Need advice on making a heifer gentle

[longhorntractor]

I am picking up two new hereford heifers this weekend. They will be anywhere from 9months to a year. I would like to make them real gentle. Eat out of your hand gentle if possible.

Any advice? I was planning on keeping them penned up for 3 -4 weeks before letting them in the larger pasture. What do you think? Tips?

Thanks

 

[Kingfisher]

Cubes. Time. I would think halter too. What are you planning to do with them?

 

[Caustic Burno]

If you are new to this game you don't want them to gentle.
A pet cow will hurt you faster than a wild one not meaning to.
Ole Belle swing her head at a fly or kick at another cow and you are in the way you can imagine the rest.
Remember you dealing with an amimal that it's stomach is 30 times larger than it's brain.
Most Hereford's are pretty layed back and docile that doesn't mean you can't get hurt.
If you get a crazy Hereford ther is nothing crazier.

 

[Tim/South]

Bread will bring them to you once they acquire a taste for it.
They will also get in a shoving match when you try to feed it out of your hand. I ride through the pasture on a 4 wheeler and "frisbee" it to a cow that is skittish. Helps to keep them from running away when they hear me coming.

 

[dun]

To calm/tame ours we feed them and sit on the edge of the feeder so they have to get close to eat their treats. I also sit out there and read to them out loud. Make sure it's something boring so there isn;t exceitment in your voice.
If we feed them from our hand (Grand kids like it) it's always through a fence, that way you're in control.

 

[cross_7]

Do not listen to inyati13
I repeat DO NOT LISTEN !!!

 

[B&M Farms]

Keep them penned for a few weeks and gradually get closer when feeding them. Pretty soon they won't pay you much attention. My niece used to do her homework in the pen with her show calves when they first showed up. Just spending time with them is a start.
I really don't care for my herd cows to be that gentle. I would prefer they keep their distance, just easy to work. A cow with no fear can be a pain.

 

[Ouachita]

Do not listen to inyati13
I repeat DO NOT LISTEN !!!

:lol2: You beat me to it Cross :lol2:

 

[Alan]

I really don't care for my herd cows to be that gentle. I would prefer they keep their distance, just easy to work. A cow with no fear can be a pain.

If you are new to this game you don't want them to gentle.
A pet cow will hurt you faster than a wild one not meaning to.
Ole Belle swing her head at a fly or kick at another cow and you are in the way you can imagine the rest.
Remember you dealing with an amimal that it's stomach is 30 times larger than it's brain.
Most Hereford's are pretty layed back and docile that doesn't mean you can't get hurt.
If you get a crazy Hereford ther is nothing crazier.

Both quotes could not be more correct in my opinion. We have a 2 year old bottle raised heifer, completely tame, wife likes to go pet her in the pasture. Complete pain in the rear! I have to crank her tail and push with all I have to get her into the chute from the working pen. She's the one in the herd I watch the most! She has no fear and knows she out weighs me buy a 1000lbs. never again.... I hope.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Frequent interaction in a positive way.
On the other hand, don't want them to be "not afraid" of you. You must establish pecking order and YOU are #1 in the PO. They must respect your space.

Remember: 1000# of turbocharged 4 wheel drive on a mission is no match for a 150# human weakling... You can't play THEIR way...you'll always lose.
:cowboy:

 

[longhorntractor]

Great advice. King we are running a small hobby cow/calf operation. Once they are old enough we will breed them to our hereford bull.

 

[herofan]

Not an expert here, but what I've read so far sounds good. I think the main thing is to just be around them as often as possible. We bought some 6-month old heifers a couple of years ago, and some of them were wild at first. After being around them daily for a while, feeding them, and talking in their presence, they get at ease.

I always talk, like a nut, when I'm around them. I usually say hello, ask them how it's going, and blab some kind of nonsense while I'm around. So far, they haven't answered any questions back.

I also agree with Caustic Burno, you don't want them "too gentle." I've seen some cows act like a pet dog. They can be dangerous, and they aggravate the living daylights out of you.

 

[Kingfisher]

I dont trust nothing black that's stomach weighs 30 times myself....

 

[j&lfarms]

2 of mine are pretty gentle. I got them that way by using feed and throwing bread to them. Like they said you don't want them too friendly though. I've got one that gets really excited when I'm putting out feed. She gets impatient and will start nudging me and the bucket. Yesterday I put their feed out and took some sweet feed to a calf to try and get him started on feed and she seen me and my bucket and took off after me. I had time to dump out the feed to the calf and then wear the heifers head out with the bucket; ) Hate to do it but gota establish boundaries.

 

[cowpunk'd]

It can come in very handy to have a cow that is approachable and lets you pretty close in the pasture. I had to borrow a little bull last year, he was small but had an unpleasant attitude towards me. I was checking them on foot and he started to stroll with intent in my direction. Not a good feeling. My tame cow was handy so I stepped behind her, she was between me and the bull. When he couldn't see me so good he lost interest.
Also if your lead cow is tame and respectful of you it does help if you need to move the group out of a tight spot, because if you push on her she can push everyone else out for you. If you try pushing on a tame heifer though you will get in trouble because she can't push anyone else out so she will bounce back right on top of you.

 

[Dega Moo]

I sing to ours. They listen up like I'm Frank Sinatra. They'll follow me through pastures, cross roads, anywhere whether I"m on foot, 4 wheeler or horse. No accounting for music tastes but it works for me.

 

[dgree]

We have a steer thats very friendly, wifey's baby. He's always first to new pastures and out of the barn. He likes his corn & grain mix. This August he's being slaughtered thats the one reason I don't get attached. His mother is pretty friendly too until she calfs then she turns into a raging maniac.

 

[Chris H]

The majority of our herd is halter broken. Sometimes it's handy, sometimes it's a pain in the neck because you can't get them to go into headgates & stuff.
Look on the Show forum for a couple videos on halter breaking. It only takes a couple days to get a calf or yearling tamed enough to walk up to them, scratch them, and halter them. Can't really lead them at that point, usually, but they're broke enough to handle. When you get them broke like that, they don't tend to run up to you looking for something to eat. Some get pesky about being scratched.

 

[grubbie]

I think there can be a happy medium. When we raise replacements, the wife gets most of them, if not all, to eat cake (cubes) out of her hand. They don't let us pet them, but will take it from our hands. That is during weaning. Once weaned and back out on pasture, they are not hand fed anymore, nor are they a nuisance. But they are easy to work! Throw a bag of cake on the four wheeler and the whole herd will follow her from one county to another, nice and easy. Bottle babies, on the other hand....who can resist scratching a bottle babies ears when they are done with the bottle? They get too tame and can be a pain in the arse when they are older. It's kinda funny watching some of our neighbors "play cowboy",....whoop and holler and chase them at a run on horseback. Cows frothing at the mouth, running through fences....I have worked for people like that, I like my way better. Of course, if you are running 600 head it would be pretty tough to tame down all of your replacements like that.