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Post by tiffin on Aug 20, 2010 11:37:23 GMT -5
Any suggestions out there on how to get a bull on a trailer? We have moved cows and calves but never a bull. Any problems?
Adrienne
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Post by copperhead on Aug 20, 2010 17:47:55 GMT -5
We load him up with a couple of cows, never had a problem, P.J.
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Post by tiffin on Aug 20, 2010 19:46:13 GMT -5
But, if you don't want the cows on there, then what?
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Post by linda on Aug 20, 2010 20:01:15 GMT -5
What kind of trailer are you using? Horse, stock?
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Post by wdd on Aug 20, 2010 21:27:59 GMT -5
Try putting a bucket w/ grain in the trailer or leading him in. If he knows the grain is in the bucket and is like my Dexters, he'll jump right in.
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Post by Clive on Aug 21, 2010 2:06:14 GMT -5
Our bulls will normally just walk on if you don't push them. We make sure it's gated all round so there's nowhere else to go, then let them sniff around, no pressure, and they just walk on.
Where we load our animals on the farm, when they walk onto the trailer they are going back towards the other cattle they were with. I think that if we were trying to get them to go away from the others, it would be very hard. So they come out of the pen into a loading area, the trailer is placed between the two, so perhaps they think it's a way back to the herd.
If you try and force them on, then it gets difficult I think.
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Post by prairieboy on Aug 21, 2010 15:57:21 GMT -5
Since you asked for suggestions I will give one.
What we do is a year round effort to keep our cattle used to the loading area. I have a sound I make when I offer treats. I yell woooh woooh wooh. It is sound I can make real easy and real loud real often. Anyway, this sound is followed with a small treat. My goats and cattle will literally come running. In winter the treat is alfalfa.
I have them come to the loading area a few times each week.
When I do load my system is not really a very good one but it works. It is a few heavy duty metal gates and cattle panels that creates a 24 foot long chute and one swinging gate to crowd them into the chute. It works mainly because the cattle will come and get into the loading area. Then by using a little crowding. they funnel into the chute where they can be encouraged into the trailer by a whack on the rump. The gates and panels making the chute are designed so that I can turn the animals I do not want loaded out into the corral/loading area.
This system is on the cheap, it could be improved on, and may not work with animals that are semi-wild or worse. But so far by keeping them used to coming into the load area it has worked.
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Post by tiffin on Aug 21, 2010 16:42:22 GMT -5
Thank you everyone. Really helpful.
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Post by midhilldexters on Aug 21, 2010 19:46:12 GMT -5
I have used several ways, but for a bull that has never been in a trailer or is not halter trained, the best way is food. I generally park the trailer where he and other animlas can jump in and out of it as much as they care to. I put treats or nice hay right in the back of it, and before long they can't stand it, and in they hop. I generally start this a week before I need them to get in the trailer. If you get the chance think ahead and always let your calves jump in and out of the trailer for a few weeks, they never forget it and then it's never a problem loading them, however old they get. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Carol
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Post by copperhead on Aug 21, 2010 21:34:43 GMT -5
Whern we load in the pasture, I use portable panels and set them up in a pen and chute formation. We leave the trailer there for a few days, and feed them inside the pen. When it comes time to load we put out the feed and (this is the tricky part) cut back the ones we don't want and keep the one we dol Then we use the panels and push the animal into the trailer. I has always worked, ( knock on wood) Didn"t mean to sound flippant in my first post, didn't quite get the full question first time. Good luck
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Post by tiffin on Aug 24, 2010 6:15:25 GMT -5
We moved some cows over the weekend, (not the bull). The problem I have is other people being inpatient. It's guys (not all but the ones here this weekend) doing the "getrdone" attitude. No time for treats. After pulling and pushing a couple of them, they finally starting listening to me and let up. The last two practically walked on the trailer by just leading, treats and calmly coaxing from behind. One steer just laid down on the ground until I came over and started petting him and talking, he then got up and with me still scratching and talking he stepped up. The guys didn't say anything but I think they got my message. Adrienne
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Post by Star Creek Dexters on Aug 24, 2010 16:59:53 GMT -5
LOL, Adrienne. I know not all men are like this, but it sure is funny when the "command and conquer" intersects with the 'gentle and sweet" =) We have had this happen a few times here, makes me so thankful for my wonderful, listening and patient husband!
When we had to load our bull to take him into the vet, we did not have a loading system. We basically lured him in close to the trailer with feed and then closed in around him with corral panels. Gently pressured him into the trailer, slowly closing him in. He hopped right on and was good to go. Worked out pretty easy.
Let us know how it turns out.
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Post by farmgirlgreen on Feb 4, 2013 12:59:28 GMT -5
Okay, so for 2 days now we have been trying to load our bull. I have been successful coaxing him into the trailer with range cubes. Most times, he will only get his front hoofs in and stretches his neck to reach what I am giving him. Two times I have got him all the way in, but we couldn't get the trailer door closed behind him. The trailer is backed up to a corral area with the trailer door open up against a corral panel. My husband stands outside the trailer with a rope tied to the door. He is suppose to pull the door shut once the bull gets in, two times now, failed. First time couldn't get it latched in time, second time couldn't pull it fast enough. So what is the trick to shutting the trailer door behind the bull??
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Post by dexterfarm on Feb 4, 2013 14:14:02 GMT -5
Has your bull been handled is he tame? Is it that he just doesnt like the trailer? One thing that will help his reluctance to jump in is get the back of the trailer as low as possible. If the trailer floor is slick get some hay in there so it will not be slick. we use the door to help push them in. As soon as the rear legs are in the door is shut. The more times you try and fail the harder it is going to be the next time. Are you using panels to make shoot to get him in?
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Post by jamboru on Feb 4, 2013 20:37:28 GMT -5
Do you mean stock trailer, or cattle truck, or horse float? We won't load our cattle on a horse float because they have never been in a blind confined space, not even a shed. We have no trouble loading them up a mobile ramp onto our cattle truck, and we have never had trouble with the trailer except sometimes we give brand new babies a leg-up. We never use a ramp because cattle would rather jump up than use a low ramp with no sides. We open the gates on one side of the crush, back the trailer into that space, run the cattle up the race into the crush as usual, and they always look at the open space and pop up into the trailer. The gate slides across behind them. If we are going any distance we then attach the fitted tarp over the front half of the trailer. We move stock regularly between our two properties and this method of no-fuss trailer loading never fails. They never get a chance to think they have a choice.
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