29 February 2024
Brucey, a Brahman from Australia, has a sheepdog as his best friend. And on hot days, they frequently run together to the sea for a quick swim.
It looks like an ordinary beach outing in the video – young people in swimwear, each with a drink in hand, music playing cheerfully in the background from their cars, and a black-and-white sheepdog running around their feet with a ball in its mouth.
Then you see one of the beachgoers jumping onto a jetski, revving the engine and speeding into the water.
The sheepdog perks up its ears and starts running toward the water, chasing after the jetski.
But before it reaches the water, a majestic, light grey Brahman comes charging and plunges into the water.
The jetski sprays water into the air and the bull chases after the droplets.
The beachgoers cheer him on because Brucey the Brahman is a regular and beloved visitor to the beach.
The video of Brucey circulating on social media brings a smile to many faces. This Brahman is so popular that he has his own Facebook page with almost 4,000 followers and Instagram account (468 followers). You can view the Instagram video here: https://tinyurl.com/bdf78fkw
In every video and photo, Brucey’s personality, which is almost as big as he is, can be seen.
It is there, on social media, where his owner, Tom Kennedy, posts photos of Brucey that he seemingly raised from a young age.
In some of the photos, the Brahman lies peacefully next to the house cat, and in others he slowly walks through the house looking for someone to scratch his head.
When guests visit the farm, Brucey, like a faithful dog, approaches to greet them. He is, so to speak, part of Tom’s family.
And when Tom and his friends head to the beach for a stroll, Brucey goes along.
In a video that Tom recently posted and that has been widely shared, Brucey hangs out with Tom and his buddies at the beach.
He playfully bumps them with his head and allows them to ride on his back along the shoreline.
Later, Brucey wades into the water for a quick swim, with only the Brahman’s head sticking out.
Then he strolls calmly out of the water, along the beach.
“He loves the water and the sea so much,” Tom wrote in the video.
One user wrote: “He’s a very cool bull! His good nature shines through.”
“I’ve seen quite a few ‘firsts’ from Brucey,” writes Selena Wallace. “But this one is the best. Who’s ever seen a Brahman bull play so happily in the sea?”
At the end of the video, the sun begins to set. Brucey and his canine friend trot after the cars on their way back home, tired from the day’s beach fun.
David Nutton writes: “Now that’s a bull living his best life!”
Brahman breeder Ting Braithwaite from Bergville in KwaZulu-Natal wasn’t surprised when we showed him the video of Brucey’s antics on the beach.
In fact, he says, some of his cattle in his Damview Brahmans stud and commercial herd sometimes voluntarily join the family when they have a picnic on the banks of the nearby Spioenkop Dam.
Braithwaite disagrees with the generalisation that Brahman cattle are “wild with poor temperaments”.
“If you don’t know how to work with them, it’s easy to misunderstand their temperament. If you do know how to work with them, they are the easiest breed to work with,” he says.
Braithwaite points out that only two workers are needed to handle his stud herd’s 250 Brahman cows. They don’t use noisy motorcycles, dogs and whips that can cause stress and a defensive attitude among the animals.
“The goal is to gain the cattle’s trust and work with them.”
He adds that Brahman cattle are curious and often playful, as evidenced by Brucey’s response to the jetski.
“As with all cattle breeds, it’s also important to selectively breed for good temperament. There’s also a clear distinction between temperament, maternal ability and inherent self-preservation instinct.”
“For example, if a stranger enters our herd, most of the cattle will move away until they are accustomed to the person. Similarly, if one of our cows has a calf and a strange animal or person approaches, she will protect it, which is good. At the same time, our workers can weigh most of the young calves without any problems from the mothers.”
It also frequently happens that once a Brahman is halter-trained for a showing, it can become attached to the handler.
