How do you get a 2,000 lb bull in a trailer?

[siroiszoo]

I'd grain him for a few days with a red bucket while giving a cattle call. Then back up the trailer to the gate, place the red bucket in the trailer, give a call, open the gate and see if it works.

Beekissed, that wouldn't even work when we finally got him in the shoot last week. We tried for hours with the food bucket; even tried with a red shirt. He was not under any circumstances going in the trailer and he knew very well that we didn't have anything big enough to make him. I was very nearly to the point of seeing if he would chase me in, but wasn't suicidal enough on that day to give it a try. LOL!

However, I do wish I'd thought of running up and buying a juicy bale of alfalfa. Later, after we gave up, I heard that cutting open a bale in the nose of the trailer puts off a very strong odor that will make any cow/bull jump in the trailer. And I do know that this bull likes the alfalfa cubes I've been testing him out with.

You know, at first I wanted him gone so bad I could taste it. The sooner he's gone the sooner my horses get on some nice green grass. Since my pasture was lost to the drought this year - also due to size & number of animals on it - the sooner the better.

But now I feel sorry for him. And since manhandling him obviously isn't getting anywhere, I'd rather see him shot on the spot verses being put through any more stress. He's been on that pasture since he was born and gentled to the status of being a pet. He wasn't even mean until everyone started trying to force him in the trailer. Everyone keeps calling him stupid but I'm thinking we are the stupid ones cause he seems pretty darned smart to me. And it's obvious that he's learning very quickly from each attempt to load him. He can't understand why his world has been turned upside down in a matter of weeks and he knows something bad is gonna happen if he gets on that trailer. He must cause he's been loaded a few times in the past; since birth for whatever reasons.

It's looking like the saga will continue until they try again this coming Saturday to get him to market.

Keep the suggestions coming and I will keep everyone up to date on the situation.

Thanks!

 

[jhm47]

It's a very common problem for those who are not really acquainted with cattle to build a corral/chute, and not build it strong enough. The strength of cattle (let alone a bull) is unbelievable. Those of us who have grown up raising cattle sometimes don't build things strong enough, and have to learn our lesson again. This is why as an EMT, I urge everyone to be as careful as possible around any livestock. One of the most important things that can be done is to DEHORN your cattle. It's safer for the cattle, and also for those who must handle them. I've seen bulls fight many times. One time I saw a couple bulls pushing each other around, and they snapped off a railroad tie that was set in concrete in the ground. Snapped it like it was a toothpick. They can also go through or over a steel gate like nothing if they really want to.

One other thing---I've been raising cattle for nearly 60 years now, and it's my opinion that they are color blind. Red means nothing to them as far as I can tell, so a red bucket or shirt is meaningless. Of course, that's just my humble opinion. I'm sure that there are some who will disagree, but if you want, I'll wear a red Santa suit and chase bulls all day long. lol!

 

[laughingllama75]

I'm sure that there are some who will disagree, but if you want, I'll wear a red Santa suit and chase bulls all day long. lol!


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Oh dear God.....Please don't! LOL. I think they are color blind (well, at least I don't think red really bothers them any more than any other color).

 

[siroiszoo]

I've been raising cattle for nearly 60 years now...

I was wondering if you didnt' have a lifetime of experience behind you. Your posts hinted toward that conclusion.

I've been around cattle for nearly 25 years in the sense that everyone I know either has them or they run herds next door to me , etc., etc. I've even fed a few herds from time to time. And all the friends cowboy, which is why I'm looking for a newer idea on this forum. But I have never personally raised cattle & thereby never really learned too much about them. Cattle ignorant, I am.

I've only seen one corral/chute (thanks for the correct spelling) that would be sturdy enough for this bull. It was built using solid heavy lumber & utility poles every four feet and the design was curved with the largest series of solid gates I have ever seen; there were no corners or straight pathways and nothing to get their head through; also very tall. It was solid in every sense of the word. Hard to describe but it was built after a very similar experience in getting a full grown bull to market (a friend's bull; about 30 years ago). My husband & I plus a few more friends wound up having to help him quarter it in the field that day. And the very next weekend, that friend started building his new corral & chute. LOL! And as you mentioned, there is always the ONE that will break it or go over it. Nothing is 100% guaranteed.

Anyway, since the owner is gone in this case and the whole thing has been handled badly from the start, I'd still like to see that this gets done the best way possible. Even if that includes having to repeat the adventure we had 30 years ago.

I don't believe there is such thing as a dumb animal, unless it is genetically/medically so. I've been totally amazed at how quickly this bull is learning. If the guys try one thing and it fails I can guarantee you, the bull won't fall for it twice. I don't know if this is typical of cattle or not. And I'd swear that thing can read the emotion of the people working with it. Plus, his stamina is such that everyone wears out before the bull does. And when the guy brought his cow pony in to help corral it, the bull just looked at him as if to say, "What do you think you're gonna do with that?" The guy had to use the cracking sound of a whip to get the bull to move - which doesn't work any more as this bull gets desensitized to things very quickly. So am I grasping at thin air to think there is a better way to work with this bull in order to trailer load him?

