# Cow Collars



## hooligan

Does anyone on here use collars on their cattle?
I was wondering if a belt could be used instead of the usual collars sold for cows...


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## davidlinchi

I have noticed about rolled leather dog collars and leashes is the variety of leather they are made of. Now Im from Texas, home of cows and beef and good Ole bull and steer leather. This is the most common type of leather used in leather dog collars and leashes. A lot of them you see for sale online brag about English leather. I dont know what is the difference between an English and a Texas cow, but maybe the English cow has funny teeth and the Texas cow is bigger.


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## kstaven

A good old leather belt will work in most cases if it is long enough. But if the cow is having a really bad day or in a panic they are quite capable of snapping a belt.

We halter train all our dairy animals. Easy and cheap to put a rope halter together.


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## hooligan

I have seen several pix of cows wearing collars while out grazing...is it common to let them wear them all the time? I would think they might fall off but I would like to get one for him to wear daily.


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## aggieterpkatie

hooligan said:
			
		

> I have seen several pix of cows wearing collars while out grazing...is it common to let them wear them all the time? I would think they might fall off but I would like to get one for him to wear daily.


Dairy cows wear collars 24/7 with no problems.  If they're falling off then they're way too loose.


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## cw

hooligan said:
			
		

> Does anyone on here use collars on their cattle?
> I was wondering if a belt could be used instead of the usual collars sold for cows...


here is 1 on a holstein calf we bought at a sale, 
on a real small one there alright but he out grew it pretty quick


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## kstaven

We use halters on all our dairy animals because we get better head control when training them. Also allows a quick clip to the halter going to a back leg if dealing with a kicker.


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## hooligan

CW, your calf is adorable. I just love Holsteins and if it wasn't for Ferdinand following me when I was at the sale barn I would have probably come home with one  

I was thinking of getting him a rather cool looking belt for a collar like this one:





He wouldn't be able to wear it now but when he's a bit older 

I have also seen chains, like choke chain for dogs, in the cattle section-anyone ever use these?(

Also, he got his Blackleg vac today and got neutered...grand total $5. My vet even let we watch the procedure-he's awesome.

KStaven,
Do yours wear halters all the time? If so do you ever have any problems with them wearing on the muzzle of the cow and causing sores? Ferdie did well with his halter today-some pulling away but 99% of the time he either followed or lead without pulling. (We were outside the vets office for about an hour waiting so I took advantage of leading him around with it.)


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## kstaven

hooligan said:
			
		

> CW, your calf is adorable. I just love Holsteins and if it wasn't for Ferdinand following me when I was at the sale barn I would have probably come home with one
> 
> I was thinking of getting him a rather cool looking belt for a collar like this one:
> http://i1.ebayimg.com/02/i/001/63/64/f6eb_12.JPG
> 
> He wouldn't be able to wear it now but when he's a bit older
> 
> I have also seen chains, like choke chain for dogs, in the cattle section-anyone ever use these?(
> 
> Also, he got his Blackleg vac today and got neutered...grand total $5. My vet even let we watch the procedure-he's awesome.
> 
> KStaven,
> Do yours wear halters all the time? If so do you ever have any problems with them wearing on the muzzle of the cow and causing sores? Ferdie did well with his halter today-some pulling away but 99% of the time he either followed or lead without pulling. (We were outside the vets office for about an hour waiting so I took advantage of leading him around with it.)


I make all our halters from a nylon out sheath cotton core rope. they wear them year round and I have never had an animal get an abrasion from them.


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## aggieterpkatie

hooligan said:
			
		

> I have also seen chains, like choke chain for dogs, in the cattle section-anyone ever use these?(


They may use chains, but they're not like choke chains.  Choke chains tighten up, and you DON"T want your guy to have a collar on that could tighten up and choke him to death.


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## hooligan

aggieterpkatie said:
			
		

> hooligan said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have also seen chains, like choke chain for dogs, in the cattle section-anyone ever use these?(
> 
> 
> 
> They may use chains, but they're not like choke chains.  Choke chains tighten up, and you DON"T want your guy to have a collar on that could tighten up and choke him to death.
Click to expand...

Oh yes, I got that-they had bull clips on them to attach each end


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## Imissmygirls

I used collars or halters on all our pastured 4H animals to make it easier to catch them on pasture. Nylon belting worked best and was washable.
use sheep halters for baby jerseys or dog collars.
Use foal/horse halters for older calves/cows- loose enough on the nose to fully allow grazing/chewing.
You will need numerous sizes  as the animal grows.
And if you have nothing else, a piece of baler twin works well so long as it is knotted securely so it does NOT get smaller if the animal pulls.  
Personally, I prefer the full halter for nose control. Just make sure it is sized correctly and there is nothing for the animal to get it caught in in the pasture.
I'd cut those belts so you don't have long pieces hanging to get caught in things


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## Sara

I have collars on some beef cattle I have here at home.  I use them to chain them in the head gates we have so that I can feed them individually.  It's easy to walk down the row and just clip a chain to the collar  They are also halter broken.


