At what age do you guys start halter breaking a bull calf? Mom is not wild, but not tame either, the calves are just a few days old. Do you wait until a couple weeks after weaning? That would be a 500 to 600 lber.
Thanks,
Alan
Thanks,
Alan
halter breaking a bull
- Thread starter Alan
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We had a halter on my heifer calf since a couple weeks after her birth. Despite the attention/work she got, she wouldn't lead very well until she was around weaning time. I would say if you can get the halter on the bull early go for it because I certainly wouldn't wait to break a calf much after weaning unless you use some other methods.
During that period shortly after weaning when you'd typically feed them some grain is a good time. Start as soon as they really come for food.
Breaking two year old bulls is just as easy if not easier than younger calves, you just need to know how. You can usually get them to start leading within three days.
Breaking two year old bulls is just as easy if not easier than younger calves, you just need to know how. You can usually get them to start leading within three days.
Maineshowgirl
Well-known member
aww it just fun to wait til they are bout 500lb-600lb to break then you get dragged and eat dirt lol I love the trill ;-)
I've just started (today) halter breaking 3 bulls. One will be a year old the end of this month, another is an August '07, the third is a Dec. 1, 2007. It'll be interesting to see which of the 3 will be easiest. I know individual personalities play a large role in the halter breaking experience, but i'm sure it will be interesting with the age differences in 11.5 mo, 8 mo, and 4 mo bulls.
Ryan
Ryan
KNERSIE":1feugnum said:
I've halter broke my share of cattle. In fact, we pretty much break everything that we plan to market as purebred stock for the year. Sure, some are more broke than others. But having one that will even somewhat lead sure makes a difference to the man's wife who knows she'll have to feed them occasionally.
I am quite curious though as to how you go about breaking a 2 year old bull to lead. I'm not sure that I would try that one. I can't for the life of me figure out how to handle a bull that is in the neighborhood of a ton or so.
Please enlighten me!!
Ryan":30ay7nxq said:
Interesting Ryan, I've halter broke my share of foals, but I much prefer the foals at 3 or 4 months, and even that's after messing with them in the stall for the months before.
If you don't mind let me know how things progress with each bull.
Alan
farmwife":2lml9gb3 said:
The crux of the exercise is not to try and fight the bull with the halter or to force him to lead, you'll never win that argument with the bull anyway. (you'll even come second with a weaning age bullcalf)
You start by feeding him in the corral, preferable in a movable trough or an old lick tub. He must associate the lick tub with food.
You put him in a headgate and put a ropehalter on with a rather long rope. before letting him out of the headgate you tie the halter to a sturdy post in the corral. My headgate opens into alley so its relatively easy for me. Give him about 8 feet of rope to fight with. Very few bulls this age actually fights the halter like younger calves. They usually just stand and pull backwards. You get yourself a book and something to sit on and sit and read while the bull pulls on the rope or fight the rope, he will eventually give up.
Then you put some feed in the old lick tub and put it where the bull is tied to the post. Eventually he'll figure out that the only way he can get to the feed is to move forward towards the halter. Allow him to eat and while he is eating use the opportunity to tie him up shorter on the same post. Repeat twice a day, tying him up shorter everytime. Leave him tied up for long periods at a time, he must learn that it doesn't matter how much he pulls on the halter he will never get loose. You can usually start touching him at this point, even if you just scratch him with a stick. As soon as he knows the halter is his boss you start moving the feed away, but leave him tied up for a while. Then untie him and let him go to the feed while you hold onto the halter a foot or two away from his head, he must just know you are there. Start with moving the feed just a few yards away. Everytime he eats you tie him up and then refill the feed and move further away. If you spend enough time doing this most bulls will start leading on the third day. You just need to spend alot of time feeding, reading while he is tied up, moving the feed away, read some more, let him eat, tie him up, read some more.
He needs to spent a long time being tied up and needs to learn he can never get lose from the halter, the rest it easy. As soon as he starts to lead you can leave him tied up for long so he becomes thirsty and lead him to water. Reward him then by leading him to feed and letting him go. It sounds a long process, but in most cases its only a few days. Some bulls will be completely halter broke in less than a week, others take longer.
Just never try to lead any animal that still thinks he can get away from the halter. A little patience then will save a lot of time and frustration later.
KNERSIE":1qj65ryn said:
I can see how this will work, but I still see where that 2000 or so pounds could come in handy for him at some point. I'll leave the mature bull breaking to you and opt to start breaking mine at 3 months or so.
Don't get me wrong, I'll not leave a bull till he's two before starting to halterbreak if I had a choice, but it can be done and I have done it in the past (broke 5 bulls between 18 and 24 months for a sale last year, all were completely broke in 10 days) and it was surprizingly easy. Whether this was because the situation forced me to be more patient or whether the older bulls are just more relaxed around me is anyone's guess.
What was interesting is that the one who fought the hardest and the longest was eventually the best haltertrained bull of the 5.
How do you go about breaking a three month old bull while he is still suckling? Take both him and his dam to the corral and tie him up?
KNERSIE":2x0spzlc said:
I'm not saying the 2 year old thing can't be done; it's just not going to be me that tries it.
As for breaking the young calves, yes we pen the dam and the calf in the lots around the barn, which allows us to work with the calf. Our cows are very docile and don't mind at all. Sure the calf bawls for its mama, but the cow doesn't show any concern. We have to strat early, since our local fair is in September. We can't work with the calves for very long at a time since our summers are very hot (90 - 100+ degrees).
Keren
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KNERSIE":1rlu8i2x said:
This is basically identical to how I have broken in mature bulls and cows. I have found them very relaxed about it too, but it took me longer than you, usually 2 to 3 weeks.
I never start before weaning, unless the calf is being shown as a cow-calf pair. Usually break them in at 8 to 10 months, sometimes we have one that didnt look as good at weaning but looks good at 15 - 18 months, so we quite often break them in then. And I have done old bulls and cows at times.
You might be suprised and find that, if you have the correct method, breaking them in around the yearling stage is easier than breaking them in as a baby calf. Baby calves have no brains except for milk and mum, whereas yearling calves do a lot of thinking about the breaking in process.
TheBullLady
Well-known member
The younger the better.. that's always worked the best for me. If you can bring the dam into a smaller pasture with the calf when they're young, you can start out early. The more you handle the calf when it's young, the easier it will be to halter break later. If the calf is gentle and will come to you and let you scratch / brush him, halter breaking will be a breeze.
I know a club calf breeder that starts his calves when they are still on the cow, he keeps the cows and calves that he wants to start on close to the barn, Separates the calves from the cows (5 or 6 head) runs them into a pen for about a half hour to give them time to settle down. Then they run them into an alleyway that leads to a washing shoot. They crowd the calves into they alleyway and put halters on them tie them to the rail for an hour or so. They work other calves in the area as they are doing this, so they can keep an eye on the calves and they get used to people and things going on around them. After about a week or 2, they will start rinsing them in the shoot and blowing them out. He then leads (in the beginning pulls, follows or pushes them) to tie them in a tie-out area with their heads up for an hour or so, then back out to momma. A slow process but by the end claves are halter broke and tamed down.
