Farmers never care if cows are out?

[twofatponies]

For the fourth or fifth time in as many years we found a cow loose today - not that she was wandering, she was just hanging with the herd, but on the wrong side of the fence. No break in the fence - she must have rolled under it? So as usual we stopped by the farm and told them. They nodded and shrugged - thanks, no big deal.

Is it just not a big deal when cows are out? Maybe they never go far. It wasn't like she was on the road or something. Horse people are always panicked if horses are out.

[GoForAGallop]

That's because horses are idiots and will end up miles away, probably taking out a few cars and putting divots in the most expensive sod lawns as they go.

Cows, on the other hand, in my experience, will simply go "Huh, I'm out." and then hang out on the other side of the fence, wishing they were back with their herd.


Now, there are naughty cows, of course. Especially the ones who purposefully take down fences. But they aren't usually prone to wandering miles away from their herd if they just innocently popped out of a fence.

[SmartAlex]

It seems like whenever I'm doing pasture maintenance, or just out hacking, I'm always seeing cow tracks where they shouldn't be. :yes:

I grew up on a dairy farm, and there are cows that just seem to always squeeze through the fence (or I've seen them jump to rival your best show jumper). It's usually when they are in heat, and usually they are home for dinner, or back with their herd within a few hours. There are occassions when a heifer will get a bit wild and have to be rounded up at the end of the season. And yes, if ALL the cows are out, the farmer WILL care. Not only is the liability much greater and an accident more likely, but as a herd, they are much bolder and will wreak havoc on the neighborhood, and cover some pretty good ground.

[pokesaladannie]

Two summers ago a cow ran away from her herd (about four miles from us through rough bush, down major roads and across lovely green fields) to set about moving on to my farm.

Well, my 6yo. ISH cross event horse did his impression of a "roadrunner " cartoon and ran straight thru our 4 board oak plank fence - I swear you could almost see his silhouette! Such a brave boy! So, that was $400.00 in vet damage.

We contacted the farmer and he came to get her but she had vanished... not quite. My husband was schooling the next morning - different horse - and out of the mist came this black and white cow. Quality of work took big nosedive -unless you're prepping for a rodeo!

This went on for three days and nights with the cow slipping in and out of the mist at dusk and dawn. My quiet farm was like a lunatic asylum.

The farmer, tired I suppose of my tearful calls, rounded up a gang of burly young men, a couple of 4x4's and a tranquilizer gun. They were really in their element- lots of testosterone! They hunted that cow (not chased) for
three hours before they successfully managed to get the dart into her-she was very clever and hard to see for an 800lb. black and white target!

The funny thing was that when she finally got sleepy she chose "the boys"
(very urban boys) next door's precious heirloom tomato patch to have her snooze in. I will never forget the image of the neighbour walking towards this gang of "rednecks" with their "rifle" standing around the sleeping cow in
their prize garden.

[Cloverbarley]

Yeah cattle around these parts are always getting out. They never roam away from their herd though and tend to just mull around outside their fields waiting to be let back in again.

[CatOnLap]

you know, this topic has already been discussed extensively in the "EMERGENCY-need tranquiziler gun..." thread on this forum...

As for my neighbour- his pigs and goats are forever escaping and he doesn't seem to care much either. But they basically just want the grass on the other side of the fence and do hang around.

[Thomas_1]

Now I get concerned when my cattle get out. I've got cows that can jump better than some eventers and barge through fencing better than some Highland and Shetland ponies.

But they don't normally do much of anything or go far from anywhere once they're out. They're normally just bulls with a roaving eye or cows newly separated from their weaned calves. Or else dong a scientific experiment to check the theory that "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence"

[LuvMyTB]

I used to board at a barn that had a small herd of cattle. The cattle were purposely let out to roam about the farm--in the arenas, the pastures, the grazing areas.....:eek:

[Sport]

I used to board at a barn that had a small herd of cattle. The cattle were purposely let out to roam about the farm--in the arenas, the pastures, the grazing areas.....:eek:

That sounds like our place before my dad passed away. There were days that I don't think he like the boarders all that much. We would arrive home to find the cows inside the indoor arena, or the outdoor ring, or evidence they were hanging out in the aisle of the barn. It was always, they just got out, I'm not sure how.

