B&B Happy Goats....journal

[farmerjan]

I totally agree that if an animal is hurting, it will exhibit behavior that it may not do otherwise. And for the most part, I do not think most animals are mean. But there are some that are just "bullies" like that one cow I had, that would purposely use her horns. By the way, we dehorned her and when she tried to use her "horns" that were no longer there, she got a real comeuppence..... and then she quit trying. She did it purposely. She is still in the herd so I know for a fact that she was just being a mean bully; just because she could.
Snapping turtles are just obeying what nature programmed into them for food needs. They are naturally a predator, and if caught will try to snap anything close enough so that they might get loose to go back to just being a turtle.
Had a dairy farmer with a registered cow that he used to have a vet chiropractor for regularly because she had been injured and responded to the adjustments very well. She never got mean, but you could see when she wasn't hurting after the adjustments.

 

[thistlebloom]

My friend got a young mare to train up. She has an older mare she's had for years. The older mare is a non aggressive, easy to get along with, horse in a herd. The young mare bossed her around constantly and was unfair about it. When the old mare would be walking away from the hay after the young one gave her the look, the young one would keep after her anyway and bite her.
My friend then decided to sell her and got a young mustang instead. For a time there were 3 horses, and the pushy mare got penned up by herself. But she would always rush the fence and get ugly if the other two came by. One day the mustang had enough and kicked the stuffing out of the corral panels when Bully Mare rushed it. I guess it gave her pause for thought. Who knows what it would have taken to put her in her place out with the other mares. I think the mustang was telling her she didn't know squat about real life, but if she wanted a sample she'd be happy to oblige, lol.

 

[Jeff n Jenny]

I watched a whitetail buck last season that would thrash at everyone near him. He would charge a deer within a ~5-10 yard radius. He looked like the meanest deer ever. His rack wrapped around the front like a bumper on a truck. He was a 9-pt and tasted really good. Why was he so ornery? Don't know.

Hummingbirds are fun to watch. The Rufus (back in Montana) is a bully, bigger than the rest.
The Ruby-throated species back there will stack around the feeder. Here they try to dominate. Again, I don't understand the behavior.

I watched a news clip about a couple of kids playing a game called Skull Breaker, or something like that.
Yeah, I did some dumb things when I was a kid. But the things I see people do when they're driving and so much other stuff over the years just makes me wonder some. I've had dogs more loyal than a lot of folks that I've known, and I've seen animals care more for their offspring than some folks I've met.

Maybe I'm not so much smarter than they are, cause they teach me stuff all the time. And it's rare if ever that they do something that actually makes my heartache.
I did have this pretty red & white Hereford that I bought about feeder size. I didn't recognize the behavior but she liked to push a bit with her head. As she got bigger, she got worse. I finally butchered her because she scared my wife. I don't think she was mean, but there was too much potential for someone to get hurt.
Now the fellow that was happy to sell his cull to us? Probably meaner than that cow could have ever been.

 

[Baymule]

Today was sunny and beautiful. The wind had a bite to it, but if you kept moving it wasn’t that bad. Robert brought over his tiller and BJ tilled the small part of the garden I couldn’t get the tractor in. After that, he was done. LOL I cleaned out a chicken coop and spread poop on a pasture. We are keeping our little granddaughters this weekend. I told them they could help me plant stuff in the garden and get as dirty as they can. They are so excited! I hope everyone else’s weekend is going to be as good as mine!

 

[Jeff n Jenny]

I totally agree that if an animal is hurting, it will exhibit behavior that it may not do otherwise. And for the most part, I do not think most animals are mean. But there are some that are just "bullies" like that one cow I had, that would purposely use her horns. By the way, we dehorned her and when she tried to use her "horns" that were no longer there, she got a real comeuppence..... and then she quit trying. She did it purposely. She is still in the herd so I know for a fact that she was just being a mean bully; just because she could.
Snapping turtles are just obeying what nature programmed into them for food needs. They are naturally a predator, and if caught will try to snap anything close enough so that they might get loose to go back to just being a turtle.
Had a dairy farmer with a registered cow that he used to have a vet chiropractor for regularly because she had been injured and responded to the adjustments very well. She never got mean, but you could see when she wasn't hurting after the adjustments.

It's a joy to see an anything relieved from pain

 

[Duckfarmerpa1]

You're right. It's been a while since I had chickens.
I used to get 100 barred rocks each year to raise. The mean ones got dinner invites first.
I agree with your observations and opinions.
What I was trying to express is that if an animal has an unknown injury let's say a pinched nerve, it will be more aggressive.
When I say mean, I think of willful malice. The scheming to cause harm.
I got a friend back in Montana who is a vet and critter chiropractor. She tells stories of the transformation from mean to mellow from an adjustment. Diet/nutrition makes a difference too.
Just because an animal is eating doesn't mean it's nourished. So lots of variables.
Is a snapping turtle mean, hungry, or trying to protect itself? I'm glad one couldn't chase me if it wanted to
We observe behavior and conclude this one is "mean" without understanding the reason for the behavior.
I was trying to make a contrast between malicious intent and misunderstood behavior.
I guess I didn't do so good.
I've known wolves to go take a hibernating bear out of its den and shred it. Territorial competition? I don't know. It sure looks mean to me -

I had a really mean BR rooster Spike. We both got the wrong end of his action a bunch of times. A month ago I had it when Chris was renovating our coop and Spike was going after him! I must admit, I wasn’t nice to Spike...I did chase him and hit hit a few times with my tiny hammer. Chris finished him off. But plucked and cleaned him. He made terrible soup...old bird.

 

[thistlebloom]

Our high today is supposed to be 65....come on "sunshine state,"..... get back to the high 70's please....pretty much caught up on things other than some minor goat care that needs to happen this weekend...
Mr. Winston (pup) has taken on the job of deciding when we are to get up by barking at 2 or 3 am then starts at 6 am , we will be doing some tweaking of those barking awakening, lol....
Time to get out and feed, ya all have a beautiful day BYH

We are catching up to you! It was close to 60 yesterday, which is kind of bizarre, but I somehow managed to not complain.

 

[Jeff n Jenny]

I had a really mean BR rooster Spike. We both got the wrong end of his action a bunch of times. A month ago I had it when Chris was renovating our coop and Spike was going after him! I must admit, I wasn’t nice to Spike...I did chase him and hit hit a few times with my tiny hammer. Chris finished him off. But plucked and cleaned him. He made terrible soup...old bird.

Sometimes you just got to spank the kids, pluck some feathers, or rearrange brain cells,
to put things back into order.
We live in a fallen world visible with the unraveling of entropy, ** unless we intervene and invest some energy.**
PS - We had an old rooster who loved to play tennis, so we kept some old rackets around for him.
A pressure cooker can be therapeutic for an old bird. 15# for 20-30 minutes will do a lot for his disposition -

 

[thistlebloom]

.I did chase him and hit hit a few times with my tiny hammer.

Your tiny hammer made me laugh.

 

[Duckfarmerpa1]

@thistlebloom. Lol, these are cold temperatures for us, and we are not liking them very much ...I am "almost" looking forward to the swamp butt weather to arrive but know we will complain about that too

Same here...we always complain about our weather..too cold, too wet, too humid..etc...