Training oxen to "moo" (accidentally)

[Andy Carson]

When I got my new team of oxen, they didn’t hardly make any noise. I didn’t hear a “moo” for several days, which suprised me. Not so much anymore, and I think I have accidentally trained them to “moo.” This was mostly because it took me a while to accept that they eat substantially more hay than my horses, and they eat much faster. I suppose this is obvious as they weigh more than my draft and light horse together, but I still started them off at something like 25% more hay than the horses ate together (I have ended up feeding something closer to 50-75% more hay than what the horses ate). No matter how much hay I feed, they seem to down it quickly and start mooing for more. Early on, when they mooed a little, I thought, “Oh, you’re still hungry” and went back to give them more hay. They down this in what appears to be no time, and start mooing again. Start cycle over again… I have come to these two conclusions, and please oxen people, tell me what you think. 1) They are always going to want more hay, esp my soft green horse hay. 2) If you give them food when they moo, you are going to teach them to moo. It seems lessons involving getting food are learned very very fast 🙂 . It really teaches me to not underestimate the intelligence of these boys. The mooing doesn’t really bother me, and it’s not anything close to constant, but I just thought this was a funny story to share.

[Tim Harrigan]

Seems to be working. Now start working on ‘dance’, ‘roll over’, ‘lay down’, ‘sit’, and eventually ‘pull’. I am sure they are mighty impressed by the horse hay.

[Anonymous]

That horse hay might be ox candy. Years ago we adopted a wild mustang, got her home, she ate one of those small mineral blocks. Chewed it up and ate on the spot. Something told me she was lacking mineral ,:p Made me thirsty just to watch .

[dominiquer60]

In NY my steers would call out to us at feeding times (we were always late feeding them no matter what time it was) and sometimes it seemed that they would call when they recognize us (myself and an older gentleman that fed them when I was away). They would regularly come when called and would call back when called.

Now in VT morning chores are a lot earlier in the day and when you call them at 6 am, they may wake up from there sleeping spot in the woods and you may find them standing waiting for you to come and get them, but they may still be down. They don’t call back at this time. If you wait for them to start wondering where you are and time goes by and it is about 8am you may find them waiting at the gate, if you are really late they may call out.

The change in routine seems to have made them quiet. And it is not just me, I called VT the other day and they are doing the same for Carl, I guess they are just late risers. The one time that they seem vocal now is if I am gone for some time, say 5 days, when I get home and call hello to them, they will call out no matter what time of day it is. I consider this the recognition call.

I think that once you find the right amount of feed for them (and that horse hay sounds lush), feed them at your normal times, and ignore their calling between meals, they should quiet down. It may not hurt to get some less rich hay and use it with the good stuff to fill their bellies more. Just my two cents.

[Doug]

Sometimes I think my team have some type of watch to keep track of time as they are always waiting for me come feeding time and if heaven forbid, I’m late for one reason or another they let me know with some rather loud mooing! My ox candy was pumpkins, in the fall I fed them the left over ones and they went crazy for them.

Doug

[Andy Carson]

Thanks for the replys. I think some of the difference is a somewhat different feeding technique. I feed out of a manger and expect them to eat the hay in the manger and not pull the it out and trample it. This means when the hay is out of the manger, it’s all gone, and there isn’t a bunch of half trampled hay to fiddle around with on the ground. The boys seem more content when they are pushing around inedible hay on the ground looking for some sort of “jewel”. Perhaps I will look for some crappy hay that they can play with, as Erika suggested, but I think I will give them a few more days to get used to a “new normal.” They have only been in my old horse paddock for about a week, before that they were fed off the ground as my horses were still at home. When fed off the ground, they fiddle around forever looking for some extra piece fo grass and weren’t mooing so much even though the got the same amount of hay. Reguarding the hay, I certainly wouldn’t have bought this hay just for the oxen, but it was left over from the horses and I thought I would give it to the boys. They definetly seem to enjoy it and they looked like they could use some extra weight. I am going to have to put some thought into how I am going to keep and handle round bales next year. I am better set up for the small squares right now and around here everyone (at least around here) seems to bale the “not quite horse-quality” hay into rounds. I still like feeding out of the manger, but to do this with the rounds, I have to figure out how I am going to get a round bale into my barn. Not an easy proposition… Perhaps I will give up and go with a round bale feeder like so many others do, but I have time to figure that out. Eitehr way, I have plenty of hay until spring, which looks like it’s going to come early this year. Then, they will plenty of grass to hold thier attention. One good thing about the manger feeding is that when they are eating, I get a really good chance to “mess with them” getting them used to me, my voice, general handling, etc. This sort of close daily contact wouldn’t necessarily happen if there was a round bale feeder in a field that I just chucked hay into. In the middle of winter, I can seem myself getting a little lazy about the daily contact that is probably important if I had to do this outside in the snow and cold.

