My show calf won't lead

[HaydenTaylor]

So this year I got an American breed show steer and he's very well behaved on the halter. He's a gentle natured calf but the only problem is he refuses to lead. I tug and tug but he will not go forward. I've tried pulling him around on a four wheeler and he does fine with that. But when I try to lead him he just won't walk. He will occasionally walk if he is pointed towards his fellow calves, but will not walk anywhere else. Does anybody know how I could get him to walk?

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Have someone walk behind you and tail him when he does not walk. In the show ring, you will have calves in front and behind, so that helps. I would rather have a calf like yours than one that tries to break away.

 

[shortybreeder]

Sounds like a typical problem that people have with dairy steers... Most of those wind up with broken tails in the end...
Edit: yes, I did notice that he said american and I do realize dairy steers are different from american.

 

[cloud9cattle]

Wrap the rope a few times around your waiste and turn around so you can face him. Then walk backwards. I have seen to many of my old show calves develop bad habits from pushing them from behind or twisting their tail such as kicking and bolting. Also make sure your leaving that ster tied up for at least 3 hours a day.

 

[cowgirl8]

Its been a very long time since we had any show cattle, but, our girls were the ones showing and we made them do everything. Since they were small, and girls, the way we had them teach to lead was to tied the calf to a donkey. Poor Eeyor, he had a lot of aggravating days with heifers tied to his back. But it won he a home forever and retired about 10 years ago. We saved him from a sale barn, and he's got it pretty good now at the estimate age of 35.
We had a harness that kept the lead at his withers. They had a big pen to walk in and sometimes it took a week for the calf to be broke to lead.

 

[txffamom]

Something we have done is tie them for several hours. Place feed and water where he has to be lead to get to them. He should eventually associate being lead to the good things things at the end of the trip.

 

[Nesikep]

txffamom, that's what I do, and I start them young.. 2 months old for the best ones... I take them away from their mothers and let them romp around the yard, they can eat fresh grass while they're tied up, then they get thirsty for milk and are all happy to go see momma again, so they're happy each way. when they're yearlings, it's the same idea, they live in the corral all winter so they're *very* happy to go out and get the young grass, but they get lonely quickly.. so they're happy either way again. Now I have several cows I can pretty much just by telling them to follow me, a bale twine is enough of a halter for them.

Also, you might want to look at a Hamilton "Control" halter, I found "cow" size fits a yearling just right, they have a chain under the chin, and depending on how you hook up your lead rope, it'll pull on the chain and be irritating... They get it figured out before long and they're a lot easier to handle after

Good luck!

 

[Chris H]

Wrap the rope a few times around your waiste and turn around so you can face him. Then walk backwards. I have seen to many of my old show calves develop bad habits from pushing them from behind or twisting their tail such as kicking and bolting. Also make sure your leaving that ster tied up for at least 3 hours a day.

NEVER wrap the rope a few times around ANY PART OF YOUR BODY!!!! I do agree the pushing/twisting tail method causes problems.

Use patience and the feed/water bait method.

 

[shortybreeder]

Wrap the rope a few times around your waiste and turn around so you can face him. Then walk backwards. I have seen to many of my old show calves develop bad habits from pushing them from behind or twisting their tail such as kicking and bolting. Also make sure your leaving that ster tied up for at least 3 hours a day.

NEVER wrap the rope a few times around ANY PART OF YOUR BODY!!!! I do agree the pushing/twisting tail method causes problems.

Use patience and the feed/water bait method.

Agreed... I sometimes wrap it around my back so that I can lean into it, but never all the way around a body part... That's just asking the animal to remove it...

If the animal is extremely stubborn and you can't move it by leaning into the rope, sometimes we will tie the rope a few times around one of the old stanchion loops that is set into concrete and have one person hold it tight while another person pushes down on the rope (towards the ground, sometimes it requires the person to put a foot on the rope and use their body weight) until the animal takes a small step forward, then pull the rope tight again and repeat... That is just the method we use for catching dairy heifers for breeding, probably not the greatest for a show calf that you want to follow you. Patience is really all it takes though, any animal will eventually give up--as long as you don't give up first.

 

[Nesikep]

With a stubborn calf, I usually pull hard until they take a step, then release a bit, wait, then do it again. They'll start to learn that when they move forward, the rope loosens.

Also agreed about wrapping something around your body, very dangerous.

 

[robert]

It's all about sending a consistent message, when you apply pressure to the lead rope you cannot release that pressure until the animal takes a step forward, which releases the pressure on them. When they've taken that step and released the pressure, after a second or so reapply pressure, keep it on until the animal takes a step forward and releases. If you pull on the rope and release before the animal moves the message he or she is getting is that they are stronger than you. The relationship between you and the animal is that whoever is dominant will determine what happens and when. I agree with others who have said leave the animal tied then walk him to feed or water after a time, this is not only reward in their minds it is also your dominance over them, they eat/drink, when you take them to it. Good luck!

