Nose Rings for bulls

[tamarack]

I run a pb herd of shorthorns an am trying to halterbreak some bulls some are more stubborn than others and am thinking about putting nose rings in some a neighbor told me it would make them respect people better and keep their head away from people keeping everyone safer. I have never seen a bull ringed and wondering if anyone had any ideas. tamarack shorthorns

 

[greatgerts]

The do work well. On that thought, some bulls just cannot be halter-broke. If you are going to put the ring in yourself, feel inside the nose, and pierce the ring through in the soft part of the nose just behind the hard cartilage(sp?). If they are younger bulls, get the smaller rings. You do not want too big of a ring in their nose. It can hurt them more than it should.

 

[redcowsrule33]

Most dairy bulls get ringed, doesn't help their temperament but it gets their attention. Some farmers put a three foot chain from it so they trip on it if they try to charge. I personally think that's cruel. If a bull is that nasty they need a ride not a chain. One thing to consider is if there is anything these bulls could catch it on - a ripped out nose ring is a mess and a be nice to fix. The vets at the bulls studs have nose repairs down to a science. If you keep them tied you could just use a pair of nose tongs and get close to the same effect. If you don't keep them tied good luck catching them after round 1.

 

[tamarack]

Thanks for the info bought the rings today not sure of the sizes got the small bull#31-5/16x2.5in and#33which is 5/16x3in. will see which looks better the next size is 3/8x3in which looked very thick.the replys i got were very helpful.

 

[pdfangus]

I have been in the angus business for thirty five years.
I worked in the dairy industry for over twenty years as well.
I have dealt with killer bulls and i have dealt with dog gentle bulls.
I have lost friends to killer bulls.

I expect my remarks to generate a little heat.

I have never observed a situation where a nose ring made a bad bull any better.

I have observed situations where putting in a ring made moderate bulls a bit worse.

If you have a bad bull and you are close enough to grab a nose ring then your odds of dying go up dramatically anyway.

Hanging a chain on a nose ring borders on cruelty in my mind. If you disagree then I assume you are one of the peirced weirdos i see with crap hanging off of you.

Nose leads are useful for control where the bulls are to be handled. It does take a good cow man to put them in after the first few times. but it can be done.

The nose leads response tells me that rings might be excessive. if a bull is truly evil and very valuable as is the case with some dairy bulls and must be handled as for collecting then the safety of the handlers is paramount.

for a farm bull....if he is bad enough to warrant this then MacDonalds is taking aplications.

as my Daddy use to say......"it don't cost a d--ned bit more to feed a good one than it does a sorry one." and in my opinon disposition is a factor in that classification.

 

[Jalopy]

pdfangus--Good post I agree. If a bull is that good to have but ornery collect him and ship him no need to risk safety. And remember his disposition is a highly heriitable trait.

 

[KNERSIE]

The way I see it is that a nosering is no more than an emergency brake for when the bull is being lead on a halter, it shouldn't even be used in the halterbreaking process.

 

[novatech]

The way I see it is that a nosering is no more than an emergency brake for when the bull is being lead on a halter, it shouldn't even be used in the halterbreaking process.

I totally agree with Knersie on this. Buy using the nose ring in the halter breaking process all you are really doing is associating yourself with pain in the bulls mind. What you want is the exact opposite. The bull must understand you are not a threat and there is nothing to fear. They also must understand you are in charge. Some bulls deal with their fear with aggressive behavior. It must be dealt with immediately. If you respond with fear then you have taught the bull the wrong lesson. If you respond with inflecting pain you may end up with more aggressive behavior. I think this is where experience takes hold because then you are dealing with individual circumstances. If you can't overcome it get rid of the problem.

 

[ryan_289]

When I was younger and showing cows, we put permanent rings in our show bulls nose. Only after they were halterbroken. It really helps control a two year old bull when they decide to get onery! When we sold those bulls or put them out on cows we never took them out. Our other bulls that we had for sale did not get rings.