Stockmanship

[flyingS]

How many of you use Bud Williams stockmanship techniques and what are the biggest benefits you see? Those of you that do use it, do you use it every in every situation or do you pick and choose when to use it? I know lots of people that just use some of the concepts that are easily grasped, the discard the concept when they are extremely challenged. I recently shot some video of loading a cow in the pasture. The first time I attempted to load the cow it took some time, I suppose 8 to 10 minutes. I let her out of the trailer to try to capture better footage of the process. The second time it only took about 2 minutes to load her. The true savings was in the time it would have taken me to drive her to a set of corals to load her. For comparison sake, look at the time difference between the 2. If there was a time saving of 70% and you paid a person $20/hour, the savings would be significant. Just to make it simple say that you could cut your time in half and it normally would take you 10hrs to work a set of cows. You would have a $100/person savings everytime you worked cattle.

 

[Denny]

I built a bud box last year our alley will hold about 8 cows the bud box works great with 6 cows sometimes seven but the only reason I do seven is if one is determined to go along if you over fill it its cumbersome. I've noticed now alot of cows as they are going into the bud box they just turn and go right up the alley. My old system would take 4 hours to run thru 200 cows now we ran thru 200 in 1 1/2 giving lute shots and putting on heat detect stickers. This the only thing I know of Bud Williams and it works great.

 

[PureCountry]

After seeing Dylan Biggs in action last weekend at his ranch, I can tell it works. How he handled cows on pasture, and how his corral system is setup, it all makes for low stress handling.

 

[flyingS]

There is more to it than just working cattle through a working facility. Handling your cattle correctly will benefit pastures, water sites and overall ranch efficiency. When it comes to things like doctoring or pulling bulls, whatever it might be in the pasture it will become easier. I think the thing that some people miss is the fact that how they are handled in every situation effects how they handle in the next. Meaning if I handle them correctly in the pasture they will be easier to handle in the coral or to hold in a corner and sort, etc. It may take more time in the beginning, but the savings in the end will be very rewarding in every way.

 

[4Diamond]

There is more to it than just working cattle through a working facility. Handling your cattle correctly will benefit pastures, water sites and overall ranch efficiency. When it comes to things like doctoring or pulling bulls, whatever it might be in the pasture it will become easier. I think the thing that some people miss is the fact that how they are handled in every situation effects how they handle in the next. Meaning if I handle them correctly in the pasture they will be easier to handle in the coral or to hold in a corner and sort, etc. It may take more time in the beginning, but the savings in the end will be very rewarding in every way.

what do they recommend for handling bulls? Never fails I get two or more together and the fight is on. Keep in mind we are a no horse outfit.

 

[LazyWP]

There is more to it than just working cattle through a working facility. Handling your cattle correctly will benefit pastures, water sites and overall ranch efficiency. When it comes to things like doctoring or pulling bulls, whatever it might be in the pasture it will become easier. I think the thing that some people miss is the fact that how they are handled in every situation effects how they handle in the next. Meaning if I handle them correctly in the pasture they will be easier to handle in the coral or to hold in a corner and sort, etc. It may take more time in the beginning, but the savings in the end will be very rewarding in every way.

what do they recommend for handling bulls? Never fails I get two or more together and the fight is on. Keep in mind we are a no horse outfit.

A 4 wheeler in the ribs of the lead bull works wonders.

 

[flyingS]

I believe that the problem with bulls is that they never get handled. We pull them off there mommas and put them on feed, run them through every spring and run a probe in their butt, turn them out to breed, gather them in a hurry ( often ramming them with a 4 wheeler) then we kick them in a pasture and forget about them until next year. The problem is everyone is in a hurry when they do something with them and never take time to handle them. I handle lots of bulls every year, some aren't much fun others are a pleasure. Our own bulls I can handle anywhere, we don't handle them much but we try to handle them right. I have a video of my 7 yr old daughter loading a yearling bull we raised. I worked with him for a few minutes then let her load him by herself. She was able to walk him down the fence and right into the trailer with no help, no panels or corals in the pasture.
It doesn't help if the person handling them is afraid. You have to have respect, but an animal can sense fear. If you allow a young bull to be disrespectful it only gets worse as he gets older and bigger. Abusing them only at best gets a job done, but it doesn't improve your working experience, at best it is the same every year.

 

[4Diamond]

They can run together all year then bring them in and fight fight fight. IMO people don't respect bulls enough.

 

[4Diamond]

There is more to it than just working cattle through a working facility. Handling your cattle correctly will benefit pastures, water sites and overall ranch efficiency. When it comes to things like doctoring or pulling bulls, whatever it might be in the pasture it will become easier. I think the thing that some people miss is the fact that how they are handled in every situation effects how they handle in the next. Meaning if I handle them correctly in the pasture they will be easier to handle in the coral or to hold in a corner and sort, etc. It may take more time in the beginning, but the savings in the end will be very rewarding in every way.

what do they recommend for handling bulls? Never fails I get two or more together and the fight is on. Keep in mind we are a no horse outfit.

