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Bangs vaccinating heifer calves

Soapweed

Well-known member
Bangsvaccinatingheifercalves.jpg

Bangs vaccinating heifer calves
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Tools of the trade
Saddletrampshovingthemupthechute.jpg

Saddletramp shoving them up the chute
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That new coat might not look so new by the end of the day
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Replacement heifer calves
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Teaching the girls to eat cake
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That cake tastes pretty good
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Quiet Sandhills evening
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She's pretending that she's a bloodhound
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Sundown on the hills of brown
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A few minutes later
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Tumbleweed hung up in the fence
 

the_jersey_lilly_2000

Well-known member
We started out workin cows this mornin all wearin jackets and coats...but by about 10 am we'd all shucked em, it warmed up nicely. We had a good day. Hope yours was just as good. Looks to be from the photos. :D
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
the_jersey_lilly_2000 said:
We started out workin cows this mornin all wearin jackets and coats...but by about 10 am we'd all shucked em, it warmed up nicely. We had a good day. Hope yours was just as good. Looks to be from the photos. :D

The vaccinating pictures were taken yesterday, and the rest today. With the two or three inches of wet snow a couple days ago, our dusty corrals actually turned a bit muddy. That is fine with us.
 

Shortgrass

Well-known member
About your "bloodhound" cow, Several years ago I moved a bunch of cattle with my pickup and cake. I had to drop south about 3/4 of a mile and to cross a sand creek with my pickum up and back north to the gate. One ol cow had been left behind, and although she was only 1/4 or so from us, she had her nose to the ground like a dog and followed the exact route we had gone covering 1 1/2 miles to get through the gate. She could have easily seen us, had she looked up, and crossed up above saving heself (and me) lots of time. She was litterally sniffing us out. I thought that was interesting.
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Shortgrass said:
About your "bloodhound" cow, Several years ago I moved a bunch of cattle with my pickup and cake. I had to drop south about 3/4 of a mile and to cross a sand creek with my pickum up and back north to the gate. One ol cow had been left behind, and although she was only 1/4 or so from us, she had her nose to the ground like a dog and followed the exact route we had gone covering 1 1/2 miles to get through the gate. She could have easily seen us, had she looked up, and crossed up above saving heself (and me) lots of time. She was litterally sniffing us out. I thought that was interesting.

Your cow was pretty amazing to sniff out the trail like that. Sometimes my cows can hardly find cake on the ground, when I try to feed the stragglers "individually". If I put down a pop bottle or old glove by the pile of cake, they notice it and eat. Cows can sure hear good. They have identified the sound of my diesel pickup, and I can't even sneak by going 65 mph down the highway. They all look up with pleading looks on their faces. :)

One time about twenty-five years ago, I drove my pickup through the hills seven miles to a neighbor's place to look at a horse. My black lab dog started after me, but I was driving pretty fast and left the dog far behind. I arrived at the ranch, and the neighbor and I were looking at the horse in his corral. About thirty minutes later, a black dot appeared on the horizon, and pretty soon the dog, Shadow, showed up. She had never been there before, but wanted to see where the pickup had gone.
 

Shortgrass

Well-known member
My uncle told a story of how he had weaned calves, and sold a bull calf to his brother-in-law who lived 6 miles away from U. Bill. Sam hauled the calf home to his corral, U. Bill left his cows shut up all day, turning them out that evening. The cow was at Sam's house the next morning. That ol cow could hear her calf a good way off.
 

Hanta Yo

Well-known member
When moving cows, it's amazing how the laggers "sniff" the ground. Finding the trail. That's what ours do, and I really enjoy observing cow behavior, it helps us to work them or move them the best way we can.

OK, let's talk about COW BEHAVIOR and what we've learned??!!???


Please share your stories!!! :D :wink:

I would like to know if women notice more things about cows than men, and if women "bond" to the herd better than men... I can guess what that outcome will be....

