Farmerjon
Well-known member
Not knowing your facilities, when my girls were first starting 4H I put in 6 old style milking stanchions. This way they could mess with their calves all day while I was working and I didn't have to worry about a calf getting himself hung. The stanchions are back in use with out grandchildren who show the dairy beef steers we sell for freezer beef. The jersey steers are notorious for kicking. What we use is a broom. A regular broom and a cut down (narrow) push broom. I am a firm believer that their kicking and not contacting anything and not getting any punishment creates a non kicker sooner . We don't have waterers at our stanchions so the kids are supposed to halter and lead their calves to water every two hours. Those short (probably 300 feet each way) walks with water at one end and some fresh feed at the other are great teachers for calves to walk and want to go where they are being walked towards. Just a suggestion.