Dehorning--Please Do It
This topic is controversial among some.
Athens Stockyard is the local stockyard in our town. We usually have around 1100 head and with that comes a delicate balance of keeping the sale going, keeping the cattle cool and calm, and not getting hurt. When a mean animal comes through we take certain measures like climbing gates, closing cross gates, or putting more stock with the one that is mean to try and calm them down.
I work where I can see what goes in the chute so I know what is coming. The boys in the back looked at this cow, a dairy cow, and looked at me and told me to watch her. My first thought was she isn't mean, she is a dairy cow. Dairy cows are normally calm and nothing gets them going! This dairy cow had horns and was huge, probably weighing in around 2000lbs. I still thought she couldn't be that bad...until she went in the ring, the lady who calls out pens told us to get up and get out of her way. Oh crap!! She might actually be a bad cat. Then she calls out a pen I She came my way, I threw open the gate and ran away!! I was ran over at that exact gate a month ago and I am still very skittish. We took all the precautions and she still managed to turn around and come at one of the boys but luckily for him he had a cross gate he could close before she got him. The combination of her horns and her size, the only way to get away from her was from a closed gate. We got her penned but every time I would walk by the gate she would charge me. She wouldn't have been as scary if she didn't have horns. Get gauged scares me more than getting ran over and stomped on! If this cow would have been de-horned, we as stockyard workers could have worked her more effectively but instead she tried to kill us all. Even more so, she may not have been at the sale due to her lovely attitude.
Athens Stockyard is the local stockyard in our town. We usually have around 1100 head and with that comes a delicate balance of keeping the sale going, keeping the cattle cool and calm, and not getting hurt. When a mean animal comes through we take certain measures like climbing gates, closing cross gates, or putting more stock with the one that is mean to try and calm them down.
I work where I can see what goes in the chute so I know what is coming. The boys in the back looked at this cow, a dairy cow, and looked at me and told me to watch her. My first thought was she isn't mean, she is a dairy cow. Dairy cows are normally calm and nothing gets them going! This dairy cow had horns and was huge, probably weighing in around 2000lbs. I still thought she couldn't be that bad...until she went in the ring, the lady who calls out pens told us to get up and get out of her way. Oh crap!! She might actually be a bad cat. Then she calls out a pen I She came my way, I threw open the gate and ran away!! I was ran over at that exact gate a month ago and I am still very skittish. We took all the precautions and she still managed to turn around and come at one of the boys but luckily for him he had a cross gate he could close before she got him. The combination of her horns and her size, the only way to get away from her was from a closed gate. We got her penned but every time I would walk by the gate she would charge me. She wouldn't have been as scary if she didn't have horns. Get gauged scares me more than getting ran over and stomped on! If this cow would have been de-horned, we as stockyard workers could have worked her more effectively but instead she tried to kill us all. Even more so, she may not have been at the sale due to her lovely attitude.
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| This is the best photo I could get of her because when if I walked by she would charge the gate |
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