Good rope for roping calves?

[Ben H]

The reason I got that bow, was that you can treat an animal without stressing them. They aren't supposed to associate the "prick" from you because you aren't directly handling them. One of my focuses is low stress handling. It's hard not to stress animals when you chase them with an ATV.

 

[Dylan Biggs]

i wouldn't try ropin' off of the 4-wheeler, that is begging to be involved in a wreck. the safe thing would be to trail the calf to the corral.

Depending on distance from a corral I would tend to agree with Justin. Get the calf paired and walk them in then, depending on what you are treating for if you need to treat a second time you can just leave them in the corral.
Getting a calf roped the first time is almost always easier than the second.

As far as ropes for calves I prefer a poly also because of the weight of it especially the way the wind blows here and 35 feet.

 

[Triple_S]

We don't have any horses here so i'm in the same boat with you. We do this all the time. Guess we're idiots, but we get the job done.
We just drive up kinda close to them, get off (don't rope from a motorized vehicle) and throw the rope. Works well with two people. Kinda hard by yourself. I usually get someone to go with me. One of us ropes the calf, the other wraps the front bar on the polaris to hold the rope (don't tie it, just wrap it a couple times, you can let it go before someone seriously gets hurt) Now this polaris probally wieghs 2-3 times what an atv does so remember that. One of you hold the rope, the other one climb down the rope and do your best impression of bulldogging. (this can be great entertainment for the man holding the rope, the bigger the calf is the funnier it gets) Once its on the ground keep your fingers in its mouth and its head twisted back and the other man can come doctor.

Seriously, this works really well and relativley safe up to 300lbs. After that it gets rougher. 400-500lbs is doable but you better be pretty tough and commited. Biggest we ever did was a 750lb heifer but she was pretty sick so she didn't fight too much.

 

[Triple_S]

I should add that I deffinatly agree with everyone that penning them in the corral is by far the better choice. If you can trail them to the corral then by all means do it. The way I described is a last resort or spur of the moment thing. If it's something you're gonna need to treat more then once, just remember, it gets twice as hard everytime.

 

[Dylan Biggs]

Maybe it won't work. My cows have pretty good disposition, I can walk up to the and calves are usually pretty docile. I'm not planning to chase the calf down while twirling a rope. Thinking I'd park near the herd, close to the calf I want them calmly wait for opportunity and throw the rope. I know a 300 lb. can be a grizzly to wrestle without a horse pulling back but this is a few times a summer thing, not a 10 times a day occurrence.

Your non chasing calm approach is the best one in my opinion. With this approach even if you miss the first your chances of a second shot are much improved. If you go out when the herd is bunched at the water or shade or salt it helps your chances also. The worst thing a guy can do is chase those calves to get them caught. Chances of scaring them is about 100% and cattle are more afraid of fear then they are of pain. The least stress the better. And if the calf is a heifer replacement prospect there is no point giving her an excuse to be wild cause if you ever have to work with her again to assist her calving in the future lets say you may forget the roping experience as a calf chances are she won't if she has had the daylight scared out of her.

Getting a calf caught with the rope is one thing, getting it restrained and treated can be something entirely different. Having it anchored to the quad will help but depending how it reacts to having a rope around its neck safety could definitely be an issue.

Walking the cow and calf to the corral is definitely safer and can be good training for any future handling jobs if the cow and calf are penned quietly.

 

[cowhunter]

I'd get a polly 45 ft ranch rope. That way, u can cut it a few times. Be careful and enjoy!

 

[burnt]

I'd just buy one of these http://www.telusplanet.net/public/medidart/whatis.html

I bought the bow, haven't had to use it yet. It can use larger capacities then dart guns, it has a little loop around the needle that pushes the dart out of the animal when it's done dispensing.

Ben's suggestion is a good one. We had a mess of pink eye in the cows one summer and successfully and relatively unstressfully brought it under control with the crossbow type.

 

[gcreekrch]

I'd just buy one of these http://www.telusplanet.net/public/medidart/whatis.html

I bought the bow, haven't had to use it yet. It can use larger capacities then dart guns, it has a little loop around the needle that pushes the dart out of the animal when it's done dispensing.

Ben's suggestion is a good one. We had a mess of pink eye in the cows one summer and successfully and relatively unstressfully brought it under control with the crossbow type.

