I am brand new to this forum and I have a question. My daughter has a 4H steer this year that for the most part is broke to lead. He has found that if he catches her off guard he can duck his head pull away and run off. The short version. My Vet told us to ty a flying W. Which apparently will make them fall on there face if they run. Does anyone have any Idea how to ty this rig to work.
onry 4H Steer
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BC
Well-known member
I had bought a year old Gert heifer for my stepson that would pull that trick. She weighed about 800 when we started halter breaking. When she sensed that he wasn't paying attention, the head would drop her head and away she went. I tied a long cotton rope on to the end of the lead rope. As he was walking her, I would be the anchor on the other end of the rope. We turned her around a few times and he was right there. She thought he was stopping her and his confidence built up.
You might lead the steer to water and feed. As a reward for leading he gets to eat and drink.
Hope this helps.
You might lead the steer to water and feed. As a reward for leading he gets to eat and drink.
Hope this helps.
chippie
Well-known member
the vet meant a "running w". It is used on horses that run away on purpose. I would follow BC's advice or use a nose tong on the steer.
Running W
Nose tong
Running W
Nose tong
Nite Hawk
Well-known member
We have had a number of onry 4-H steers, and which varied from the animal trying to charge, to refusing to lead properly and dragging or dancing with the kid all over the place.
We tried the "nose pliers" or "nose tongs"
( think I prefer the pliers over the tongs).We would put the halter on, and the pliers in the nose and a second lead rope from the pliers. Worked with almost all the critters. If they take off and start to drag the kid, they dropped the main halter and pulled the nose pliers.
The real big cranky ones sometimes we had 2 kids on either side holding a halter lead and another person to the side with the pliers lead. As long as they went along nicely, no problems, if they got rank, it usually worked pretty good as a braking system. Of course as always care must be taken the animal doesn't throw itself on one of the individuals leading it.
Some of the critters hurt their nose a bit, but we decided better their nose than a kid getting drug all over stepped on and getting hurt.
When the animal lead nicely they were scratched, brushed and rewarded. When they took off like a freight train, the nose pliers did their job in punishment.
Sometimes it took lots of sweat, tears and prayers, but there was only one heifer that the pliers didn't work on, she would fight harder with them in place than without.
We ended up tying her almost daily to a telephone pole on a long rope till she quite fighting.
These were cattle that came in off the range and had seen very few people, so some of them were pretty wild.
It would be ideal if the cattle had been pasture raised from birth and calm, but this was not the case.
I find nose pliers handy for helping out if one has to give needles, breaking heifers to milk that are being rank, etc
They are not a cure all, but when other things fail, we try the nose pliers.
Nite Hawk
We tried the "nose pliers" or "nose tongs"
( think I prefer the pliers over the tongs).We would put the halter on, and the pliers in the nose and a second lead rope from the pliers. Worked with almost all the critters. If they take off and start to drag the kid, they dropped the main halter and pulled the nose pliers.
The real big cranky ones sometimes we had 2 kids on either side holding a halter lead and another person to the side with the pliers lead. As long as they went along nicely, no problems, if they got rank, it usually worked pretty good as a braking system. Of course as always care must be taken the animal doesn't throw itself on one of the individuals leading it.
Some of the critters hurt their nose a bit, but we decided better their nose than a kid getting drug all over stepped on and getting hurt.
When the animal lead nicely they were scratched, brushed and rewarded. When they took off like a freight train, the nose pliers did their job in punishment.
Sometimes it took lots of sweat, tears and prayers, but there was only one heifer that the pliers didn't work on, she would fight harder with them in place than without.
We ended up tying her almost daily to a telephone pole on a long rope till she quite fighting.
These were cattle that came in off the range and had seen very few people, so some of them were pretty wild.
It would be ideal if the cattle had been pasture raised from birth and calm, but this was not the case.
I find nose pliers handy for helping out if one has to give needles, breaking heifers to milk that are being rank, etc
They are not a cure all, but when other things fail, we try the nose pliers.
Nite Hawk
