whats the missing piece???

Gather App
cattleluvr18

cattleluvr18

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 9, 2007
Messages
1,508
City & State/Province
Curtis Nebraska
alrighty, so i have a heifer that probably weighs just over 1000 pounds that im trying to halter break. yeah i know, i started late but listen to the rest of the story. she is a hereford of corse and shes defenetly the calmest calf that we have. we started breaking her about 2 weeks ago. we tied her up and she just stands there and lets me brush her, her feet and belly, everything, shes perfect. she will stand tied up for ever. but then i try and walk her around and she absolutly will not walk. she will plant her feet into the ground and not budge. then when you get her to she charges at you and goes the opposite direction you want her to go. now shes started head butting into my leg and i have a bruise and it hurts like crazy when she hits me. im glad that im tough and i can handle the pain and not let her loose when she starts to freak out. i thought maybe putting a halter with a chain on would help her but it only made her worse. so my point is, i cant get her to lead. she will stand tied, she'll let you brush her, she will stand with her head up once you stop her but she just doesnt like to lead. i dont know what else to do. its really starting to frustrate me and its disappointing to have such a calm calf that will do anything but lead. it just feels like im doing something wrong but i cant figure it out. we do have an option of putting her on a donkey but i was hoping to have that as last resort. and people have to us to hook her onto a hay wagon and lead her that way. i really dont want to do that. but im running out of options and time. what do you guys suggest that i do and why wont she lead???
 
Put this post in the show board as I am sure some of the experts there have had uncooperative animals and know all the tricks to the trade.Good luck, she sounds like a really gentle animal; maybe a little stubborn like her owner?
 
She won't lead because it's not a natural thing for cattle to do - it's something that is taught, and it takes time. Having said that, what about coaxing her with a bite or two of grain, or a treat of some kind held just out of her reach? I'm not sure it's the best of ideas, considering her weight and size, but it's the best I can come up with right now - short of a rope behind her butt(which could get you hurt), or tying her on the back of a tractor or something, which I'm reluctant to suggest because it could get her hurt. The only other thing I can think of would be to tie her fairly close to her water source - so she can smell it, but not reach it - and then lead her to water several times a day. You would probably be farther ahead to choose another animal that is smaller, easier to halter break, and does not carry the potential to hurt you that this animal does.
 
Msscamp that is why I suggested the show board they know all the little tricks.My neighbors whose girls show steers in the local fair pick their animals out at 10 months and then start working with them but they use a donkey to teach them to lead.The youngest won best steer in her group two years in a row and the city I talk about is not that small it is 90,000 people so I think there might be something that we are missing .They know tricks to get older /larger animals to do what they want.
 
I watched a program a while back on RFD TV that said to do it the same as a horse. Apply pressure to the halter and as soon as the calf takes a step towards you release the pressure. Continue in this way, it takes several days of little progress but he said the calves catch on.

A guy at a sale said to do the thing like MS suggest. Tie the heifer away from water but close enough she can see it. then lead her to water after she is thirsty.

I have never tried either one.

Alan
 
Alan":fmbnk8bm said:
I watched a program a while back on RFD TV that said to do it the same as a horse. Apply pressure to the halter and as soon as the calf takes a step towards you release the pressure. Continue in this way, it takes several days of little progress but he said the calves catch on.


Alan
Click to expand...

yes that worked tonite!! oh my god i was ssoo happy. she was actually following me and walking without a fight, now i just hope she keeps it up. im still taking suggestions though.
 
When she does good, reward her, whether its with a handful of feed, or just rub on her some. It shouldnt take her long to figure out that when she does something right, she gets rewarded. If she is acting up and fighting, tie her up for a while and then try again. Most importantly, be patient.
 
I haven't tried this, but we know a family that shows a lot and they don't put water in the pens with the cows they are trying to halter break. Several times a day they lead them to water. They tell me it works pretty well. Of course, I guess you do have to persuade them to make that first trip to the water trough. A little twist of the tail, maybe? ;-)
 
Catch her in the morning. Leave her tied all day without water. In the afternoon/evening when she is good and thirsty, lead her to the water. When you lead her there, as has been said, pull until she moves; even if it is only one step, release the pressure on the rope. This is her reward. Then pull again, and release. It might take you half an hour but she will learn it this way. Make sure you use a halter with a ring in it to let the pressure off her jaw when she comes forward. If she digs in her heels and you are having trouble pulling her, don't pull directly in front of her, rather pull off to the side and she will lose her balance and come forward. It would also help to have someone behind to twist the tail.

Don't feed her when she is tied up either; when you want to work her, put some feed out on the opposite side of the pen. Untie her and lead her using the pull-release method over to the food. Let her have a few mouthfuls, then led her away. I do this quite often with my cattle; they have to walk a lap of the yard before they get a bite of food, then they do another lap and get another bite of food etc.

As for the comments regarding the size of the animal, I never break in anything under 10mths, unless it is a calf at foot. Most of my animals I break are between 10 - 12 months, though I have done some younger and some as old as 5 or 6 years.
 
well i tried the whole "letting them go thirsty" and "lead her to her feed" but all she did was practially run me over. having a hungry/thirsty 1000 pound heifer being led by a low 100 pound girl(not like that makes a dif) is not exactly the easiest thing. thanks for the suggestions though. although i did break a calf by using the "feed method" as i like to call it but he weighed sugnificantly less then Mollie, thats her name.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top