This should be an interesting subject......
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
We have had one yearling heifer of our neighbors in with our cows since before June...I took her out one day and ran her back into her pasture-next day she was back :roll: ...So when we had the cows corraled to brand we loaded her and hauled her a mile into her pasture and unloaded her with a bunch of her "sister" cattle...We then moved our cows 3 pastures/fences, and a highway, away- next day she was back with them :roll: This week when I had some cows in to sort some calves to sell- I loaded her and hauled her to the far end of her pasture( about 3 miles) and again dumped her with a bunch of cows..That was at 10AM- by 4PM she was back and had crawled back in with my cows :roll: I guess my old girls are just more sociable... :lol:

I offered the neighbor $900 for her as a bred heifer as I don't think I'd ever have to worry about her going anywhere else- he thinks we should run her on shares, which was OK with me if I got the first 5 calves-- he didn't go for that... :wink: :lol: When we truck the cows out in the next few weeks, I'll corral her and he can come get her...And if she follows the trucks that 40 miles to the river bottom I give up....
 

DOC HARRIS

Well-known member
Oldtimer- I think that your neighbor is working you pretty good! I think I would send him a bill for pasture rent and feed and gas for taking her home several times. If he gets huffy about it - let him eat cake, and keep her calf. I wouldn't mention it again!

DOC HARRIS
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
DOC HARRIS said:
Oldtimer- I think that your neighbor is working you pretty good! I think I would send him a bill for pasture rent and feed and gas for taking her home several times. If he gets huffy about it - let him eat cake, and keep her calf. I wouldn't mention it again!

DOC HARRIS

Oh Doc- it always works out pretty even in the end...They've brought home a couple of my missing wayward bulls that I couldn't find over the years - and there have been a few times when the whole creek fence was down and too wet to fix, that I had quite a few cows over in their pasture until we could get things straightened out...

One of the same neighbors hired men called my buddy Donny (the one I posted pictures of helping gather bulls) who runs further south, and told him they had one of his bulls-- Donny said that he had already pulled his bulls and they were all there....They said it had his brand and gave the eartag number- turned out it was one missing from last year that he had given up on and figured had died....Either it wintered out all winter- or someone wintered it....My bet is that these guys wintered it and turned it back out this spring not even knowing they had it-- when you run 6000-10000 head of cows and winter 300-400 bulls bought from a dozen different places, it wouldn't be too hard to miss one bull.....
 

DOC HARRIS

Well-known member
Oh Doc- it always works out pretty even in the end...They've brought home a couple of my missing wayward bulls that I couldn't find over the years - and there have been a few times when the whole creek fence was down and too wet to fix, that I had quite a few cows over in their pasture until we could get things straightened out...
I understand completely! When you have that kind of a rapport with a neighbor, a lot of seemingly aggravating incidences are just written off. And you are right - it all works out in the end.

DOC HARRIS
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
The most amazing cow we had was a Guernsey milk cow when we ranched near Buffalo, Wyoming. We had her calve with the rest of the cows so we could graft her calf on something, if necessary. When we took her calf away, she would bawl for it for days. We ran the cattle east of the buildings and took them back about 5 miles, coming closer to home as the pastures ran out of grass. About late September we would trail the cows and calves to the house, then across the highway west to some meadow regrowth there. That darn little milk cow, every year, would go down the road, jump the cattleguard, cross the highway and get in with the range cows. She always found her calf. Now you tell me how she did that? We could never figure it out. She did it year in and year out. Finally one year we didn't need her calf and actually had an extra one, so we put the extra on her. She was so proud. We called those calves Popcorn and Peanuts. I hav a picture of her with them that I will try to find and post them.

We lost that little cow in a terrible spring storm on Good Friday in 1973. She and the other milk cow, a huge Shorthorn Holstein cross, found shelter along the creek. Only there wasn't enough room for them both and the big cow must have squeezed the little Guernesy off the bank into the creek. It was a three day blow. 98 mph wind and lots of snow. The kids could climb on the drifts and touch the telephone wires when it was all over. Anyway, the little cow was still alive when we found her. We loaded her up and hauled her to town. The Ford garage let us put the trailer in their heated shop, but she was just too far gone.

I have some other good stories about this little cow I'll share another time. She had quite the personality. Need to find my pictures of her.
 

DOC HARRIS

Well-known member
FH - This is a good example of how tough some of these bovine "people' can be! The extreme winter snows in Wyoming of 1949-50 blew winds similar to the one's you described and the cattle would 'drift' with their backs to the storm and be stopped by fences, and stand there and freeze to death - standing up! Held up by the drifts! Broke my heart to see that.

DOC HARRIS
 
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