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catching steers?

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kelpies4me

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My brother has bought three angus steers. Problem is, they won't be caught. Need suggestions on how to get it done. They spent 2 hours yesterday messing around with this. Apparently the guy who he bought them from fed them that morning and thought the bait would work anyhow. Then there's the business of separating off the rest they don't want. Yeah, I know, we know nuttin. Advice greatly appreciated!
 
Sick the dogs on them until they bay up then rope them or just rope them.
 
Rope em and drag em to the smaller pen. Or just let em get a little hungry until they go into the smaller area to get the food you left out for them. Or just shoot em and call the butcher. :?
 
Put a feeder in a smaller pen or create a pen with panels, then get them used to going in it to eat. It may take a few days before they get used to it.
 
Next time do not pay until they are caught - and do not take them home until you have SOLID infrastructure to hold them.

In New YORK!!??

Best do a search on Cattle Today dot com - lots of newbies there and the "no catch" is so common that a search there will turn up lots and lots of advice - plus a whole bunch of people who will help - provided you are smart enough to figure out who is giving good advice and who is spreading schitzen.

Hint - the title "Guru" and the largest numbers of posts means little to nothing - lots of smilie and dancing banana posts.

Give it a whirl - there are a couple of folks there worth their salt - just take your time in finding them

BC
 
Broke Cowboy said:
Next time do not pay until they are caught - and do not take them home until you have SOLID infrastructure to hold them.

In New YORK!!??

Best do a search on Cattle Today dot com - lots of newbies there and the "no catch" is so common that a search there will turn up lots and lots of advice - plus a whole bunch of people who will help - provided you are smart enough to figure out who is giving good advice and who is spreading schitzen.

Hint - the title "Guru" and the largest numbers of posts means little to nothing - lots of smilie and dancing banana posts.

Give it a whirl - there are a couple of folks there worth their salt - just take your time in finding them

BC
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I figured with his Handle Kelpies4me it should be no problem.
 
Denny said:
Broke Cowboy said:
Next time do not pay until they are caught - and do not take them home until you have SOLID infrastructure to hold them.

In New YORK!!??

Best do a search on Cattle Today dot com - lots of newbies there and the "no catch" is so common that a search there will turn up lots and lots of advice - plus a whole bunch of people who will help - provided you are smart enough to figure out who is giving good advice and who is spreading schitzen.

Hint - the title "Guru" and the largest numbers of posts means little to nothing - lots of smilie and dancing banana posts.

Give it a whirl - there are a couple of folks there worth their salt - just take your time in finding them

BC
Click to expand...

I figured with his Handle Kelpies4me it should be no problem.
Click to expand...

Trained ones are fine - pets are often just pets - I am not going to go into a long lesson - it is easy to catch - but you gotta' know what you are doing - best pay someone to do it if you are a newbie - or take your cash back.

BC
 
Thanks everyone- only the deposit has been paid. The current owner "loves" his animals, so may not be amenable to dogs- even trained ones :roll:

I think he is keen on selling my brother a mean one too- which I say no to, but I am not signing the check. My other question is, once we get them in the 200/70 paddock he has, how the HECK do we get them on the trailer?

I have a friend who is experienced with sheep dog work like me (only fathoms more), who is willing to help. My dog would probably do this- she has no fear, but then, no training on cattle. I figure the dogs could at least fetch the steers to us, and we could man-handle them- how? into the trailer.

What a morass.

Anyway, he is trying to get them baited in now, will see how it goes. May have to pay someone here to fly out and help!
 
Unless somebody buys cattle with the understanding that you have to catch them yourself, I always think it's the owner's responsibility to at least put them up the chute. The best time to pay for cattle is right before you pull away from the chute - when they're standing on your truck.

If I just had a few to pen that would eat feed, I wouldn't want anybody else around. Strangers around when you're trying to pen gentle or cake-broke cattle is just asking for problems. The only thing worse than having strangers around that don't know what they're doing, is having strangers around with a lot of internet knowledge.

If it's only three head that will come into the pens and eat feed, he could try to back his trailer up to the chute, drop it there and leave. Just get out of the way. Tell the owner to call him when they're on the trailer.

But if the pens aren't big enough to sort cattle, it might be easier to take a bigger trailer and just load the whole bunch. That way, you can take them to some decent pens to sort them if you have to. But a lot of times, a longer trailer with more cut gates in it will give you the room you need to sort a few.
 
kelpies4me said:
My other question is, once we get them in the 200/70 paddock he has, how the HECK do we get them on the trailer?
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I'm not sure what a "200/70 paddock" is. :???: If he doesn't have any pens, you're going to have to carry some portable panels and throw something together or rope them and drag them on the trailer one at a time.
 
The only prerequisite to catching cattle is..............

You have to be smarter than they are. :wink:
 
Yeah- a good start is to get them in the 200 ft/70 ft paddock- the present owner, that is, and set up a loading chute- with just the owner and food- I hope that can be worked out. I know about bringing in unknown folks to stressed stock... Well, let's see what happens...
 
I know that whenever we've bought or sold cattle, the buyer backs up to a proper loading area, and the seller makes sure they get on the trailer. If this guy really wants to sell these cattle, I wouldn't give him a cent until he caught them himself. They are his cattle until he gets a cheque, so if he wants that cheque he needs to catch them himself. What if one got hurt while you were trying to catch it? Who is responsible? Would you still have to pay for it?

Just my opinion.

But if you decide you want to catch them, food works best, especially if the seller doesn't want them chased much. Take away their feed, and shut off the water. Come back in the morning, and they might be more cooperative. Cattle aren't like horses when it comes to coming for bait feed. They need to be hungry to really care about it.

I don't know of any animals that would load directly into a trailer in a pen that size except maybe our bulls. They know there are always cows at the other end of the ride, so they love the trailer. :wink: If the steers (and your helpers) will be quiet, you can try putting the trailer in the pen, parallel to the fence, near a corner, and walk them down the fence line to it trailer. Use the back door to funnel them in. It's an extreme long shot, and they need to be quiet, but sometimes it works.
 
Thanks- I got a call this morning that we are trying again. Owner has them trained to follow a bucket loader with grain into the smaller paddock, and he has a chute. I will be there if needed, but as others mentioned- keep my distance so as to reduce the stress.
 
You folks had better learn some good cattle handling skills pretty quick,soon as you get them home and unloaded,you'll be faced with the same problem when it comes time to take them to the butcher or sales yard.Are you taking them to a place with good cattle handling facilities?
 
I was wonderin the same thing. Where ever you take them, fences better be above normal standard...and a good set of workin pens needs to be already in place. If not....you'll have cattle everywhere except where they are supposed to be.

As for settling them down. If you keep them penned for a while. And mess with em daily....and by mess with them, I mean, feed them in the pen...be present, but not in there tryin to pet em or anything. Just be "around". Over a period of time they will get used to you or whoever will be handling them. Have a pattern of what you do when you go feed. My deal is honkin the horn. That way they learn real fast that a horn honk means somethin to eat. Then when you eventually turn them out....a horn honk or a holler will bring them in.
 
I am happy to report that the catching of the steers went off without a hitch yesterday, and when they were released into my brother's field, there was a lead steer (if they exist) who was calm, and within 15 mins they were happily eating grass. I haven't gotten any phone calls to help catch cows, so I guess things are still fine.
 

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