[Howie]

Andy
Go ahead and feed them what ever horse hay they want.
By spring they will be so fat they will wadle instead of walking.

Howie

[Andy Carson]

Thanks Howie,
Obviously waddling is unacceptable :). So that means that I either feed them the horse hay I have, limit thier intake, and listen to them moo for more (as I have been). Or, I get some crappier hay to keep thier bellies fuller (but probably still not completely full) without getting too fat. You know, even when I was feeding more of the older hay that came with them (I brought maybe 1/3 of a round bale to transition them), they still always ate whatever I put out and would always eat more if it I put it in. The phrase “love it like a fat boy loves cake” comes to mind… I am quickly learning that these boys are always going to eat more if I give it to them. I think that means I have to watch thier body condition primarily and ignore any cries for more food. I admit, I was not ignoring cries for more food in the last week or two, which perhaps led to this mooing problem I am attempting to nip in the bud. Does this sound right?

[Tim Harrigan]

Andy, at this age a low quality hay is fine for them. I don’t mean crappy hay, but a mature grass hay. For planning and feeding purposes you can figure about 50 lb/day each and adjust from there as you see fit. That is 2.5% of body weight and allows for some waste. They can probably satisfy their nutritional maintenance requirements with 25% less of your hay which is probably a high quality hay. They really do not need any grain at this age, but a small amount, 1-2 lbs/day will not hurt and they will think they are getting something.

Cattle are basically professional eaters so when they are on pasture you will want to restrict access to new pasture, and if you feed round bales free choice it is better to have just low-quality grass hay. High-quality hay is more digestible so it moves more quickly through them. They will tend to feel hungrier and get fatter at the same time. The rumen is pretty efficient at converting even low quality hay to energy.

Anyway, it sounds like those steers are doing a good job training you. They are teaching you some bad habits though. Feed me now! Feed me more! Like a fat boy loves cake, that’s pretty close.

[Andy Carson]

@Tim Harrigan 32769 wrote:

Andy, at this age a low quality hay is fine for them. I don’t mean crappy hay, but a mature grass hay. For planning and feeding purposes you can figure about 50 lb/day each and adjust from there as you see fit. That is 2.5% of body weight and allows for some waste. They can probably satisfy their nutritional maintenance requirements with 25% less of your hay which is probably a high quality hay. They really do not need any grain at this age, but a small amount, 1-2 lbs/day will not hurt and they will think they are getting something.

Cattle are basically professional eaters so when they are on pasture you will want to restrict access to new pasture, and if you feed round bales free choice it is better to have just low-quality grass hay. High-quality hay is more digestible so it moves more quickly through them. They will tend to feel hungrier and get fatter at the same time. The rumen is pretty efficient at converting even low quality hay to energy.

Anyway, it sounds like those steers are doing a good job training you. They are teaching you some bad habits though. Feed me now! Feed me more! Like a fat boy loves cake, that’s pretty close.

Thanks Tim,
Thats pretty close to what I have ended up feeding. About a bale and a half a day. Fascinating that that they would feel hungrier and be getting fat at the same time. I was sure that giving them the same amount of a higher quality hay would add body weight/condition, but had not expected that they would be hungrier for it. I think this is exactly what is happening. I think you are right that it is going through them faster too. I can tell in thier manure. When they were on thier old hay, thier manure was hard and had a wrinkly surface that reminded me of a lava flow. My chickens have a hard time stratching around in it and I was worried I was going to have to harrow them to break them up. On the new hay, the manure is much more liquid. Not diarrhea by any means, but more like a classical “cowpie” shape that I am used to seeing with the beef cattle I have been around more. I have a lead on a yoke that I might be able to get my hands on this weekend. Once I get a yoke in my hands, I will start conditioning them and probably be less concerned about them getting too fat.

[CharlyBonifaz]

I consider this the recognition call.

a short remark on the moos:
yes, positively the moos vary in quality and serve their purpose; not only can one distinguish who is mooing, but there are a number of basic meanings to them (at least I claim they do talk):
a questioning call as in: is there anybody?
a “little” welcome moo as in: nice to see you
a regular welcome moo as in: here you are
a reminding “food” moo as in: time for my fodder
a louder “food” moo as in: ey, I’m hungry
an angry “food” moo as in: food, now!
a “call” moo as in: calf, where are you?
a panicky “call” moo as in: calf I lost you, where are you?
a moo as in: get over, milkbar is open
…

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