Herd activity centers... Anyone?

BreanneRN

Overrun with beasties
Joined
Aug 13, 2018
Messages
36
Reaction score
67
Points
76
Location
Central CA
Interesting, thanks.... yep mostly Angus or Angus cross here. There are lots of dairy cows here too. They don't go in the ponds. ;)
There are disadvantages to being a black angus... (one of them being "extra tasty") As a color, it really soaks up the heat... I feel a little sorry for my black quarter mare and sometimes spray her with water on extra hot days, though she does have plenty of shade... I am thinking her play area would definitely need a water feature, maybe an automatic sprinkler that comes on once a day... I don't have to catch her to spray her, she comes over and turns herself around for her shower... Sometimes I spray my sheep, but some like it and some don't. Thinking about it, it's the mostly black ram that likes it...
 

Donna R. Raybon

Loving the herd life
Joined
Apr 13, 2016
Messages
379
Reaction score
329
Points
153
Location
Dandridge in eastern Tennessee
That is predominantly a dark hided trait. Personally, I've never had any cattle wade off into a pond to cool off, tho I did have a newborn calf drown in one a few years back.
You will very rarely see any cattle with Brahman, Longhorn, Charolais or Simmental influence in them need or want to stand in water to cool off.
But, turn one of those into an Angus influenced hybrid or composite, and they'll be much more likely to hit the water.

It is not the heat itself, rather the endophyte in tall fescue that is heat stressed. Fescue is cool weather grass and has developed mutually beneficial relationship with endophyte that enables it to survive hot, dry weather. Unfortunately in livestock the endophyte causes circulatory constriction and they overheat.
 

BreanneRN

Overrun with beasties
Joined
Aug 13, 2018
Messages
36
Reaction score
67
Points
76
Location
Central CA
I've heard that term for many years and have always wondered...Exactly what is a 'logging chain'?
I worked in the saw woods here years ago, (equipment operator) have had my place logged about a decade ago. and the chains the loggers use look just like every other big chain you see on any 18 wheeler, same as the ones in the oilfield, or around a heavy construction site.

Oh, and thanks (BreanneRN) for the link to Dr. Lucy.
She thinks I'm over confident and overly comfortable "in my own skin' as she put it, and suspects my cattle are too.
(She did seem a bit upset tho, when I explained that all my cows would posthumously and completely lose their skins at some point...I gave her a hug to, so she wouldn't snowflake out completely and take it out on Charlie Brown....I just hate it when that happens to a cartoon character)

However. I'm only marginally being sarcastic. I really do not want my animals to develop inferiority complexes because I haven't provided them plenty of toys or games to play.
I now see, that they have a need to 'keep up with the Joneses'..so to speak.

After all these decades of raising cows and working on and around cattle/sheep/goat ranches in West Texas,I find out we were all doing it wrong. Who knew?
So glad your session went well with Dr. Van Pelt and that she was able to help you gain insight and get in touch with your "inner cow" without resorting to Rx's for antidepressants! I'm sure her "snowflake" moment was appeased by your hug and payment of the 5 cent fee (could it be that she is really a closet capitalist?) The only thing she hates more than being stiffed her fee is a germy dog kiss! At any rate, with her impeccable credentials of being "always right", I was sure you would be in good hands! I wouldn't worry too much about the Jones really, in cattle country, they might be 50 miles away.... And, Dr. Lucy has been known to diagnose with "OK, you're doing the right thing! and then demand her fee... but I would imagine that wouldn't come until at least the 100th session (or when the insurance ran out)....
 

BreanneRN

Overrun with beasties
Joined
Aug 13, 2018
Messages
36
Reaction score
67
Points
76
Location
Central CA
These videos may give us all a different perspective on the bovine species... Though some would label some of these the cows they never want to own...
 
Last edited:

greybeard

Herd Master
Joined
Oct 23, 2011
Messages
5,940
Reaction score
10,803
Points
553
Location
East Texas
So glad your session went well with Dr. Van Pelt and that she was able to help you gain insight and get in touch with your "inner cow" without resorting to Rx's for antidepressants! I'm sure her "snowflake" moment was appeased by your hug and payment of the 5 cent fee (could it be that she is really a closet capitalist?) The only thing she hates more than being stiffed her fee is a germy dog kiss! At any rate, with her impeccable credentials of being "always right", I was sure you would be in good hands! I wouldn't worry too much about the Jones really, in cattle country, they might be 50 miles away.... And, Dr. Lucy has been known to diagnose with "OK, you're doing the right thing! and then demand her fee... but I would imagine that wouldn't come until at least the 100th session (or when the insurance ran out)....
Well, my biggest concern was that the Dr is infamous for getting 'triggered' pretty easily and seeking safe space and sanctuary
in the dark bowels of Snoopy's dog house.
 

BreanneRN

Overrun with beasties
Joined
Aug 13, 2018
Messages
36
Reaction score
67
Points
76
Location
Central CA
Well, I think I have figured out a way to make a tether ball safe for my ram so ordered up a jolly ball for him... Maybe it will give him something to do besides tearing up his pen... If successful, I'll post a video... I think he will like it, since I can throw a ball in there and he will butt it...
 

BreanneRN

Overrun with beasties
Joined
Aug 13, 2018
Messages
36
Reaction score
67
Points
76
Location
Central CA
Well, my biggest concern was that the Dr is infamous for getting 'triggered' pretty easily and seeking safe space and sanctuary
in the dark bowels of Snoopy's dog house.
Hmm, I must have missed that strip... considering Ms. Van Pelt's confirmed germophopia it in fact, seems improbable... but if you say so. There is a strip where the gang discovers that while Snoopy's dog house is quite small, he has quite a large recreation room in there (probably in the "basement"). Maybe what you would call a "mancave". All the kids went in but notably, Lucy was absent from the line up. Probably, she was home having a "crabby" day!
 
Top