CATTLE BUSINESS 2022

We entered the seventh year of our cattle business just hoping for no more drama, like last year was with cows escaping out of corral panels multiple time when we were trying to gather them to go to auction. The longer they stayed here, the bigger they got, and were constantly fighting, especially the little bulls. Not to mention the fact, they learned from the bad mama cow how to use their heads and lift up the corral panels.

We were relieved to get all the calves that were ready to go out of here, with the exception of one white face REALLY MEAN bull. He was born here in 2019, we kept him as our bull to service our female cows. As he got older, he got meaner and meaner. He needed to go. We had another bull born here that was ready to take over as his replacement. This one was pretty docile for a bull. Every single time we tried to catch Mr. Mean to send off, he would charge us, slam dunk into the corral panels, and hiss any time we got close to him. He was fighting with every other cow in the herd, even bullying the little calves. After several attempts to get him out of here, we enlisted the help of someone who had a huge corral setup with several enclosures that would be difficult for him to get out of. Once it was set up, it took days for him to go near it. When he wandered inside we’d sneak out to shut the outer panel, but as soon as he saw us coming he ran off. FINALLY, after a month we finally got him! As soon as he saw the cattle carrier he went berserk, crazy out of control. Since he couldn’t get out by pushing and shoving, what did he do? Jumped over a 6 foot corral panel! It was unbelievable that a 1200 pound cow could even do that. Escape artist again and really pissed off at this point. Really pissed off. Unfortunately, he was lassoed when he jumped and strangled himself. We were stunned. After processing what just happened, we were just thankful no one got hurt and he would finally be gone.

On the positive side, we had 7 new calves born. We were fortunate to watch one being born from our back porch. It is so much fun to watch all the little calves stay as a group together and the mama cows take turns babysitting them. They are such playful little animals, we love watching them. Unfortunately, one little bull calf started showing signs of a selenium deficiency. We tried to treat him with an injection for that, but sadly he did not make it.

Late spring we added 3 mama/baby pairs to the herd. Two of the three mamas were heifers, and very skittish in their new environment. They hid in the woods for days with their little calves, only coming out for water and to graze at night. It took weeks for them to get used to their new home and join the rest of the herd.

All was well on the Logwood front until New Year’s Eve when one of the older calves was a knucklehead and got his head stuck in the bottom layer of the hay ring metal bars where they are very close together. No telling how many hours he was stuck like that before we saw him. Coaxing did not work, we tried to tilt the hay ring so his head could come out sideways because his ears were holding his head stuck. No luck. Last resort we cut the metal bar with a saw to bend it letting him out. Enough drama for the year!