A 4 wheeler in the ribs of the lead bull works wonders.

I know a man put on deaths door step doing that. Bull vs four Wheeler I take odds on the bull.

 

[flyingS]

A 4wheeler is a good tool when used correctly. I have seen a few bad wrecks with bulls when someone was horseback, I would hate to not have the ability to change direction in a flash. Gathering bulls is like throwing a bunch of teenage boys from rival towns in a gym, it's a lot of testosterone all in one place . I have used a 4 wheeler quite a bit, I have misused it as well, fortunately I have never been hurt. I hit a cow once that was on the fight, I had my little girl with me, she almost upset us end for end. It was like God took me by the hand and said maybe you need to get yourself in check. She set the atv on the back rack standing straight in the air and left us alone. Had she continued she would have upset it on both of us, Rylie was pretty little she wouldn't have fared very well.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

Bulls that have been handled with good dogs seem to respect them and they don't need to be harassed but just having a good dog present can really help.

 

[High Plains]

Proper planning and a level head will go a long way with any cattle handling. The biggest thing is to know when something isn't working and figure out how to make it better. My buddy and I have let the cattle get away when we've had them captured because they didn't want to be handled in a certain corner of the pasture. Just take them to another corner and they're content and will let you sort them. Working with competent people that are not in a race is always a good way to start some cattle work. The wheels can come off at any time after that!

 

[flyingS]

:agree:

 

[flyingS]

Here is a video loading a bull in a 16ft trailer. He loaded with the center gate shut, so less than 8ft of room. I have loaded him before in a fence corner with a 4 wheeler, he hasn't been handled much with a horse. It took awhile but it shows that with patience it can be done, the next time won't take near so long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRJ9k9_Lhug
My wife Jamie was videoing, excuse the discussion, she has a little trouble not being in the middle of the action. She is on foot, that gives you and idea of this bulls respect and patience. He didn't run her over.

 

[George]

Being as I normally only have one bull at a time ( I only have 18 cows ) I like to get them about 400# and halter break them.

I want them to move away ( show respect ) but I want to be able to flip a rope on them from the ground ( normally about 10' or less or I might miss ) and then have them stand still while I put a halter on and lead rope and walk them into a trailer or where ever I want them.

The bull I have now if I want him I go out with about 1/2 a square bale of hay and hand feed the cows, spray them for flies and slide a rope on the bull. I have never halter broken any of the cows but they normally eat from my hand several times each week so they are easy to handle. I know I'm not a rancher, just a farmer selling the farm one truck load at a time ( Greensboro Sand & Gravel ) but I enjoy the cows I have and they help keep the hilly acreage under control.

I know this is not possible in the real world of cattle but it sure makes things easier around here.

 

[Denny]

Sorry george but thats a good way to get killed. Not every animal is pet material and theres no better athelete than a bull in a pissy mood and they can get that way over nothing. Some of you guys who try to make them pets need to meet my friend Don all you would have to do is look at his face and you'd see what I mean.

 

[George]

Sorry george but thats a good way to get killed. Not every animal is pet material and theres no better athelete than a bull in a pissy mood and they can get that way over nothing. Some of you guys who try to make them pets need to meet my friend Don all you would have to do is look at his face and you'd see what I mean.

I fully agree - - - but with a small group I will not tolerate any animal, dog, cow, horse, pig that does not have the attitude I feel is right for me - - - I have one charolis cow that will take anyone other than me and I feel she is going soon.

As I stated I train them to show humans respect. I like being able to drop a few flakes of hay and walk thru them with a sprayer so I don't have to corral them. If a cow is in heat or for any other reason the bull is out of sorts and I need to handle it is easy for me to take the whole group to the barn and handle in the proper facilities. If a bull ever tries to intimidate me he is soundly shown the light and if the second time comes he becomes someone else's property.

I have two sale barns that fight over my 4 year olds as they rent bulls out and when I get rid of an animal they like being able to throw a slab of hay in a trailer and stand back and watch the bull load. When the bull is young and I am halter breaking I feed them in an old trailer so they love seeing one pull in as they know there is good hay inside. If there are no cows in heat and you pull in with a trailer by the time you stop and open the door the bull is ready to go. Bulls with other than a great attitude have no place here and I would not want a nasty bull breeding my cows anyway as if I get a nice heifer I want a good attitude with her as well.

 

[flyingS]

Here is a video loading a cow. I loaded the same cow twice. The first time it took some work to get her to handle, probably 10 minutes total time with loading, the second time was just over a minute. Then my 7yr old daughter loading our yearling bull on a fence line.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_0m9C7tkSM