Animal behavior

By Rennie Phillips

Many people deal with other people on a daily basis. I used to when I was in the pastorate and when I worked a regular 7 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m. job. I still deal with people in the summer when I sell veggies, but for the most part I don't deal with very many people. I mainly deal with animals today. Most of the time it's with our steers.

Two years ago we bought seven baby bull calves that were about 4 or 5 days old. We bottle fed them for three or four months before we weaned them. When they were about a year old, one of them started to have health problems. He would wheeze and it was difficult for him to breathe. I had a vet that I know, Dr. Walter Branscum, come and check him out. Dr. Branscum said he had a nasal tumor, which caused the steer to die. Dr. Branscum said it is fairly common in cattle. We sure hated to lose him. So now we have the six big steers.

We have watched them grow from about 50 pounds up to around 900 to 1,000 pounds. From the time they were little, they have lived on grass and hay and a little grain and molasses. They don't realize just how big they are. They still want to play like they did back when they were babies. One thing that's neat about the six steers is that if you see one, the other five are right there as well. They go to the tank and drink as a group. If they go across our valley and graze on the land we got from Brant's, they go as a group of six. When they come to the feed bunks for grain, they come as a group. I guess you could call them the gang of six.

About a month ago I started graining these Jersey 2-year-old steers to get them ready to butcher. I started the six of them on about one 5-gallon bucket of a corn/molasses/protein mix that I get from the MFA. I got three tons, or about 6,000 pounds of grain.

I grain them in four 10-foot feed bunks, which I have up against the fence so there is 40 feet for six steers to feed from. I scatter the grain in all 40 feet of the feed bunks, which is about 6 or 7 feet of bunk for each of the six steers. Plenty of room for the six.

When I first start graining the steers all they can think about is the grain, so they just stand there and eat. There are times when all six of them are eating out of 20 feet of feed bunk. They don't care who is around them. All they are thinking about is the grain. Man, it must really taste good.

But about a month later, all this nice behavior has gone and disappeared. Now the boss leaders of the six steers want a lion's share of the grain. They chase off the weaker steers so they have more grain. The weaker steers go on down the feed bunk to where there is still grain, but no "Boss Hoggs" that want all the grain.

A month from now it will be even worse and a month later it will even be worse. It doesn't matter if there is plenty of grain for all the steers. They just want more and more and more. There is no concern about the weaker steers. The Boss Hoggs aren't concerned in the least about the weaker steers.

So what I have to do is make a separate little pen and lock up the weaker calves all by themselves when I grain them. It seems like every year I have to do this. This year I have three that are more timid: a big steer that is long and tall and a little bit thinner, a dark steer that is a nice steer but a tad bit timid, and a light tan steer with a few white spots. This tan steer is easygoing and not a bit pushy, so he isn't getting a lot of grain.

But when I separate the three weaker steers, one of them will become Boss Hogg of the three weaker steers. Of the three it will either be the long, tall, thin steer or the dark steer. I'm not sure which one. It will be interesting to see who steps up and takes the leadership role in the three weaker bunch of steers.

Several years ago our big steers got out. They had gotten the gate open between our land and Terry's. Most cattle would have headed to the hills, but not our Jerseys. They just grazed around where the gate was open, almost like they were waiting for us to come and put them back in.

I guess you can tell I enjoy our steers. Right now I have some new babies that I'm feeding on the bottle. Every day I walk by them and scratch the back of their head, on their neck and behind their ears. Our dog Dutchess usually has to smell their noses and say hello about every day. And little by little we will watch them grow from 50-pound babies up to 900 to 1,000 pound adult steers.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

Until next time.