Am I wasting my time looking for techniques I can use while "everyone is away" and the bull is a bit quieter?

In my mind, there should be a way to get this done in a calmer fashion and in a way that seems logical to the bull. And he's coming to me (or the gate where my fence joins the neighbor's) for food and looking to my small herd of horses for comfort & companionship. This is a bond he's built since he was born out here. They have always slept side by side with only the fence dividing them at night. They've never been in the same pasture together.

Is it incredibly stupid of me to think I can teach - at this late date - this bull to go into a stock trailer for food? Should I just give up and let the scenario play out? If I can't figure something out by Saturday, he'll have to suffer through cowboys this weekend. And like you mentioned jhm47, he'll be full of drugs & adrenaline by the time he hits market. Not to mention all the weight he's dropping throughout this experience. What I fear most is the fact that this guy has ever intention of loading him into a long slant load horse trailer with a sleeper compartment on it. I'll take my camera and post the before & after pictures if they succeed in that.

I've been trying to convince them to do what it takes to get the owner's stock trailer, which is still here in Texas, and either park it so I can try getting the bull to go in for food, or at least to cowboy the bull into the owners stock trailer - if that is what they are determined to do.

It could just be me but all kinds of interesting drama flashes through my head when I picture that bull in an aluminum slant load horse trailer.

 

[siroiszoo]

I'm sure that there are some who will disagree, but if you want, I'll wear a red Santa suit and chase bulls all day long. lol!


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Oh dear God.....Please don't! LOL. I think they are color blind (well, at least I don't think red really bothers them any more than any other color).

By the way, from this present experience, I do believe you are correct about the color red.

But do, please, get the video camera out and make a video to post on YouTube for us if you do the santa suit thing.

 

[jhm47]

Oh, I'd bet he could be tricked into going into the trailer. I once had an old hereford/shorthorn cow that calved on pasture. I waited till she was eating hay, and sneaked down into the ravine where the calf lay to eartag it. My dad was watching, and as I squeezed the eartagger, the calf bellowed. I just remember my dad yelling "Look out!". The next thing I remember is tasting blood and cow poop. That cow had come down the hill and hit me and knocked me cold. Luckily she ran off with her calf and didn't continue to nail me. Later that fall, we had the cattle in a pasture about 10 miles from our home farm. We got all the cattle loaded and hauled home except this one and her calf. She got very belligerent, and would attack anyone who came near her. She was chasing me around through a thicket of Russian Olive trees, and I was wondering if she wasn't going to get me, but I found an old metal bucket, and hit that with a stick. The noise scared her off. Then, one day I got a neighbor over with his horse. He roped the cow off the horse, and the cow attacked the horse. She knocked the horse down, and then went after the neighbor. He escaped, but the cow ran around with his rope for several weeks. We finally caught the calf, and tied it in the front of my horse trailer. Left him in there for a few days, and let the cow try to get him out. We were unable to approach the trailer without the cow attacking us. Finally, I sneaked up to the trailer one day, and climbed on top. I was able to open the door, and sit on the top of the trailer for an hour or so, and lo and behold, the cow went in. I quickly shut the door and locked it. Hauled that dirty old red bugger to the sale barn, and sold the calf too. I'd have paid someone to take her, but she brought pretty good money. Hope I never have one like that again.

 

[siroiszoo]

Wow jhm47! I'm beginning to think my bull problem isn't all that bad - LOL!!!

Thanks for sharing that adventure. I guess it's down to me tricking the bull in the trailer OR the cowboys. If it turns out to be the cowboys, I'm taking my camera for video footage

 

[laughingllama75]

Wow jhm47! I'm beginning to think my bull problem isn't all that bad - LOL!!!

Thanks for sharing that adventure. I guess it's down to me tricking the bull in the trailer OR the cowboys. If it turns out to be the cowboys, I'm taking my camera for video footage

wait, now your going to trick the cowboys on the trailer and do what with the video tape? LOL, I couldn't resist. Sorry. I apologize ahead of time.

 

[oldbarncat]

Yeppers.. had a neighbour do that..parked the trailer in the middle of his field ,put in nice hay and grain and waited. Finally got him after a week.

 

[siroiszoo]

Wow jhm47! I'm beginning to think my bull problem isn't all that bad - LOL!!!

Thanks for sharing that adventure. I guess it's down to me tricking the bull in the trailer OR the cowboys. If it turns out to be the cowboys, I'm taking my camera for video footage

wait, now your going to trick the cowboys on the trailer and do what with the video tape? LOL, I couldn't resist. Sorry. I apologize ahead of time.

Well, I meant either I gotta trick the bull into the trailer if the guy in charge of this fiasco will drop the trailer off for me.

OR

Use the cowboys on Saturday to wrangle the bull into the trailer. I prefer the first option but it's not up to me.

If the guy planning this thing does it his way with the cowboys, I will video tape it because I'm sure it will be very entertaining to see the answer to my questions: How do you get a 2,000 pound bull in the trailer.

LOL!

HOWEVER...... Things do get pretty boring around here. Maybe it would be MORE entertaining to trick the cowboys into the trailer but I will have to think about what I'd do next once I got them in! (Okay...this is probably going too far LOL)