We got Oscar at
an animal auction in April 2000.
we got him and two other cows. They
are actually dairy cows.
The price was right. $5.00-$15.00 per calf. Most Dairy farmers
don't want the bull calves and will generally. They will
generally bring bull calves to an auction. Sadly, some dairy farmers will kill the bull calves.
Originally our intention
for these cows was to have them butchered. It turned out, the
day the guy came to pick
up the cows for butchering, Oscar seemed to have disappeared.
but, shortly after the butcher left, Oscar seemed to have
appeared again. I have no idea where he was hiding, but
turned out, he ended up being a pet steer.
Oscar
loves Sybil. They use to play well together. For
a steer, Oscar has quite a personality. Oscar loves to be brushed. He
loves attention. He loves the dogs. Sometimes he will run with them
and even hunt with them.
Oscar loves bread. If he sees me
with bread in my hand, he will come running to me.
If the weather is bad, or if it rains, Oscar will generally stay in his
house. Oscar seems very content. He don't seem to mind he is the
only steer. However, he has donkeys, llama, dogs as
friends.
I have had several
different cows in the past, but, never one that had the personality
as Oscar.
Whoever said cows/steers are stupid? I don't think they are. In fact,
Oscar knows his name, he comes when you call him. Oscar seems
very attentive and watches everything that goes on around him.
if he goes into
the garage and I tell him "no" he will listen. If anyone is thinking
of getting a cow/steer as a pet, I recommend a banded male and
dehorned. Banding bulls MUST be banded and dehorned at a very young age.
also, when having both procedures done, It would NEVER be done in
hot weather.
If you leave a bull intact, you could have an aggressive bull at maturity. The
reason why I don't suggest females, is when they go into heat, you
stand a better chance of them trying to get out of the fence.
especially if there are bulls near by. But, that is only my
experience with females.
HERE IS A STRANGE STORY
March 2004, I had a baby llama die. My husband took the dead baby
out of the pen and laid her in the driveway until he got the gate on
his truck open. For some reason, Oscar come running over when he
seen the baby. He stood over that baby very gentle.. He would not
let any of the dogs near her. It is though he was protecting her. We
left him Oscar go for awhile just to see what he wanted to do with
this baby llama. He just kept putting his down to her.. Then when my
husband put the baby llama in the back of his truck, Oscar stood
there with his head in the back of the truck. When my husband pulled
away in his truck, Oscar followed him and mooed at him.. To this
day, I never did figure out why he did this.
Oscar seems to have an attachment to the llamas. The first baby
Becky (my female llama) had was out of her pen, Oscar stood by
her the whole time. When the baby was born, Oscar protected the
baby. We picked the baby up to bring her into the pen, so
she would be warm in their house, and Oscar followed us to the
llama pen, I guess to make sure the baby was protected.
Oscar did this with all the baby llamas that were born here. |
