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[Kali]

This is a friend of mine who finally managed to trailer these two hmmm what to call them to honor their magnificence yet also acknowledge the danger and problems they were? well, steers is what they are so that is what I will call them.

The white is 9 years old and has only been penned twice before. The first time when he was a calf and branded, the second a few years ago in one of many attempts to get rid of him. Unfortunatley someone who did not follow directions fed too close to a fence and some idiot horses pushed on it trying to steal hay and he got out.

The black bald face. Oh how I am conflicted to see him go. He was branded in August of 1996. That was the year my mother died. He was a rare miscall by a cowboy's cowboy. (when branding with a crew and multiple brands, the guys roping the calves call out the correct brand based on the calf's mother to the crew working on the ground) I liked having him around for several reasons. I mean just look at him! Plus he was good for ribbing the caller from that branding.

That steer, I call him the Monster, is a bit of a legend around here. All the neighbors know him because a boundary fence was like stepping over a string on the ground (at least he is a steer and not a bull) He was actually pretty tame. You could almost hand feed him - he would come within 10 feet and eat hay off the ground. As long as you were out in the pasture. He would stand in the corral if you went to have a look at him, but if you made a move to close a gate he was gone. He could clear a 6 foot fence from a stand still. It was worth it just to watch him do it. Almost.

He is 14 years old and starting to slow down. He can't clear the heights so well anymore and herein is the big problem. He was still trying. He tore up a water lot maybe 10 times this last year. so this morning I got a call from the guy in the picture. (He has been helping gather some other wild stuff for me.) He says "I got a couple steers for ya, want to meet up on the hill with the hauling papers?" I said I would be right up, and then grumbled to myself "only 2 steers? at this rate we are never going to get them cleaned out, I want those rank old cows out of the west pasture, I only have two more sets of papers gripe piss moan".

So I come driving up and I see those two boys and did a whoop LOL and started clicking my cell camera. That is the blurry "thumbs up" one. Had to come back to the house and get the "better" camera (still a POS) - this is history. My helper was pretty high on catching them. I talked to him on the phone a little while ago and he said when they unloaded them at the sale, that was when he actually realised how freaking big they were. "Them two steers was looking OVER the 6 foot rails!" ha. Well he has the bragging rights to catching them now.

I am sad but it needs to be done. I am going to go to the sale on Thursday and get some more pix. If they don't get him bid up just for the fun of it I may buy him back. Anybody know of a taxidermist that will do his head?

[Midlodemocrat]

1. not sure I understand. Are they going to be put down?

And why?

As far as taxidermy, I would contact Sarah Palin's father.

[Kali]

3. I don't know,

somebody might buy them for a novelty, they are really too old to do much but be hamburger. They are dangerous and will try to fight a person so????

It was a tricky deal to get them in the trailer - the guy actually climbed up on top and the white one went after him, the dark one followed and I ran up and slammed the gate behind. We couldn't "shoo" them into the trailer the way you normally do because they would just turn around and try to hook you with their horns. They wanted to fight instead of run.

[flvegan]

2. Magnificent looking animals.

What's going to happen to them? Would they become bulls in another field?

[Kali]

4. they are steers hence they cannot become bulls with out fancy surgery

that I do not believe exists yet. heh. See post above. I do not know what will happen. 14 year old steers are a bit of a rarity these days.

Yeah that dark one - bigger than any horse I have. His horns were way wider than that trailer. We think at least 6 feet. Too scary to get close enough to measure.:rofl:

[flvegan]

5. So steers have been..."neutered"?

Dunno the terminology.

What's the purpose of 14 year old steers on a farm? If they can't make baby cows, are they just animals ranchers chose to keep? If so, kudos to the folks that kept these ornery brutes for quite some time.

[Kali]

7. yep - castrated

or "steered"

No purpose whatsoever. They are normally shipped at age 9 mo to a year or so. I suppose in the old days some were kept as draft animals (oxen) and a few are kept for rodeo (team roping and steer wrestling) but they only work for 3 or 4 years, and these days they are specially bred for it, not just some junk off a regular ranch.

No this was a situation of not being able to catch or hold them. We are talking 22+ sections of pretty brushy rangeland. (not to mention they would go hide on the neighbors too, giving them about twice that much country) Then when that dark one started getting bigger than any of the cows on the place he was just kind of allowed to stay on for the novelty of it. As I mentioned he could clear a fence so he was kind of self-sorting when we worked them. But having any animal around that will come after you or tear up fences is a big problem - because then all the other ones you want to stay in bail too. Pretty soon you have a huge mess and bunch of cattle that know they can tear up fences when they want. Not good.

