One of my newly rented pastures has a 10 acre cedar thicket on it. My cows seem like they are always hiding out in the thicket which makes checking and counting the cows impossible. I am wondering if feeding the cows some range cubes would make them come out of the thicket. I have 21 bred cows in this pasture. There is plenty of grass so I dont want to overfeed them. How much and how often will I need to feed them to get them to come out of the cedars everyday?
From what I've seen, you don't have to give them a lot of range cubes, but if you go out there and give some audible signal; rattle them in a bucket or blow the pickup horn, then scatter the range cubes on the ground once or twice a week, it won't be a month before they'll all come when they hear that signal. A neighbor would put about a gallon or less of range cubes in a 5 gallon bucket and that worked for him. In fact, it worked so well that when I went into the pasture to pick up pecans with a 5 gallon bucket, I'd have all his cattle following me around trying to get into the bucket (and they were generally wild range cattle that you couldn't get near otherwise). [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] He also found that when one or more of them got out of the pasture, it was almost impossible to drive them back, but he soon learned to just rattle a bucket of range cubes, set the bucket in the back end of his pickup with the tailgate down, and they'd follow him anywhere. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
I feed my cows and calves a little grain everyday. When you're teaching them just go out and call them. Use the same voice and same words everytime. At first they'll just look at you. Then shake the bucket. They'll probably still look at you. Next pick the tamest cow that you have and feed her. Next day you go out stand away from the cows, holler at them, and shake the bucket. They'll look at you like you're from Mars. Then holler again, shake the bucket, and go feed that tame cow or cows. AFter doing this consistently for a week or two they'll start to get the hang of it. Once you get one cow doing it they will all eventually fall right in. Don't worry about trying to teach each one. Once one of them is taught the rest will catch on real quick. From there just keep getting farther and farther away. I can call from a half mile away and my cows will come in on a run. Just be patient and keep at it. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
"From there just keep getting farther and farther away."
You are correct, Doc. I used your method and called your cows the other day - it worked! [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img]
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