halter breaking?

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angus9259

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I've tried a number of methods for halter breaking from spending time with them in the chute stroking and petting and wispering sweeth nothings in their ears to slapping the halter on and knotting them to a post. The trauma and battle of wills doesn't ever seem to diminish with whatever method I use . . . any suggestions out there? I'm not real interested in tying them to my tractor and driving them around, but I'd love to hear anything else.
 
angus9259":2s2uigek said:
I've tried a number of methods for halter breaking from spending time with them in the chute stroking and petting and wispering sweeth nothings in their ears to slapping the halter on and knotting them to a post. The trauma and battle of wills doesn't ever seem to diminish with whatever method I use . . . any suggestions out there? I'm not real interested in tying them to my tractor and driving them around, but I'd love to hear anything else.

Put a rope halter on and let them walk around for about 24 hours. Then tie them up in the barn and give them a little hay. 8-12 hours later lead them to water, then lead them somewhere tie them up and feed them. After eating then back to the water and back to the barn to tie them up again. Repeat every 12 hours for 3 days. At least that is what we do.

Of course we have one advantage. We raise Red Polls
 
angus9259":219pcjr1 said:
I've tried a number of methods for halter breaking from spending time with them in the chute stroking and petting and wispering sweeth nothings in their ears to slapping the halter on and knotting them to a post. The trauma and battle of wills doesn't ever seem to diminish with whatever method I use . . . any suggestions out there? I'm not real interested in tying them to my tractor and driving them around, but I'd love to hear anything else.


Worse case scenario tie em to a donkey and let em fight it out. They will be halter broke within a day or so I can promise you that. I never really did that but I have seen people do it. I lead em to feed and water and that seems to help.
 
i only halterd one in my life a brahman bull,, i used the same method i do with colts put a innertube around a stout post and run the lead through
 
alacattleman":2sy9itl2 said:
i only halterd one in my life a brahman bull,, i used the same method i do with colts put a innertube around a stout post and run the lead through


That is an interesting concept. What exactly does the innertube do?
 
We start ours by adding 10' or so to a rope halter and just gradually trying to get close to them. Have a show stick or sorting stick in your hand and start rubbing them with it gradually trying to get closer and closer for around 15 min and give them the rest of the day off. Start agaiin the next day and you will be able to get closer. I find that this method gets them a litlle less timid of me before I start putting on more pressure. Then I let them drag a halter for several days while walking them more and more each day. Tieing is next....by this time they are walking several steps without pulling too hard. A few sessions of being tied from 15 minutes to start and gradually working up to several hours over the next week and they are pretty well done.
 
When my kids were showing, I learned from an old wore-out rodeo cowboy that was too crippled up to fight with stubborn yearlings how to halter break without too much fight. We haltered the calf and tied them up in the front end of our gooseneck cattle trailer. The are tied with just enough slack to get up and down. Twice a day, the calf is eased back to the rear of the trailer for water. While there, we can go in through the escape door and pick up manure and put out fresh feed. The calf is then pulled back to the front and tied again. You can get a wrap on each post so the animal can not get away or kick or butt. Most calves learn to walk "nicely" and will respond to a tug going to water in 3 or 4 days. When that happens they are ready to come off the trailer and go to a pen. The longest we had to keep one on the trailer was 10 days.
 
novatech":216mc7qc said:
An inner tube helps keep them from breaking their neck and also pulls back as long as they are pulling.
They learn that it only causes discomfort when they resist.
ScottP posted this link on the Show Board.
http://www.24-7agtv.com/Joomla/index.ph ... id=1&id=54
That is a good video on calf breaking. Not exactly how I do it, but close enough. Good advice there....
 
CKC1586":1wzbroh4 said:
novatech":1wzbroh4 said:
An inner tube helps keep them from breaking their neck and also pulls back as long as they are pulling.
They learn that it only causes discomfort when they resist.
ScottP posted this link on the Show Board.
http://www.24-7agtv.com/Joomla/index.ph ... id=1&id=54
That is a good video on calf breaking. Not exactly how I do it, but close enough. Good advice there....
That's very similar to how the International Society for Krsna Consciousness (The International Society for Cow Protection) starts training theirs. They start with little calves though
 
S&WSigma40VEShooter":x9460jqw said:
alacattleman":x9460jqw said:
i only halterd one in my life a brahman bull,, i used the same method i do with colts put a innertube around a stout post and run the lead through


That is an interesting concept. What exactly does the innertube do?
what the inner tube does is give some and pulls teaching them too give too the pressure,, plus when they fight it.... and they alway do,, its not like being tied hard and fast,,
 
alacattleman":2vmje3f6 said:
S&WSigma40VEShooter":2vmje3f6 said:
alacattleman":2vmje3f6 said:
i only halterd one in my life a brahman bull,, i used the same method i do with colts put a innertube around a stout post and run the lead through


That is an interesting concept. What exactly does the innertube do?
what the inner tube does is give some and pulls teaching them too give too the pressure,, plus when they fight it.... and they alway do,, its not like being tied hard and fast,,

A hundred years ago (or so it seemes) that was how we broke colts. I don;t know if these synthetic innertubes would work as well as the old rubber ones.
 
We break our calves using a rope halter (they're expensive, but the Clinton Anderson halters for horses work very well) and the key is to apply pressure, but when they take a step forward you immediately release it, almost to the point of anticipating their step. Repeat 1000 times....don't try anything else until they learn that step. It teaches them that there is some discomfort unless they go the direction you want them too. Most of our calves are reasonably well broke within a couple of hours.

Getting the halter on securely in the first place is another matter....
 

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