Trailering

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[cowgirl_up_47

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Jul 11, 2008
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77
We have had heifers bolt when unloading at fair. One of them ran and ran and wouldn't let us catch her. After we caught her, we tied her to a 4 wheeler and led her up by the barn. She tried to bolt at the wash rack, but we stopped her. I never had a problem with her after that. How do you handle this problem? Does just loading and unloading them help?
 

ShowmanQ

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Apr 19, 2007
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Ohio
From reading your post I am going to assume that the only place the heifers is at the fair??? If that is the case, then there are several things that could be the issue.
1) The trailer - Is she on the trailer much at all aside from going to the fair? If not, you might consider just loading her and unloading her at home several times to get used to the idea. You can also tie the heifer on the trailer for an hour or so (when its cool enough to do so) and then get her unloaded...to simulate the time she might spend on a trip, although it would be a little different not moving and having all of the noise of a true ride down the road. You could also , as time permits, load them up one morning or evening and take a short drive around...a little longer than what you would be taking them on too the fair, and come home and unload them and see how they react.

2) Scenery - The fair, or any show for that matter,  is a much different experience than being at home in the "normal" barn. How often is she exposed to other people/animals/"background activity? If possible, get her used to seeing other faces and see what's going on around here. When you have people over, mayybe take a walk through the barn so she gets used to seeing others.

3) Noises - Shows are typical noisy. Is she used to being in a louder atmosphere, or is it kind of quiet in the barn she is used to? We always have a radio going in our barn for the calves to listen to, it helps acclimate them to being in a "noisy" atmosphere. Try playing a radio, having the fans going all the time, and just generally creating some "noise" for her to get accustomed to.

Hope this helps a bit. Just my 2 cents.
 

Jill

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Jan 20, 2007
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Gardner, KS
Agree with the above, I would also try taking another animal with her, sometimes they spook just by being by themselves.
 

justintime

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May 26, 2007
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Saskatchewan Canada
Being alone was my first thought as well. I have seen this before and I will relate a story that happened to me that I will never forget.

Several years ago, I had sold a bred heifer to a fellow in Montana. This heifer had been shown at many many shows both as a calf and as a yearling. She was almost beyond quiet, almost a pest as you could not walk into a pen  she was in without her continually standing in front of you wanting to be scratched. Now only was she shown a lot but she had been trailered on several long trips including 800 miles to Denver and 1500+ miles to Toronto. She handled these trips without any concern.

When the day came for me to deliver this heifer to Montana, I loaded her and headed for US port. It was about a 50 mile trip. When I opened the trailer door, I could see that she was agitated. I walked in an scratched her for awhile, and she seemed to calm down considerably. I untied her, thinking that once I lead her and she got out of the trailer, she would improve... WRONG! She bolted, just as your heifer did. She knocked me down and headed out as fast as she could go. The US federal vet tried to stop her and she went right over top of him, in the process stepping on his hand and taking off the end of one of his fingers. He was an older man and I thought she had killed him. He was a tough old boy though, as he got up, found a piece of rag in his office, and wrapped the finger up. I did not realize that the vet had opened a gate and forgot to close it when he came to the trailer. When the heifer saw open space she headed for it and headed south into the BIG state of Montana. We took a few minutes to bandage the old vet up, and I thought we should be getting him to a hospital, as his finger was in two pieces and it really was bleeding pretty good. He would have no part of this, so we bandaged it up as good as we could and headed out to find the heifer.

After driving 3 miles and following her tracks, we caught sight of her. He was still heading south and doing it at a fast trot. I was certainly hoping that this one time pet would calm down when she saw me by now. As I pulled the truck up to her, she stopped. I got out and slowly tried to walk up to her. Her skin was literally shaking from the trauma she had experienced. I could get within about 5 feet from her and she would not let me come closer. Luckily for us, she was still wearing her halter. She ran another2 miles before we were able to get her stopped the next time.I remembered that I had a show cane behind the seat of the truck and I thought I would try to scratch her with it as I approached her. She was still not certain she liked me any more so she would not let me get close enough to get the halter. I could almost get close enough to grab the end of the halter but she would not let me get it. I knew I only had one chance to get it, or she would take off again. Finally after a lot of talking and inching myself closer to her, I took the show cane, hooked the lead on the halter and flipped it in the air. I could almost not believe it when I caught it in my hands and I make my mind up that she was going to have to either drag me or stop. ( I doubt if I could flip that rope and catch it again if I tried it 1000 times) She took off and did drag me a ways, but I grabbed a highway sign as we were passing it with one arm, and she stopped. I got her tied to the highway sign, and walked back to get my truck I backed down in the ditch to the highway sign and tied her to the bumper, and then proceeded to lead her over 6 miles back to the border. I don't know why, but she walked right back in the trailer. ( by the way, when the old vet finally did go for medical help, they tried to stitch the missing end of his finger back on, but after a few days, they removed it again. He ended his career with one finger shorter at the first knuckle )

