Sunday, September 18, 2016

Bull Fight at Willard Springs

There were two bulls fighting (practice fighting, I think) at Willard Springs - head to head.  It went on for a long time.  The bull on the left always won, he was either heavier or stronger, or just knew what he was doing.  The bull on the right, after being pushed back, would kick up a bunch of dirt with his front and rear hooves, then come back and start all over again.

You can see how dusty they are, obviously I didn't notice them at the beginning of this exercise.  Sometimes we were outside watching them, or watching through the window of The Palms, or walking nearby.  It was very entertaining, and as I said, it went on for a loooong time.

Facing off:



Kicking up some dirt:


After quite a few loses, the loser walks away...


The white faced bull (my favorite) watches him go:


Can't you just see him thinking, "Hummm, he's a poor loser...."


"Very poor fighting manners.  Too bad, he has such potential."


The loser lets out a LOUD MOOOOOOOO as he stomps away!




As the white faced bull watches, our winner takes off after the loser....


and it starts again.


I really thought they were playing but this exchange got a little rough:





One bull trying to push the other down:


Notice the smaller bull on the left watching?  A lot of the cattle were watching on and off during all the head pushing.


Then they stopped and the loser walked around to the corner of the fenced in area and the winner followed him and it started again - I thought he was going to force the other bull into the barbed wire, but he got away from the corner.

Then look what happens -  some of the other bulls started doing the same thing.  The white faced bull was pretty gentle with the smaller guy, though.


Finally it was getting late, and they all turned in one direction and headed off to wherever they went at night.


But guess who didn't go with them?  Right...  these two were still going at it.


Katie and I were walking along the fence line near the road and were watching.  When they saw us, they stopped head pushing and started walking toward us.  That's not a huge fence separating us, and I started getting a little worried and we turned around and quickly walked back to The Palms.  I could see out the window they went at it again.

All I know is:  they weren't still there the next morning.  What an endurance test!  It was sure fun to watch them.

From me and Katie, have a great Sunday, everyone!  ❤❤

13 comments:

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    1. Yes, that's really funny! MUST be where the word came from. :)

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  2. I. loved it! Reminds me of my life in Ireland when I had cows, bull, and babies in fenced in areas all around my house. I could watch them for hours, and I often did.

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  3. I guess it's in their nature. I always hate when I see pictures of deer doing head butting with those antlers. Glad these bulls weren't Texas Longhorn.

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  4. I'm surprised they had them together. They could really do some damage to one another.

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  5. What an entertaining day, nice to see nature interact.

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  6. I hope you and Katie didn't try to break up that fight. . .

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  7. I grew up on a farm and that was pretty common. I have seen a couple of buffaloes do the same in Custer State Park. You definitely do not want to get in their way:)

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  8. Interesting to watch them jockey for the top spot with the ladies. However just one tiny little note. The whitefaced one is not a cow, She is in fact a he. I suspect that active breeding season was either over or hadn't begun, depending on when you observed this and the bulls were all penned together away from the cows and they were taking out their frustrations on each other. That long, low, rumbling bellow is not a happy bull. They often tear down fences between them to fight, especially if there are actual cows around rather than bulls or steers (castrated former bulls). Would not recommend getting much closer than you did and definitely not in their pen or pasture. Bulls are very unpredictable and dangerous.

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    1. Thank you - great information. And no, we didn't get close to them. When we were walking along the road, parallel to the fence, they were on the other side, but I know they can run fast and I was on high alert. When they looked our way, we fast walked back to The Palms. I know that white faced guy is a HE, I must have mis-typed. I'll change it... He's my favorite bull in the herd, so handsome. (So that's why they all looked like bulls - I didn't realize there were no cows there. But I thought they all had lots of equipment.)

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  9. Very interesting story. Thanes for all the details!
    Lauri

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  10. How very cool!!!! Glad you got back into the Palms!!! x

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  11. Notice the females didn't fight? Typical men...... Women are too smart to waste all their time fighting when they could be grazing. LOL

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