[flvegan]

10. 22 sections???!!

I'm in the title biz, so I know just how much land that is. Roughly 2/3 of a sqare mile. Wow.

Well again, kudos for his/their keepers for hanging on to them. They are magnificent animals quite obviously.

[Kali]

11. its the west

80% leased from the state
takes about 60 acres for one cow out here

[petronius]

12. A section is a square mile (assuming we're talking about the PLSS)

So 22 sections is 22 sq. miles (~2/3 of a township)...

[flvegan]

13. It's late and you're right.

Never do math nor mapping at midnight.

[petronius]

15. Now that's a motto to live by - I might pass it on to my GIS class tomorrow

(Anything to encourage them to do their homework earlier than the wee hours before it's due... :))

[Kali]

14. yep 640 acres

[Tuesday Afternoon]

6. those horns are magnificent

truly.

[Kali]

9. For sure.

And he has no Texas Longhorn in him - we have some Longhorns now but not when he was born. His mother was an F1 Braford and I think his sire was a straight Brahma but I am not sure and he doesn't have much of a hump so it might have been something else. We had Hereford and Limousin bulls too at the time.

[yellowdogintexas]

8. does UT need a backup for Bivo?

[Kali]

23. sale starts at 10 (or 11? can't remember)

Thursday. Willcox, AZ.;)

[Ptah]

16. Those are the largest steers I have ever seen outside of a rodeo arena.

Quite the adventure getting them in the trailer, too.

Almost makes me miss livestock. Almost.

22 sections. That's quite the spread, Kali.

I think the largest near where I grew up (Montana prairie) was
fifteen sections.

You paint a good picture of the damage those beasts were doing.

:hi:

[Kali]

19. Me too! Except maybe the "Worlds Largest Steer" next to

the "Worlds Largest Horse" at the county fair a few years ago:rofl:

20 to 25 sections is about the smallest that can actually pay its own way and support a family around here. That is all range, no farm ground.

Believe it or not these guys are partly the legacy of our immigration policy! Ugh. They aren't the only critters tearing fences apart.

[Ptah]

22. My grandparents' homestead is still in the family.

I understand that ranches here in Baja Arizona are much larger than
where I grew up.
I enjoy your battleax stories.



:hug:

[Kali]

24. and I enjoy your pix!

It is a very good thing the family place is still in the family. And rare. Hope they can hang on.

[Ptah]

25. The youngest of the grandchildren now has the place.

It is the place of legends.

[Kali]

26. they say it normally takes three generations to go broke

:rofl:

I'm actually the 4th, and pretty broke:rofl: and I am actually working for my father, so :shrug:

actually I should edit the repetitive use of the word actually, but I had a couple glasses of wine and can't think of a replacement

[Ptah]

27. I finally found these pictures from one of my uncle's herd. 1958 or 1959

[Kali]

28. Love those old style Herefords.

They were really it weren't they? Gentle, stocky, meat machines. You could use 4 foot corrals and kids could work them. Sometimes I miss those days when you had to get off your horse to shove one out from under a bush. They would just stand there and stare at you while you screamed your fool head off! Put some Brahma on them and they sure change into a fast moving herd animal. Great for driving but a scarier proposition in close quarters!

[Ptah]

29. I remember one calf in particular.

When it was small we thought it was cute the way he would head butt us.
Fun when he was about fifty pounds, not so much when he was three hundred.

Did you go to the sale Thursday?

[Kali]

30. or those dogies that learn to chase you around the yard.

Yes made it to the sale, I will put together a post later today or tonight, gotta go put some salt out right now.

[achtung_circus]

17. Are you sure

that they are really cattle?

They like a cross between a cow and a rhinocerous (or 2).

We had a Maine-Anjou bull that stood taller than I did (6') but his horns had been trained inward both for safety and for the show ring.

[Kali]

20. When you don't get calves cut they seem to grow REALLY fast, but

when steers don't get shipped they seem to get the biggest. Sort of like the slowest line in the bank will be the one you get in, I think.

I think the baldface is gonna weigh at least 1500 lbs. We will see on Thursday.

[trof]

18. Longhorn-Brahma cross I'd guess.

The ears and the hump.

[Kali]

21. definitely Brahma in both

there is a very slight chance the white could have some Longhorn, but the dark one, no way. His mother was a F1 Braford and the bulls we had around at the time were Hereford, Brahma, Limousin and there MIGHT have been a Shorthorn - I can't remember exactly when he was here, couldn't handle the rocks and didn't stay long. At any rate I doubt if he sired either of them.:rofl: