Need To Vent. RT's email doesn't work.

[Happytrails]

We moved a big herd of cows about 2/3'rds calved out across the secondary highway that runs thru the ranch on Wednesday. It is the first time we have tried it and it WILL NOT be tried again in my time. Anyway with 4 riders and a ranger we took on the job and came pretty close to a clean move. But some of the little calves wanted back and we didn't have quite enough crew to hold them. So it went from a gong show to a holding operation with most of the cows across the highway and most of the calves either on it or behind that. The perfect storm was created when the quiet highway turned busy. Turns out an accident caused closure of the nearest numbered highway and traffic was being detoured through our mess.

It looked pretty hopeless for a couple of hours and a lot of vehicles went thru (50 ). Cattle were on the highway and in both ditches. By good luck and a lot of considerate drivers we had no accidents. The reason for this post is that by far the RUDEST driver to go by was pulling a livestock trailer for the biggest cattle transporter in western Canada. He sounded the air horn first a quarter mile way and then apparently built air until he was right at the gate when he let it go until he was clear of the herd. It spooked about 50 calves out of the ditch and through the fence back where they came from. Its a good thing a gun wasn't available or it would have been used. WTF. The R trucks are in the same business we are. If we are gone so are they. I tried to contact them by email but it didn't work hence this post. I know that a lot of city people don't relate to cattle very well but somebody that is hauling them everday?? RT should have a code of conduct for their drivers and it should include giving the same respect to cattle being moved on foot as other highway traffic.

PS As of this evening I think we are totally mothered up. It looked and was pretty bad at the worst. A cow's mothering ability is amazing but has limits. We were dealing with about 1000 hd total.

[grassfarmer]

Quite an adventure. It's always tough with these
young calves trailing to a new pasture then when the
cows get their heads down grazing the calves high
tail it back to the field they came from. Happens to us
every spring but at least they are contained on the
property.
I've always found the worst drivers with regard to
livestock on the road are the ones that live in the
country and think they know all about cattle. The city
slickers know nothing so tend to be more cautious.

[ALLFARMER]

I would definitely be calling the company and
complaining. Some drivers are pretty stupid. With
I phones and google if takes about 3 minutes to
get a trucking company contact number and
report the nut's on the road.

Young calves are often near impossible to move. I
once rolled a quad on flat dry ground chasing
calves....never thought that was possible.

Had a major wreck of a day myself about 3 weeks
back. The day that If something can go wrong in a
big way...it will!

The weak get wiened out of the cattle business
pretty quickly.

[per]

There is always someone who is entitled to be an idiot. I would like to say it was the driver but I am sure there must be more than one driver like that in that outfit. I will purchase my own trucks before hiring them.

I have a road crossing of my own coming up this morning, now I'm nervous.

[wlc]

Our cows are all used to electric fence
therefore we can set up a dummy tape in a
semi circle inside the gate in the new
field [stops cows from running to far end
of field in search of better grass and
forgetting their calves for 12 hrs or more .Best to take it slow and try to have calves paired before crossing [sometimes difficult ]

[tweaker101]

I guess they must be pretty hard up for drivers...
Taking anyone who has the license... That is BS
to honk those air horns and make the cattle go
crazy. We used to cross the highway to a rented
pasture and on one occasion I remember my dad
ran up to this car on that was honking its horn and
kicked the door... The horn stopped and the car
drove off...problem solved. I'm sure the door was
damaged and luckily they drove off or more may
have happened... Lol

[Happytrails]

Thanks for listening all. One would think that a company like R that depends on the cattle business would try to make a better showing in cattle country.

[ALLFARMER]

The ezee-feeder (grain despenser) I bought might
have cattle moving applications. Hungry cattle
will follow a bale shredder but imagine them
getting used to seeing a huge white grain pail! All
I have to do is start the tractor up in the yard and
cows start coming.

[Kathy]

We cross our busy highway twice in the year with
the cows and calves. We set up temporary fence
up to the edge of road, both sides, and when we
cross we completely block the highway with trucks
and stock trailers. It solved the problem of people
who just couldn't wait a couple minutes and would
slowly drive right through the herd. Visibility is
good from both sides, but I still insist on two
people to wave down the traffic. We hold the
pairs in small pens until they mother up. Still,
even when moving to the pasture next door, the
calves will run back. We leave the corrals open
so they go into there, and can't crawl through.

In spring we haul the yearlings across, and in fall
the heifers we keep back learn to cross with the
seasoned cows.

As for the R trucker, he should be fired.

[kato]

In Manitoba it's illegal to chase cattle across or down any highway or numbered municipal road. Even if it's just across to the other side, they want you to put them in a trailer and haul them.

If you do it, and there's an accident, big trouble follows.

[DogPatch]

Putting them in a trailer should be safer, but thats typical of our MB NDP. Can't inconvenience their voters going to the lake and having to slowdown for cows and to wipe poop off their tires.

Can you guess I hate the MB Government?

[WiltonRanch]

I used to work in the stockyards and I
found the the RT truckers to be
airheads. They are desparate for men so
they tend to hire owner operators that
want to get from point a to b to collect
their dough. I will neither ever hire
them because of their general attitude
to handling livestock and fellow human
beings. Not saying the local old boys
are bad but the guys doing the long runs
seem to be a different bunch.
I put these characters in the same boat
as the guys who long haul grain and
expect to be loaded christmas eve with 2
hours notice.