What are the friendliest breeds of cattle?

[Madhouse Pullet]

I second what Farmerjan said. I have a charlios heifer calf she is about 14 months old now. She can be a handful on good days I can sit on her back, I can lift each foot and touch her udder ect. Then there are days I am having to try to keep her from head butting my leg. She a good cow and I have worked to train her for ridding and possible pulling a plow. She was bottle feed and has been handle since day one and can be a butt. She eats a ton of food. All ten of my goats food equals what I just pay for her to eat. She loves my kids but they only get to be near her with extremely close supervision and most of the time through the fence.

I could not imagine getting my foot stepped in by a 400lb animal. My son stepped on my bare foot with soccer cleats and I thought that was tough.... Hahaha but I sure love your photos! She is big!

How big do cows usually get in their lifetime?

 

[Jesusfreak101]

She will be taller then me a full height granted I am short 5'4" and she weight for her breed i believe females reach 1500lbs. She has stepped on me dragged me and has even kicked me and the bruise i got lasted almost a month. Those are bad days. Thankfully she mostly has good days. I wear steel toe boots so most if the time I don't feel it thankfully when she does step on me.

 

[farmerjan]

It will depend on the breed, but on AVERAGE a mature cow will weigh in the 1,000 to 1500 lb range. Some bigger.... most of our adult cattle will weigh in the 1200 lb. range. Our bulls weigh 1500-2200 lbs. They can kick faster than you can see it and get out of the way. I know of 2 people here local that were badly injured by a COW ( not a bull) that got them down and tried to grind them into the dirt with their heads. There are farmers that have had cattle all their life that were killed by a bull that turned on them unexpectantly.
No all cattle aren't mean.... I have many that I will work very closely around and not think much of it.... but there is a part of me that still subconsciously is watchful. And if they get startled they will react and they can hurt you without meaning to.

 

[CLSranch]

Working the stockyards there was always more danger with cows than bulls. I've seen them run into a pipe gate (many times) trying to get me, even seen them run past the gate and hit the end so hard it killed them.

 

[Madhouse Pullet]

She will be taller then me a full height granted I am short 5'4" and she weight for her breed i believe females reach 1500lbs. She has stepped on me dragged me and has even kicked me and the bruise i got lasted almost a month. Those are bad days. Thankfully she mostly has good days. I wear steel toe boots so most if the time I don't feel it thankfully when she does step on me.

I am 5'4" as well. Such powerful animals.

It will depend on the breed, but on AVERAGE a mature cow will weigh in the 1,000 to 1500 lb range. Some bigger.... most of our adult cattle will weigh in the 1200 lb. range. Our bulls weigh 1500-2200 lbs. They can kick faster than you can see it and get out of the way. I know of 2 people here local that were badly injured by a COW ( not a bull) that got them down and tried to grind them into the dirt with their heads. There are farmers that have had cattle all their life that were killed by a bull that turned on them unexpectantly.
No all cattle aren't mean.... I have many that I will work very closely around and not think much of it.... but there is a part of me that still subconsciously is watchful. And if they get startled they will react and they can hurt you without meaning to.

The cows I have ever seen in person (dairies) are all shy.

I was 5 when I convinced my cousin (6) to leave grandmas backyard to run across a field to a dairy of cows, and to think those cows could have reacted so differently.

Working the stockyards there was always more danger with cows than bulls. I've seen them run into a pipe gate (many times) trying to get me, even seen them run past the gate and hit the end so hard it killed them.

That's so crazy! Is a stockyard where they're sold?

 

[CLSranch]

That's so crazy! Is a stockyard where they're sold?

Yes. Stockyards, sell barn, or auction I actually use all of those terms for the same thing.

 

[farmerjan]

And as @CLSranch will tell you, that is why those animals are at the stockyard/sale barn/auction..... Because they have gotten to where they are dangerous to handle. We would keep some of the higher strung cows when we were increasing our herd... but no more. If they get ANY kind of an attitude, other than natural protectiveness when they first calve, they have a ticket out of here. I worked at a stockyards too, and you would always tell they guys working the ring to "watch them" if there was one that was looking to go after someone. Granted, it is stressful to an animal to be there, and they can get upset.... but there are animals that just naturally want to hurt you and they need an appt with the slaughterhouse. PERIOD. Don't matter how good an animal or how long the pedigree or anything else. Life is too short to invite an animal with an attitude, to shorten it even further. I would trust some of our bulls before some of the cows we have had over the years.
But you just have to be careful with any animal..... a 150-200 lb sheep can ram you and hurt you bad.... a 1500-2000 lb bovine (cattle) can kill you just as quick.

 

[MarkJr]

Dexter cattle are 1/2 - 3/4 of the size of a conventional beef animal. My 1400 lb bull was 10-12 years old, and considered large for Dexter's.

My hoof weight on 24-26 month butcher animals are 800-900lbs.

Being small, they are much easier to handle. Very economical on feed too. I have 5 acres and a herd of 5 at the moment. I feed 70-80 lbs bales. One per day from September to March. Controlled grazing allows me to put up my own hay (2 bucks a bale) as well as provide grazing the rest of the months.

Dexter's only have a 30-40% success rate for AI. Else I'd not feed a bull year round.

 

[Madhouse Pullet]

I appreciate all the responses!

 

[TaylorBug]

I second what Farmerjan said. I have a charlios heifer calf she is about 14 months old now. She can be a handful on good days I can sit on her back, I can lift each foot and touch her udder ect. Then there are days I am having to try to keep her from head butting my leg. She a good cow and I have worked to train her for ridding and possible pulling a plow. She was bottle feed and has been handle since day one and can be a butt. She eats a ton of food. All ten of my goats food equals what I just pay for her to eat. She loves my kids but they only get to be near her with extremely close supervision and most of the time through the fence.

I've heard that Charolais are crazyyy from a local farmer that had 1 bad one but we've been raising Char-Angus/beef crosses for a few years with skittish (not pets) but fairly well behaved heffers producing pretty good beef.