{"id":75,"date":"2026-03-31T21:50:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T21:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farmingtoolmagazine.com\/?page_id=75"},"modified":"2026-03-31T21:50:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T21:50:56","slug":"farming-tool-winter-2024","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/farmingtoolmagazine.com\/?page_id=75","title":{"rendered":"Columns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Where, Oh Where has my Black Bull Gone!<\/strong>
By Dennis Kenning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Many of you remember that American Classic Nursery Rhyme. You know the one, \u201cWhere, Oh where has my little dog gone\u201d. I have a different version of that rhyme and you\u2019re lucky that it\u2019s only in print, because I can\u2019t carry a tune in a bucket. It goes like this;
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhere, Oh where has by black bull gone. Oh where, oh where can that bull be?
With his one bad eye, and his sickle hocked knee. Oh where, Oh where can that black bull be?\u201d<\/strong><\/em>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will spare you the other four versus for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every Cow\/Calf producer has experienced the problem of a lost cow, calf, or bull. A lot of times it\u2019s a bull visiting the neighbor\u2019s cycling open heifers or fighting with another bull across the fence. It\u2019s unbelievable that two bulls can go at it, and destroy a five wire barb fence and not have a scratch on them. If you\u2019re not on top of that situation cows mix together and now you got a big problem. A few years ago, I could not find my black bull. Several nights I went after work to find this bull, with no luck. Finally I found him along a creek in tall grass with a lame back leg. When it was said and done, I spent a total of seven hours gathering that critter. Today with the price of cattle and especially breeding stock, you don\u2019t want to lose one.
I have been looking for some type of GPS tracking system for our cattle. I\u2019m not going to review all the different kinds of cattle tracking systems on the market. The thing you need to keep in mind is that these systems work differently and it depends on what you are trying to accomplish in your operation. For example, one of the systems on the market is designed as a virtual fence to keep your cattle in. That sounds great but you still need physical fences to keep your neighbor cattle out of your property. Another system is a collar that allows the operator to move cattle by sending electrical impulse on either side of the neck. I know one producer that uses this system to drive cattle to a new paddock in their rotational grazing program. One of the downfalls of these two systems is the use of a collar. Some of our pastures are wild and woolly, meaning lots of trees, and brush. That would allow the collar to catch on trees, feeders, or wire fences. I would also acknowledge that ear tags can also catch on a fence and can rip out of the ear.
The system we use is 701X and this is not an endorsement for their product. I thought this system is the best for our operation and I like the features of this product. This past summer 701X experienced some problems with breaking tags, and the company is working to warranty all of the tags. The company says their tags should have a three year life expectancy. The tag includes the GPS receiver attached to a solar panel to supply power for the entire season. The price of these tags is $175 per tag and after the initial year, you can renew the tags for $75 per year. The software now comes with the tag purchase and has space for 500 animals. Now that sounds like a lot if you do every animal, but we used them on just the bulls for tracking and breeding records. So we track our bulls and also keep records on the cows with this software. The company also sells a button tag that could be placed in a cow\u2019s ears and works off of the GPS solar tag. The button tag has to be within Bluetooth range so the GPS solar tag can read it. You will also need to purchase the tagger because these tags require a double rivet for installation. Like any of the systems you will be required to setup your pasture boundaries and fields.
To test the system I attached one of the tags to our UTV and sure enough it worked. It also gave me information that animal was moving at a high rate of speed and when it was parked it would tell me that the animal may have a health problem because of the lack of movement. The system works on your computer, tablet, or smart phone. It worked great for our guys in the pasture checking cows. It provided a location of the cattle because most of the time they stay grouped together and also provided information of the ID numbers of the cows grazing in that pasture. Each morning I used the computer at the kitchen table to check to see if bulls were within the fence. Notifications would come in through any smart phone if the bull was outside the boundaries or if there was a lack of movement. The system also tells you how many times a bull is mounting cows. Movement with the tag is designed to determine if a bull is mounting a cow. With two bulls in one pasture we found that one of the bulls was doing all of the work.
For tracking a bull\u2019s movement I thought the system worked very well. For example, we physically checked one pasture with a bull in it. Late in afternoon, we received a notification that the same bull was out. So we returned to the pasture to find that the bull was in fact out of the fence. Because of this notification we were able to fix the physical fence before cows became commingled. Another bull decided he liked the pasture two neighbors away. We were able to track his movement and found his exact location. On the map arrows display the bull\u2019s movement. The tracking part of this is also dated, so we know when he left our pasture and traveled into a third pasture. What has been really helpful, we know where he crossed the physical fence. So now I don\u2019t have to walk or ride the entire fence and I can go to that location to make the repair. The program allows you to change the dates so can see what happen at a certain point in time.
This GPS technology system has been a good addition to our cattle operation. It is somewhat affordable and I like the benefits it provides. One of the most important parts to any cow\/calf operation is getting your cows bred. You don\u2019t settle cows when your bull is out or if you have a bull not doing his job. I like the 701X system because it\u2019s a time-saver, tells us if a bull working, and helps us keep records on our herd. As I said earlier this is a system that works for our operation. As a cattle producer you\u2019re going to have to use the system that best fits your needs. We don\u2019t think about technology helping the livestock industry, but it can be a useful tool in your cattle operation.
That brings us to the second versus of my nursery song and it sounds like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where, Oh where has by black bull gone. Oh where, oh where can that bull be?
I\u2019ll follow the map, and see where he\u2019s at. So now I know where my black bull will be.
That\u2019s just how I see it, \u201cFrom my side of the fence\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around the Farm<\/strong>
We sold our feeder cattle in January and they sold well. Thus far, we have had good weather for calving. Just when I say, I\u2019ve seen everything with cows having calves; I had a cow lay down along some wheel ruts in the field. The calves head was out but she couldn\u2019t push the calf out because the calf\u2019s head and shoulder was pressing into a rut. I got her to stand up and the calf flopped out. We had to stop watering cattle out of a pond, it\u2019s just too dirty. The water level has dropped and they are stomping around making the water even dirtier. We could certainly use some rainfall. I really feel for the cattle producers in Kansas and Oklahoma who lost animals due to the wild fires. The amount of cattle lost is staggering and several ranchers have lost complete herds and farmsteads, they have nothing left. The actual totals have not yet been released. It makes me nervous to do any burning and we are hoping conditions will be favorable so we can burn a couple of pastures. Our repair list for equipment to be fixed seems to be growing. So now things will get real crazy with the work load. Soon the planters will be running in the field. And so the process will once again start over, the cycle of producing food to feed the world. Until next time, May God bless you and keep you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Where, Oh Where has my Black Bull Gone!By Dennis Kenning Many of you remember that American Classic Nursery Rhyme. You know the one, \u201cWhere, Oh where has my little dog gone\u201d. I have a different version of that rhyme and you\u2019re lucky that it\u2019s only in print, because I can\u2019t carry a tune in a<\/p>\n

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