Were you injecting in the neck?

As our cattle are accustomed to the 4-wheeler, I can putt down the feed row and catch calves that need treating with a hook far more calmly than with a rope. They rarely even make a sound to stir up the rest of the cattle. Every calf I've roped makes quite a fuss if you are catching them around the neck, regardless of how quiet you are in roping them.
We rarely have pinkeye in the summer here and if a calf gets sick enough to doctor we rarely find them until it's too late.
Bigger cattle make a trip to the squeeze.

 

[Ben H]

I would have bought the crossbow, but I was pinching pennies. They have both a IM and SQ needle. The IM has the hole in the end, the SQ in the side. It is a pretty big needle though.

 

[burnt]

Yes, in the neck. There were no facilities where the cows were pasturing and the bow and dart made the job easier than I had ever imagined possible.

Although it was summer, the cows were accustomed to me coming to the field to put a bale in the feeder, so we could get in and move amongst them.

The needle of the dart embedded itself in the neck and popped out when it was empty.

I do not own the bow, the neighbor supplied it and the expertise to run it!! A good neighbor, for sure.

 

[HAY MAKER]

If you dont have a set of pens...............buy you some portable ones,you will fare better and so will the calves.
good luck

 

[twister]

I would have to agree with the posts stating this is an accident waiting to happen. Your calm dosile cattle potentially could blow up as soon as you get a rope around their neck. Then if they run off perpindicular to your ATV, over the ATV goes. Also, if the calf gets slack in the rope and starts running around your motor scooter, then you end up getting tripped up and hurt.

We had a lot of cats around our place when I was young. All of them nice and dosile, would come up and lay on your lap as you pet them. But one time I got the bright idea to practice my roping skills on a few, so I tied a honda in each end of a clothes line coard. Wound up and caught one. It started jumping, hissing, running all over. So I took the other end and caught another one(don't really know why I thought that was a good idea). Believe it or not, but it did the same exact thing. So now I have two cats on each end of my rope, bouncing, jumping, hissing... I am now wondering how I get the cats off the rope when I hear my Dad yell "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!!" My response was to let go of the rope, which set the cats somewhat free. One decides to run away and jumps a wood fence. Now we have a cat on both sides of the fence, seesawing back and forth. Luckily everyone escaped without too many injuries. But it goes to prove a lap cat on the end of a rope is no longer a lap cat.

Here is what I would suggest, find some local boys that are part of a roping club or do team roping or tie down roping. Any of them would probably enjoy the free practice and the chance to work their horses on fresh cattle. The younger they are, the more eager they will be to do it for free, but watch out and make sure they have a head on their shoulders and aren't going to run your cattle through a fence or put undo stress on them. Once they catch them, you roll up on your ATV, throw the calf, doctor it, and go onto the next one.

 

[Northern Rancher]

Now a bunch of team ropers in a pasture full of fresh yearlings should be fun to watch!!!I'd go with a couple of handy ranch kids they've most times faced the consequences of handling cattle the wrong way.

 

[scout]

The reason I got that bow, was that you can treat an animal without stressing them. They aren't supposed to associate the "prick" from you because you aren't directly handling them. One of my focuses is low stress handling. It's hard not to stress animals when you chase them with an ATV.

I agree with Ben H a fellow close to here that runs some stockers hired me to do some day work treaten some pinkeye cases bought one of the bows. the calves weren't use to a horse and it was time consuming he bought the bow and had good luck with it he could treat the calves twice as fast as i could the only problem was sometimes it was hell finding the arrow.

 

[Faster horses]

Feed a good mineral year round and they won't get sick... :shock:
If they don't get sick, you don't need to doctor anything.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. :nod:

Those ranchers in the Big Hole Country in Montana can't ride
horses much there because it is so boggy. They have learned to
head and heel yearlings on four-wheelers. But they were good
hand horseback so it wasn't too hard for them to learn how to
use a 4 wheeler. I certainly wouldn't encourage anyone to try
it that wasn't an experienced roper or used to handling cattle on
the end of a rope.

You said, "chase the calf down while twirling a rope"...I was always
told you twirl your girl and you swing your rope. :wink:

Anyhow, good luck to you!!!