We processed her at the border and I headed to deliver her.The inside of my truck looked like I had butchered a pig in the cab, as the old vets finger was dripping blood almost the entire time we were trying to capture the heifer. I tried my best to talk him into getting medical help but he said we needed to get the heifer caught first. I  finally decided that he was white and over 21, so he had made his mind up and nothing I suggested was going to change him.  When we got to the new owners farm ( about 7 hours later than expected) she was a nervous wreck again. I told the guy what had happened and I told him that he was to call me and I would come and get her, if she did not calm down again. In a couple weeks he called to tell me that she was a complete nuisance... always had her head in a pail when he was trying to put grain out and stopping in front of him wanting to be scratched.
The only thing I can think of, that may have caused this wreck, was that she had never been hauled alone before. She remained in his herd for at least 12 years, and was a good producing cow for him. I told him that if he ever shipped this cow, it may be a good idea to ship another with her.

I would suggest that you try to work with her at home, taking her in and out of the trailer by herself several  times. Maybe even take the trailer into a secure pen and try tieing the heifer inside it by herself a few times. Get her used to unusual noises. A good heavy metal CD may be a good thing as that would be the most unusual noise I can think of. When you think of all the new things that these cattle see and hear when going to their first shows, it is amazing more of them do not have problems. Good luck and I hope your heifer starts to get with the program and enjoy the show experience. ( I might suggest a little squirt under her tongue with a certain drug, but that may create another great debate!!)
 

Simmymom1

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Jan 10, 2008
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Texas
;D  Now that was a funny story...I'm sure it was not funny for you at the time but it sure did make me laugh!! 
 

Shady Lane

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Mar 30, 2009
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Saskatchewan Canada
I remember when I was a kid there was a local herd of Simmentals that did a lot of showing, they had a 2 year old bull that had probably been shown 12 times from a calf up until he was 2, and had never had a problem, the bull was always quiet.

They took this bull out to one of the first summer shows as a 2y.o and he made a big stink when they went to unload him, pawing, roaring and carrying on. After untieing him and leading him off the truck (he was on a dock height tandem axle stock truck) he put his head down and made a run for it. After chasing him for an hour he was finally caught and led like a puppy dog without another incident.

This same scenario happened the next two fairs, finally deciding this was enough, they tied a big yellow 3/4" rope off a 50' spool onto the corner post of the truck and the other end to his halter and then started leadin him off the truck, as before the bull put his head down and made a run for it, when he hit the end of that rope and spun 180 degrees and fell down. He layed on his side for quite a while (I'm surprised he didn't break his neck) finally got up. Untied the long rope and led him in the barn and he was never a problem after that.

  I definitely wouldn't tell you to go and try that method but it was quite a spectacle at the time. That's gotta be more than 15 years ago now.
 

GoWyo

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Nov 29, 2008
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Wyoming
We used to halter break our steers around the 4th of July for early August county fair.  Had some Limmy cross steers and everyone would yell to get out of the way when we showed up.  We had 30 foot worn out lariats on each steer and would tie off to the trailer and let them out one at a time with 2 or 3 of us on the rope.  Once we got them weighed and tied up it only took a day or so to get them calmed down and they usually showed OK.  Boy were we dumb back then.
 

LazyGLowlines

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Apr 7, 2008
Messages
533
My story sure can't top justintime's (thank goodness). We took some cattle to a local fair this spring that was about an hour away.  We took a bunch of cattle we'd taken to Denver in January, so all had trailering experience.  It was a warm spring day. When I took this heifer out for the vet check she was pretty big-eyed.  When the vet reached out to touch her she just said 'I don't think so' (okay...it was a bah that I so dread hearing), ran right over the top of me and proceeded to 'do the Puyallup' (Puyallup hosts one of the largest fairs around).  Luckily the fair wasn't open yet and the security people were on their walky talkies saying 'there's a bull loose!'.  She managed to cover the entire fairgrounds, ran thru several buildings including one where a diversity class was being taught and created quite a ruckus before she was caught, still big-eyed. We got her back to her buddies and she calmed down for the rest of the fair.  The ladies from the diversity class came over and took a picture with her.  I had a perfect imprint of a hoof on my chest, among other bruises.
 
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