Having trouble with steer

[Anonymous]

I'm 16, I live in central florida,and I'm raising a steer for our county fair in April. I'm having trouble with my 8 month old Charolais steer. He is also around 600#. He seems to be in the habit of head butting. When I first bought him we went through about 2 weeks of continous head-butting. Now after 1 and 1/2 months he's back to his old routien again. He also refuses to walk with me and he likes to pin me up against the fence. I'm wondering if anyone has any tips on how to get him to stop head-butting and start walking.

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[Anonymous]

What ever you do, do not fight back with him, as in pushing his head when he head butts. I have raised market steers for several years for my county fair, I have found two methods that work for breaking them to walk. The first method is to tie them to the back of a tractor and then slowly drive the tractor around, this teaches them to walk when you pull on the rope, but make sure you put a bar or pole across the back so they don't get in the tires. The second method, the one I use the most, is to start in a small pin and start trying to walk the steer, he will usually just end up spinning in a circle but it teaches his head to follow the rope, then gradually work up to a bigger pen and so forth. Just remember, it will take time, and nobody ever said it was easy, if it was everyone would be doing it.
> I'm 16, I live in central
> florida,and I'm raising a steer
> for our county fair in April. I'm
> having trouble with my 8 month old
> Charolais steer. He is also around
> 600#. He seems to be in the habit
> of head butting. When I first
> bought him we went through about 2
> weeks of continous head-butting.
> Now after 1 and 1/2 months he's
> back to his old routien again. He
> also refuses to walk with me and
> he likes to pin me up against the
> fence. I'm wondering if anyone has
> any tips on how to get him to stop
> head-butting and start walking.

 

[Anonymous]

My babies are much younger (2 weeks and 4 weeks), so there has been no problem in teaching them to lead (head butting is another matter!).

I did want to suggest that you might have luck with the method that we used to use with yearling horses. We would take a soft cotton rope and run it through the ring on the halter where the lead is attached (loose, not attached). This soft cotton rope runs in between the front legs and around the outside and behind the hind legs, you hold just enough pressure on the rope so that it rests above the hocks. With horses anyway, the touch of the rope above the hocks makes them step forward. If they resist, a slight pull on the rope will make them step -- 2-3 days and most are leading like old pros.

Good luck Ann

 

[Anonymous]

Same method works with cattle, we just position the rope a little higher

dunmovin farms

> My babies are much younger (2
> weeks and 4 weeks), so there has
> been no problem in teaching them
> to lead (head butting is another
> matter!).

> I did want to suggest that you
> might have luck with the method
> that we used to use with yearling
> horses. We would take a soft
> cotton rope and run it through the
> ring on the halter where the lead
> is attached (loose, not attached).
> This soft cotton rope runs in
> between the front legs and around
> the outside and behind the hind
> legs, you hold just enough
> pressure on the rope so that it
> rests above the hocks. With horses
> anyway, the touch of the rope
> above the hocks makes them step
> forward. If they resist, a slight
> pull on the rope will make them
> step -- 2-3 days and most are
> leading like old pros.

> Good luck Ann