# How do I prevent heifer from jumping fence?



## raymilosh (Jan 12, 2005)

I have a dexter cow and her dextyer/angus cross heifer. The heifer is 15 months old. She has taken to jumping the fence. Initially, the fence was 4 ft tall field fence on t posts and treated posts. We have since strung wire up to 5 ft high and have tried string up lots of yellow ribbon. She just leaps on the 4 ft tall part, breaks the wire and kind of drags her back legs the rest of the way. She does it every day. She has started knocking open gates and jumping other fences to be with the pigs. She is really causing damage.


I'm thinking of confining her to the freezer if she keeps it up. I was thinking of keeping her for the summer to see if she put on more weight, though.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Sounds like it's time to slaughter her


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## dairymon (Jan 30, 2010)

Run an electric fence inside the outer fence. Put it in far enough that she will contact before her takeoff point for outer fence. If she don't get the point then freezer time is in order.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

Put more feed inside the fence?


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

raymilosh

Confine her to a hot electric fence and do as dairymon suggested. If you can keep her confined for several weeks she will come to respect the electric fence. Once she is bred and has a calf she will settle down. Otherwise either put her in the freezer or on the road to the sale barn.


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## triple divide (Jan 7, 2010)

Put a poke on her. After about a month or so, remove it.

Works everytime.


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## mistletoad (Apr 17, 2003)

Our bull and cow jumped over once - we put a strand of electric inside and just a little higher than the woven fence (using the same posts) and they never tried it again.


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## bigmudder77 (Jun 9, 2008)

get stronger fence and higher voltage to the fence 

and try some barb wire (make sure its on there good cause if she jumps and it comes off the posts it will cut her up bad) i use that stuff all the time and mine leave it alone most days some times we get a stupid one that wants the grass on the other side and gets his neck cut up but we ran another lower stran so he cant even get his head under it any more 

or freezer


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## triple divide (Jan 7, 2010)

Put..

a..

poke..

on..

her.

Now that they know fence won't hurt/stop them.. put her/them in a poke. 

Or, build 10' chain-link. Or, butcher them. These are the choices as I see them.


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## triple divide (Jan 7, 2010)

I nearly forgot! If you don't like the poke idea (cheapest way), treat her like a bull and put a ring and chain on her. 

Look here, you now have cows trained to get out. You either act like a farmer and stop this nonsense, or be prepared to spend a lot of money in fencing. My options are truely your only choices as I see them, barring another equally aggressive remidie I don't know of, killing them is the surest solution.


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## DJ in WA (Jan 28, 2005)

My cow was reaching over field fence for grass and breaking it down. Once I put barb wire on top, that was the end of that. Field fence alone does not cut it.

Put on the barb wire up high, then take little pieces of wire and tie the field fence up to the barb wire so they can't put their head between.

If that doesn't work, I'd go to electric, but that's more trouble and maintenance.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

Tie a concrete block around her neck and pour some concrete shoes on her to weight her down!


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

A halter tied to a long bungee cord. She makes a run for the fence and gets snapped off her feet. She wont try that again.


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## Oakshire_Farm (Dec 4, 2008)

Can someone explain what a "poke" is???? I don't have a fence jumper but I have never heard of a poke before?

Thanks


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## mistletoad (Apr 17, 2003)

I've always known a poke to mean a sack but I can't work out how putting a heifer in a bag is going to solve anything. :shrug:


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

I've never heard of a poke, either. 
But in my part of the world, fence jumpers are handled the same way as fence crawlers; they're sent to town.


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## darbyfamily (Mar 16, 2005)

We had an angus heifer that kept jumping the fence and taking off... once she got 2 miles from home. Talk about a rodeo getting her home again!

We put her on a long chain to a tree where she could get to the water and feed easily enough. She stayed that way for 4 mths until we sold her.


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## farmmaid (Jan 13, 2003)

Is she jumping or climbing the fence. My dad, years ago, had a jumping heifer. He made, out of wood, a yoke that went around her neck. He sized it so she could eat and drink but could not jump, worked great. 
Also, you could make a harness with two straps that hang down and hook together at her withers. Have one strap go around her lower neck (back where the neck connects to the body, like a horse martingale, (not too tight...so she can eat and drink OK). Have the second strap girdle her behind the front shoulder like a saddle girth. Now take a third strap and connect the neck strap to the girth going between the front legs. On the third strap, that goes between her legs hang some kind of weight, so the weight hits her knees if she runs. She will be able to walk without much pain but if she runs the weight will sway and hit her on her knees/legs. Sounds cruel but they soom learn to walk nicely only!

Good luck..............


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## Jcran (Jan 4, 2006)

I"ve heard that you can put a pig IN a poke, but you put a poke ON a heifer. They are specially made and are called cowpokes.


I just crack myself up, I really do...:sing:



Ok, what the heck is the poke he's talking about.


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

I am thinking a poke is a neck yoke. DH makes them with two "Y" branches from a tree. The Y-part goes around the neck top and bottom and both branches are then wired together to stay on the neck. Each "Y" has a long enough tail to prevent the cow from going over or through a fence.

Here is a link with a picture of a metal neck yoke.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1404/923284544_8ddc3e201a.jpg


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

Good heavens! 
Wouldn't it be easier just to sell her??


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## collegeboundgal (Jul 17, 2005)

the only "poke" I've heard about had nothing to do with cattle... LOL!


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## triple divide (Jan 7, 2010)

linn said:


> I am thinking a poke is a neck yoke. DH makes them with two "Y" branches from a tree. The Y-part goes around the neck top and bottom and both branches are then wired together to stay on the neck. Each "Y" has a long enough tail to prevent the cow from going over or through a fence.
> 
> Here is a link with a picture of a metal neck yoke.
> 
> http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1404/923284544_8ddc3e201a.jpg


There you go! You say yoke I say poke.

We've used 2x4s and screws at the joints where the boards go togeather.

You fix it on her so she can eat, drink, lay down, yet cannot slip her head back out of it. It is naturaly cumbersome. When the animal tries to jump, her knees and brisket are "poked" as the design will not allow them to clear the fence. A lot of times they will fall directly on their face. Essentially it breaks their spirit. I've used this both on heifers and goats.

Some animals are just to valuable to send to the market if a bettter buyer cannot be found.

Sorry it took a while to respond back, spring seems to have made an appearance here in northern Pa. Had to jump on a bunch of projects while the weather was nice.


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