and I get jerked back to reality.
I have to admit also that I have a big weakness for dairy cows. They have the sweetest faces. There have been times when we have driven by Holstein Dairy cows standing by a fence and I've said that I really wouldn't mind having a sweet girl around for milk. DH reminds me of our two patients and I get jerked back to reality.
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We have a number of strictly-house-pet vets that once started out as cattle vets. Big money in being a cattle vet because they're few and far between, so high demand, and can be a big volume clientele depending on the size of the cattle operations. Gotta be hardcore and tough, and the ones I've talked to that have retired to saner critters did so because it was too physically demanding and hard on the body.
IF we decided to put cattle on our property (and per the CC&R's we're allotted two), I'd probably go mini Jersey or Dexter. But I doubt I ever will because of coyotes and a desire to have my orchard lawn stay that way and not be reduced to a dusty wallow.
It's true what was said about hatching vigor. We had an aggressive Emden goose (Atilla) who was basically a feathered Rottweiler. I could always tell his eggs in the incubator because they violently rocked before hatching. No problems selling his goslings, either, as they were little bulldozers in the brooder.
Love all the cattle pics!
IF we decided to put cattle on our property (and per the CC&R's we're allotted two), I'd probably go mini Jersey or Dexter. But I doubt I ever will because of coyotes and a desire to have my orchard lawn stay that way and not be reduced to a dusty wallow.
It's true what was said about hatching vigor. We had an aggressive Emden goose (Atilla) who was basically a feathered Rottweiler. I could always tell his eggs in the incubator because they violently rocked before hatching. No problems selling his goslings, either, as they were little bulldozers in the brooder.
Love all the cattle pics!
I have not seen aggressive roosters in a breed being associated with hatching vigor. One is a biological function and the other is a behavior. There are too many things that cause poor hatching--shipping stress, too low of incubator temps, parasites or poor nutrition in the breeding flock and etc. to say rooster behavior is a factor.
A case in point is with Delawares that I was hatching for Kim. One group was an old like, I think Braden, that had terrible hatch vigor but aggressive roosters. The other group were the new Dels by kathyinmo. The new dels were the most vigorous hatchers ever! One upside down chick hulked out of the egg on its own. The roosters were like big puppies.
In the case of the Dels, it was weak genetics from over in breeding.
A case in point is with Delawares that I was hatching for Kim. One group was an old like, I think Braden, that had terrible hatch vigor but aggressive roosters. The other group were the new Dels by kathyinmo. The new dels were the most vigorous hatchers ever! One upside down chick hulked out of the egg on its own. The roosters were like big puppies.
In the case of the Dels, it was weak genetics from over in breeding.
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