In the last year, they have got out a few times, but one or two, not the whole herd magically at once on a regular basis.

A couple of weeks ago, the bull and one of the young cattle got out. My mom takes their grain to them using the golf cart daily. So off she goes down the road with the golf cart to round them up from where they were sited. It was the funniest thing watching her return driving up the road with the golf cart with the bull jogging along behind thinking that there must be grain to be had somewhere.

[mp]

Is it just not a big deal when cows are out? Maybe they never go far. It wasn't like she was on the road or something. Horse people are always panicked if horses are out.

Depends on the circumstances. If it's a bunch of cows out roaming, it is a damned big deal. If someone hits one, you've lost a valuable animal AND you're liable for damages to the car and occupant. You get in the truck with feed bucket, and get them all back in. Then you fix the fence. Even if it's 2:30 a.m. :p

If it's a newly weaned calf that has escaped, running down the driveway and madly bawling for his mama who is, unbeknownst to him, 20 miles away, you go after him before he damages himself. Then you put him in the bullpen with 5' high pipe panels. Even if it's 4 a.m. :p

But if it's a lone cow that you know is an escape artist, then you kindly thank whoever told you about her and make the motions to go get her back in. But you really just wait for her to go back through the fence.

CatOnLap -- you know what they say about goats and fences: If it can't hold water, it won't hold a goat.

[KayBee]

If someone hits one, you've lost a valuable animal AND you're liable for damages to the car and occupant.

One of my strangest experiences was driving a back road in NY (about to cross the border into NW CT) when a herd of cows came galloping madly up the road toward me. I saw them from a distance, so no danger to me/my car. They all, upon sighting me, turned right, hied themselves over a stone wall, and disappeared into the pine forest beyond.

What was especially weird was I couldn't imagine where the cows were FROM. I've been driving that road since I was a kid and had never seen a dairy farm within 10 miles of that location. Haven't discovered one since, either.

[wlrottge]

We have ~350 head on our farm and have the ocassional escape. We take them all as a pretty big deal. On several ocassions we've had people stop at our house when the cows that were out belonged to a farmer a mile up the road from us. The farm is realy run by the inlaws but we help whenever we need to.

We'll use all kinds of methods to put them back in. Chase them with the car, herd them with a four wheeler and on ocassion I've chased them on my 16.2hh OTTB in dressage or jumping tack. I'm sure we're an entertaining sight to the other farmers in the area as they drive by.

You have some cows that just wander through a broken strand.... then you have cows that break strands and won't stay in regardless of what you do. We've replaced nearly a mile of fence trying to keep ONE cow in... I can't tell you how many times we put that thing back into the pasture only to see her out again 15 minutes later. it would crawl through, jump over or barge though if it wanted out. Finally after weeks of fence repairs/replacement it got out and got hit. The only way we even knew something had happened was b/c the cow was laying in the field with a broken leg and there was plastic car parts in the road.... We never had anyone come and try to "make a claim".

[ReSomething]

Yes, they care, but when you have an escape artist (singular) after a while you get a little blase about it. The whole herd gets action pretty quick.

As far as what mp said re value of the animal and liability, that depends on the state. I knew a guy who hit and killed a cow on open range and had to reimburse the rancher and pay for his own car repairs. Boy was he p*$$ed off about that!

[Sing Mia Song]

I live in between two dairies (and yet my horses still worry about cows in herds). I usually get a wandering heifer or two every year who figures out how to wiggle in between two strands of wire. It's generally a two person jump to get her back in--one person to hold the top wire down and the other to flush her to pop back over it.

I don't even call my neighbor anymore about loose heifers. I do call when a first time heifer has unexpectedly calved. Their response time varies depending on the sex of the calf. ;)