I have a problem...

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You need to put these calves behind something biggger than a human to walk them. I personaly use a walker that hooks to the 3 pt hitch on a tractor since i work off of the farm time is at a premimum I can walk 7 calves at once with this rig. And just for thoes of you who say thats not safe my walker has gates on the end so that the calves tied to either side cannot get into the tires of the tractor.
 
When I was a kid my brothers and sister and I had at least one 4-H steer a year pull a similar stunt. We had a little tractor with a 3 point hitch. Stuck a steel bar of any kind through the hitch and tied the animal short. Put the tractor in 1st gear and putt along for about a 1/2 mile. One or two trips fixes that problem fast. You don't rile the animal up that way either and spook it like a prod can. Want to teach an animal to kick use a prod on it. Also is a great way to string out electric fence. It just rolls off nicely.
 
Don't use a tractor... not if you don't know how to use it in conjunction with leading cattle properly. If you tie them short and they lay or flip, or if they dig their feet in it'll cause you more grief than good. Tractors should really only be used with breakaways.

As far as prods and kicking goes, if it's a kicker it's going to kick whether it's a prod, poly, cane. A prod isn't going to make it kick any more than any other tool.

There are plenty of other suggestions in this thread to try without resorting to using a tractor or even a prod. If the simpler, easier suggestions don't work then maybe resort to something a little more drastic. But cross that bridge when you come to it.
 
First of all, why are you starting this late?

number two
Why is your calf only 500 pounds? HOW OLD IS IT?

3
Try using the prod again.
The tarp might work, and there was a ton of other good suggestions on how to do it.
 
Hello Suzie,
Nice post.
Tarps are measured not only by length and width, but also by the weight of the fabric that is found in each square yard and the thickness of the material.
Thanks.
 
I guess the only ggod thing about this is the aren't dragging you around ! This sounds very strange to me.What breed of steers are they ?
 
They may have a spring final show y'all, our fat show for steers is in Feb. so go a little easier on those type comments please :| It is more likely that this is the truth than that they think they can show a 5 weight calf in a finish show...jmo
 
I should have asked how things are going with the steer before I typed all this:
How is the steer doing?

Almost every calf we have had that came off the pasture and into the pen has pulled the falling down thing. They were fighting the halter, and get off balance and down they go.
I would work them in a small pen like 12*12 and just give them their head a little and stand just behind their front shoulder. Keep the lead loose but push them around the pen. With the small pen you can keep them under control but not have to pull on their head as much.
Tie them up and make them walk to food and water, it is a slow process but if you keep your cool and take your time to work the fear out you will make process.

Story about patience and persistence
This was my sons last year, we picked up 2 steers that were broke to tie (this means they have had halters on and been tied, the end of their halter breaking) One calf was dog gentle, led, tied let you handle him from top to bottom. Other calf would freak when you tried to handle him, he would not fall down he would climb the fence, jump all over, do anything and everything to get away.
The calf really hated the rinsing and blowing out as soon as you would get past his flank he would freak, this went on for a week, by the end of the week he could get to the font shoulder before he would freak, an other week and he was at the neck before the freak-out would occur. This is where the progress seem to stop, went on for about 2 weeks. My son was starting to think he had wasted his money on the second calf.

The big day:
On this day it was raining so instead of rinsing we ran the calves into the tie out area, my son started blowing out the calf that had been giving him all the trouble was the closes calf so he started on him. We always start blowing out from the back and work to the front, he is finished blowing out the whole left side of the calf before he realized the calf never flinched; he even brushed his head with out a movement. From this point on the calf was fine.

If their mean you are more than likely out of luck, if they are just scared you can get past that point with patience and persistence.

Calm calf went on to help my son win showmanship, the other calf that might have been a waste of money, he was Reserve Grand out of 65 head.

Sorry for being long winded
 

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