Cattle Know What to Do

Andy Martin · Dec 5, 2015

Wanted to pass this along. I have a neighbor who lives at the edge of town, on ten acres. He had a farm two mile away on the other side of town. This is a small town, 200 people. He and his wife would summer their cattle on the farm, then walk them down the road, through town, and they would turn in to their gate when they got to the house, and they would winter them on hay at home. One year they were busy and a little late getting the cattle moved. On the day they walked out to get the cows, they met them about halfway. The cows decided it was time and headed for the house to get their hay. The folks just counted them and turned around and walked in front of them back to the house. Wasn't much of a cattle drive.

806man · Dec 5, 2015

Good comment about them knowing what to do. I have 2 cows now that I bought as 500# heifers about 7 years ago that were kinda skiddish when I got them. Each time that I get them up to work them or whatever it is always at least a month before they will both come back into the barn lot and corral where I feed them. Last time in the chute was on November 17th. One has somewhat started to come around but the other is still standing back, way back. She will eventually come back in but really never forgets that alley and head catcher. I must admit that while she is in the chute she does get some extra attention that she really does not approve. I am never rough with my cattle and all of the rest of my cattle are born and raised here on my place. Those will go back into the corral the next feeding. They are not all dumb animals. Some of them have a memory like an elephant and really never forget.

LAA · Dec 5, 2015

There is a particular county in East Texas that had a reputation years ago for some of its citizens crossing the Sabine river into Louisiana and
stealing cattle, the old joke was if anyone in that county left their gates open all of their cows would go home.

gtractorfan · Dec 5, 2015

When I was young and we had milk cows it impressed me that they knew which stantion was theirs. In a way they had to Count. Also the same ones were always first.

rrlund · Dec 5, 2015

There was a guy here who had 40 acres north of town,lived just west of town. He'd drive his right up main street to pasture.
There's a story that he went in the bank and tried to borrow money one time and they turned him down. As the story goes,he told them he'd be right there laughing the day they closed that bank. He was driving cattle up main street the day they locked the bank up during the depression. He laughed and yelled "I told you so".

JerryS · Dec 5, 2015

Which county, LAA? I was raised in Desoto Parish, so I can believe that legend. What parish are you in, by the way?

MARK ROBKE · Dec 5, 2015

Our dairy cows,when I was growing up,were milked in our 2 sided tie stall barn.They always went in to the same stall every time.I never questioned it as far as I remember.In the winter they stayed tied in their stalls all winter,so I guess they got to know what stall was theirs.Mark

JerryS · Dec 5, 2015

Grew up on a dairy farm. We'd pen the calves at night so that the cows could overnight in the small pasture. We had a collie/shepherd mix dog whose job it was to encourage the calves to go into their pen every evening. Over time it became an automated process: the dog would sleep until 4:30, then he'd wake and stretch and start looking for the calves. A few minutes later they go flying into the safety of the pen. Dog would go back to sleep in front of the pen; we'd latch the gate later. It didn't take long for the calves to also know when it was 4:30; the dog could be off on one of his romantic tours and the calves would pen themselves.

L.Fure · Dec 5, 2015

Cows are a creature of habit. You get them into a routine and they'll stick to it for quite a while. The only time I had to go out to get the cows from the pasture is when I had to start the milking early for some reason. I never owned a herd of my own though. My milking experience came during my high school years. I milked cows for a farmer most of the way through school. I stayed in the house that his father and brother lived in. His brother and I were the same age, so that worked out, most of the time. We did get into a little mischief once in a while.

GBCMAN · Dec 5, 2015

While in high school I worked on my uncles dairy farm during the summer and the weekends when school was in.
I always got a kick out of when we did the twice a year time change.
Either you had to go to the field and get them up or they were standing at the gate wanting to know why the heck we were
late milking them.
Still smile when I think about that memory.

Hayfarmer · Dec 5, 2015

an older cattle family here used to graze the cattle in the surrounding hills during the summer. When fall came and grass and water was short the cows wondered out of the hills into a pasture below. They didn't come all at once but eventually most made it back. If you drove the roads in the area you watched out for them.

Dick2 · Dec 5, 2015

Nephew has 125 beef cows. Most of them calf 1-2 months before he moves them to summer pasture. The cows remember the way home in the fall, but the young ones don't have that memory. The biggest problem is getting the young ones to cross the railroad track that they've never seen before. Once they get the young ones across, they pretty well stay with the herd. The old cows speed up when they get a mile-and-a-half from the farmstead as they remember that is where all the winter feed it located.

RedRoundhead · Dec 5, 2015

Same here - we would call the cows, and they always went to their stall. Would stay there until milked. Did not even have to lock the stanchions.

Was a good lifestyle.

LAA · Dec 5, 2015

I live in Catahoula Parish. I remember a few old cow traders, who were not too straight themselves, used to say that about Sabine county and they said Sabine parish was where the " the dogs didn't have no tags and the hogs didn't have no ears", very few people now days understand about the hogs and the ears.

Tech 7 · Dec 5, 2015

Many cows are easier to deal with than some commuters these days

Andy Martin · Dec 5, 2015

Daily routine is different than once per year "routine". My uncle had four milk stations, one behind the other on each side. Of course the cows always came in by pecking order, always the same spot, including if one was missing (penned up, etc.) that spot would remain empty, if it was a front spot, the next cow would come in and wait in the rear spot until you closed the sliding door with the feed box.

Love the story about the calves penning themselves. I always drive my cows out of the corral before feeding, it didn't take long before they all started waiting outside, except for whomever was already in the corral licking salt or milling around. When I show up they move out on their own.

JerryS · Dec 5, 2015

You know, I was just thinking the other day about when farmers "marked" their livestock by cutting a pattern of notches in the animals' ears. I don't know if that is still done these days. I remember that back in the 50s 'marking' invited problems with screw worms, as did castrating, branding and dehorning.

LAA · Dec 6, 2015

I also remember doctoring livestock for screw worms, all we ever used was turpentine but it did the trick, they would do a gruesome number quickly on an animal, especially sheep because they got under the wool, if you lambed in the winter when it was raining and cold to avoid flies half the lambs would die and if you lambed in spring the flies were terrible, they were hell on calves also. It was 63 or 64 when they just disappeared, I was around 12, it was years later when I read how they had been eradicated though I am sure I heard at the time, it was pretty smart to release the sterile flies and break the life cycle, the same principal was later used on the boll weevil.

Hoofer B · Dec 6, 2015

some are creatures of BAD habits

MARK ROBKE · Dec 6, 2015

It was a good life style,and I wish now it would have lasted a little longer.The chains we tied the cows with were so worn a dog probably could have broke them.They could back up and move around,but mostly they stood still.I think now,that they wanted to be milked,to relieve the pressure.Mark

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