 

[dun]

When training calves to work (oxen training) I would loop a rope or light chain over their hind quarters so that it hit them about half way up the back leg. Tug on the halter and pull on the back loop. Didn;t take but a day or 2 and they had the idea that they were suppposed to go with the halter

 

[VCC]

Tie and lead to feed and water, move it farther away each time. Do not get in a tug of war with them you will lose. The halter is all about pressure, Sullivan's sells a rope halter with a ring in it, the ring allows the halter to release quicker so they learn that the pressure from pulling back means to stop, side pressure means to turn and a lift and release means to walk. By lift and release, I mean pull up and forward and release quickly over and over until they begin to walk. Calves also seem to lead worse in the barn then they do anywhere else, ours fight to the washrack but walk right back to the tie out area, drag their feet to the barn but want to drag you back to the pasture.
Try changing your routine, walk them a different way, take the long way around, just something different, it is like a barn sour horse, change it up on them.
If you just try and out muscle them they will lock up and lean back on the halter most people are not going to win this battle.

 

[Bigfoot]

Put a flat nylon halter on him, then put a chain over his nose. Pressure and release when he moves forward. Do it over, and over.

 

[Chris H]

So this year I got an American breed show steer and he's very well behaved on the halter. He's a gentle natured calf but the only problem is he refuses to lead. I tug and tug but he will not go forward. I've tried pulling him around on a four wheeler and he does fine with that. But when I try to lead him he just won't walk. He will occasionally walk if he is pointed towards his fellow calves, but will not walk anywhere else. Does anybody know how I could get him to walk?

This comment won't help with this calf but maybe it will help in the future. I think you can tie up a calf too much at first and you end up with a calf that ties real nice but won't lead. I won't tie a calf anymore until they lead in a small pen for me. Then I get them outside ASAP, once they trust me in the small pen. By then tying is a piece of cake.

 

[shortybreeder]

So this year I got an American breed show steer and he's very well behaved on the halter. He's a gentle natured calf but the only problem is he refuses to lead. I tug and tug but he will not go forward. I've tried pulling him around on a four wheeler and he does fine with that. But when I try to lead him he just won't walk. He will occasionally walk if he is pointed towards his fellow calves, but will not walk anywhere else. Does anybody know how I could get him to walk?

This comment won't help with this calf but maybe it will help in the future. I think you can tie up a calf too much at first and you end up with a calf that ties real nice but won't lead. I won't tie a calf anymore until they lead in a small pen for me. Then I get them outside ASAP, once they trust me in the small pen. By then tying is a piece of cake.

I had a dairy steer that was like that before, he would lead really nice indoors, but as soon as we went outside he saw some other calves and wanted to be with them... Once he found out he could get away from me it was all over with that guy... He wasn't so much a calf though as he was a 1300lb steer... I felt really bad about it too because he was the nicest looking steer I had ever raised up to that point. Definitely learned a lesson!

 

[cowgirl8]

So this year I got an American breed show steer and he's very well behaved on the halter. He's a gentle natured calf but the only problem is he refuses to lead. I tug and tug but he will not go forward. I've tried pulling him around on a four wheeler and he does fine with that. But when I try to lead him he just won't walk. He will occasionally walk if he is pointed towards his fellow calves, but will not walk anywhere else. Does anybody know how I could get him to walk?

This comment won't help with this calf but maybe it will help in the future. I think you can tie up a calf too much at first and you end up with a calf that ties real nice but won't lead. I won't tie a calf anymore until they lead in a small pen for me. Then I get them outside ASAP, once they trust me in the small pen. By then tying is a piece of cake.

I had a dairy steer that was like that before, he would lead really nice indoors, but as soon as we went outside he saw some other calves and wanted to be with them... Once he found out he could get away from me it was all over with that guy... He wasn't so much a calf though as he was a 1300lb steer... I felt really bad about it too because he was the nicest looking steer I had ever raised up to that point. Definitely learned a lesson!

I cant count the times my girls were drug through a show barn by their heifers. Simbras were the worst. They would be real good at home and do well at the show barn, but out of the blue on the walk to the trim chute, they'd go nuts and take off. And our daughters were usually dragging behind. We had several that just didnt break to lead. And then we had some that we could go out in the pasture 12 years later, put a halter on and they lead just like they did in the show ring.

 

[WalnutCrest]

A trick that may be worth trying...

Tie the lead to an old innertube ... and tie the innertube to the rafter of a stall (or a pole in the yard). It gives them something to pull on that will have a little give to it ... but that thing that has a little give aren't your shoulders/back/knees.

 

[torogmc81]

If only working by yourself. Get in a round pen, you and the steer, and use the show stick on his rear as you hold the end of the halter. Slowly over time you inch closer in on the halter till you are positioned next to your animal. Just another suggestion to add to the others!
Try different things, every animal will be different. Patience and reps are the biggest key!

 

[branguscowgirl]

Before I ever try and lead them, my calves get a rope halter on and drag it. They quickly learn that if they step on it, they have to stop and reposition their feet to free their head. They learn to give to the rope. Sometimes if mom is laying on it, they will just stand there like they are tied. It may sound mean, but their face gets a bit sore. Then when you pick up that rope, they will follow you anywhere. They won't drag you either.
Side note, I use a rope halter with a ring in it, so it loosens when there is no pressure.