gunning for me

[wendyj]

Ok so now I am quite bruised from our yearling steer. He bunted me into the manure, he has kicked my thigh, and today he cold cocked my collar bone. How do I get him to respect me ? There is no warning when the little buggger will do this either. I'm feeding him and talking gently as I rub his ears and then wham! I'm a bit finchy now. He is tied up for 1 day now on a 7ft length. but we are going to tie his head up at 24". Let me know if anyone has any tips.
WEndy

 

[jkwilson]

Tie him short so he can't move his head that far. At his age it may be almost impossible to break him. One thing I've done with jumpy calves is to get them in a chute and spray water from a hose on them. Unless you've got heated space, that would be a problem this time of year. They finally realize there's nothing they can do to stop the water, and they give up the kicking and lunging.
Make sure he can't eat or drink unless he cooperates with you. Keep him in a small (10ftX10ft) pen so he can't get away from you no matter what.

 

[certherfbeef]

At his age it may be almost impossible to break him.

Most times it easier to break a 2yr old than a yearling. I'm sorry I havn't been keeping up with the thread. How long has he had a halter on?
When I start mine (granted they are 4 months old) but I tie them during the day and let them loose in the barn at night. This goes on for a week or so. Then I start toward leading them. Patience is a virtue.
I remove the halters at night. Even if this means putting them in the chute to halter the next morning, I remove the halter.

 

[milkmaid]

I read your other post...must say, you've sure got your work cut out for you. :lol: I wish you luck with this one.

I also have an yearling steer that I've been working with. Our weigh in isn't until mid-March, and he doesn't have to be halter broke for the first one. Here's how I've did it - first two weeks I let him run with my nurse cow and calves, who are all really tame and unafraid of me. This steer was really wild, so the look on his face was hilarious when he bolted, looked back, and the cow is standing next to me, totally unconcerned.

I just ignored him for the first two weeks; if he wanted to bolt every time I showed up, fine, but it didn't take too long before he figured out that was a lot of unnecessary effort on his part. After two weeks, he'd become tame enough I could actually touch him, and then I dropped a rope over his neck and snubbed him to a post. I actually like the way it worked out - he was only fighting the rope, rather than fighting the rope and trying to keep away from me. He settled down in a few minutes and stood quietly.

Then I gave him a week of standing tied for a half-hour or less every day, then started leading him. The reason for waiting was that I wanted him to learn to respect the rope - I've been dragged by unpredictable animals and I didn't want him ever thinking he could bolt and get loose. Been there, done that, and it's embarassing!

Right now, I've got him to the point I can lead him around, and he respects my space, and so far everything is looking up. Now I'm headed outside to work with him a little more - good luck with yours. ;-)

 

[D.R. Cattle]

A good smack in the nose always worked for me, but that wasn't for raising pets.

 

[greatgerts]

D.R.,
A good smack on the nose is even good for show stock. That way, when you start to stick them, you can use the stick to keep them back without having to use it too hard. Maybe just a light tap on the nose will keep them in line with a show stick.

 

[Linda]

A good, solid smack on the nose is called for when any cow, bull or steer starts pushing you around. YOU are the boss and that steer won't know it unless you discipline him when he's out of line.

To be honest, we never "pet" our halter broke cattle anywhere ahead of the shoulder. Scratching the ears and head invites a head butt. I'm not saying you are to blame, but the natural instinct of the animal is to defend itself with a head butt if it can't run away. They also head butt to be playful. I just don't encourage head butting by scratching the animal ahead of the shoulder.

 

[frenchie]

How do I get him to respect me ?
WEndy

You could try a chunk of lead at high speed.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Axe handle works everytime.

 

[Rookie]

I know that folks who show cattle have a need to lead some around in a halter from time to time but I guess I'll never understand why one would want to be in that position. A person is really only the boss as long as the animal has no objection to that. If the animal objects, we are no longer in charge. When I was a boy my dad got dragged around 40 acres by a steer for several hours before help arrived. I won't go into details, let's just say he was caught unawares and went on the trip of his life. He was horribly injured and it took a long time for him to recover, which, thank God he did. Because of what I saw that day,I will never have any type of bovine on a rope, no matter how tame and trained they may seem to be.

george

 

[milkmaid]

I'd be rather reluctant to smack any animal that's already afraid of you when your goal is to tame them down.

...However, I have done it when a cow threw her head up and nailed me in the face. Just instinct taking over at that point. :lol:

 

[TheBullLady]

I'm with Milkmaid on this one.. hitting the calf at this point is only going to set you back even more.

He obviously doesn't 1) understand what you want of him 2) trust you. Both of these things are going to be critical to get anywhere.

It's just going to take time. If he doesn't want you near him, give him his space until he trusts you enough to get close. You're fighting a losing battle if he reacts by hurting you every time you get close enough for him to reach you.

At some point there has to be some sort of reward for standing still, or not kicking, etc.

 

[CattleAnnie]

Just my two cents here but sounds like he's a little overprotective of his idea of personal space.

Might try getting him used to being "touched" by using a long (longer than the distance he can reach out and tag you) cane, buggy whip or what-have-you to rub him with.

Once he'll stand calmly and accept being rubbed with that then I'd chance rubbing him with your hand. Not before then or you'll just end up with more war wounds.

Sort of de-sensitizing technique like we use on colts, except the priniciple is being applied to bovine instead of equine animals. Sounds goofy but better than getting booted.

Take care.

 

[Medic24]

Dont forget you have to weigh out in your mind the advantages of a show steer versus your personal safety.

I had a super great angus bull a few years back, he was gentle as a lamb, and threw the very best calves, he was just coming into his prime, but we had to sell him ....he had a habit of wanting to play all the time, and would pick us up with his head, we tried our best to discourage it without abusing him, but we never could break him........

If you check out any of the NIOSHA agriculture fatality web sites, you will find that a respectable number of farmers and ranchers killed by butting cattle, rare , but obviously , it does happen. Be careful, your steer obviously has no inhibitions in hurting you.
Good Luck.

 

[fellersbarnoneranch]

A broom works good for an arm-extender.

 

[jerry27150]

don't give up. if he tries to hit you with his head, hit him across the nose with a stick or anything. just stay away from his hind feet til he calms down more & make sure when you come up to him he knows you are there. put a halter on him & hook him to a tractor or anything bigger than him & learn him to follow. if he pulls so hard that he goes down , loosen the rope a little, but when he gets on his feet & quits pulling, go ahead again. that is how anybody i know teaches them to lead. i have pulled a lot of holstein heifers a half mile to get ai'd behind my truck. they soon learn to not fight the rope & walk along

 

[btfakralc]

i see nothing in your post that indicates why you feel the need to touch this animal. that being the case don't touch him. if your setup doesn't allow you to feed and care for your stock without exposing yourself to danger, the choices are whack him hard whenever he gets within reach or give him wheels.

 

[TheBullLady]

bt.. in a previous post, it was mentioned that she is trying to halter break this steer to show.

 

[Ryder]

Axe handle works everytime.

Yeah. Sounds like that animal needs a fast attitude adjustment before he hurts somebody. If he runs away, he might be scared. If he fights, he is not the one scared. Some are just crazy and stay that way.