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## LavacaW

There is a link on the American Dexter Cattle Assoc. website for halters for small calves.  Believe me, Dexter calves are small!  I have  a seven month old heifer calf that I put in a regular small calf halter and had to put 8 inches of holes in it to make it small enough.  Can't imagine how big it would have been had I tried it earlier.


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## judyc

My Jerseys didn''t wear halters, only collars. I kept a collar on one, with a Swiss cow bell. That is an easy way to keep track of your animals.

Nowadays, I use the same bells on my sheep. It makes them easy to locate.


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## goodhors

I have used nylon for my cow collars.  I have both the dog collar style, reflective for finding in the dark!  On the Dexter heifer, 18months, we just buckle two dog collars together with her bell on them.  She wears the bell strictly for locating her if she should get out.  AMAZING how easy it is to lose a brown cow in brush!!

We used the nylon snap dog collar on the calf, with a nylon strap for holding his bell on.  It was a size large from the Dollar store, worked very well.

I also have the regular nylon cow collars from the farm store, heavy hardware and a couple inches wide.  I DO like those collars for tying them up!  4-H Fair requires all cattle to wear a halter and cow collar or neckrope, be tied with two ropes for safety.  And I saw a LOT of the cattle take off those rope halters that slide to fit.  They would have been loose to wander if not restrained with two ropes!! 

I figure the dog collar with bell would break with light metal buckles or break the nylon snaps if cow got hung up in anything out in the pastures.  Cow is NOT going to break loose wearing the nylon cow collar, they are stuck until found or dead.

I like the nylon because I can toss it in the washer, comes out clean and fresh.  Needs no attention like leather does.

Our cattle only wear collars when outside, gets removed daily when we bring the cows inside for the night.  Extra handling pays off in many ways.  I just picked up my heifer from the farm with bull.  She has been "free" pretty much no contact by humans except to get a pan of grain daily set out for the 4 bovines.  He keeps them out in a big field, does no handling, no barning at all.  He got heifer separated and into a box stall.  Said once he pulled on the dog collar out in the lane, she was a peach for haltering, led easily into the barn and stall!!  I was quite surprised, thought she would be much more difficult to catch and maybe forget halter training after such a long visit and no handling.  

We slipped our halter on her in the stall, led her out to the trailer and she loaded right up.  Daughter tied her and walked out, shut the trailer door.  Same ease of handling when we got home, unloaded walked into her stall and got busy eating.  She will be getting a couple days of dragging a rope from her halter, to ensure being easy to catch each day.  Once back on our daily schedule, she will be easy to manage again.

I use the slip rope halters for leading in and out of the barn each day.  If I plan to leave them tied up for practice, bathing, we get out the nylon strap halter with the X under chin.  She has rubbed the slip rope halter off a time or two while learning to drag the lead rope.  Don't want her loose in the barnyard!

My pastures are pretty darn clean, no branches, nothing to get snagged on, for animal safety.  Horses will find SOMETHING to hurt themselves on if possible, so horse safe is fine for the cows!! But I still want daily-wear collars breakable enough to prevent injury or death.  Collar will hold if I want to grab the cow for a moment to halter her or lead her out of the way, all the strength I need.  If I am tying someone up, cow or horse, I want them to stay tied until someone comes back to get them, regardless of what is going on around the animal.  Those halters and cow collars are built to hold ANGRY animals, won't break.

The belt with metal squares could be a cute item, but daughter has a similar belt and those squares came off pretty easy.  The bent over prongs are not strong, do not pull off clean all the time.  cows rubbing on stuff will not leave the belt nice very long.  You may have some sharp objects inside the belt, against the cow skin, making sores or holes.  I try to look over each animal daily, and removal of collars is part of that.  Just leaving the collar on all the time, could cover quite a lot of skin area that has problems developing that you can't see until collar is removed.


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## Ariel301

aggieterpkatie said:
			
		

> hooligan said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have also seen chains, like choke chain for dogs, in the cattle section-anyone ever use these?(
> 
> 
> 
> They may use chains, but they're not like choke chains.  Choke chains tighten up, and you DON"T want your guy to have a collar on that could tighten up and choke him to death.
Click to expand...

Metal or plastic chain is also common for collaring dairy goats. They don't slip through a ring like a choke chain though, they are connected with a solid connector so they can't choke the animal. They are harder to break than nylon or leather collars, they don't really wear out as fast, so that makes them popular when you need a lot of cheap, sturdy collars.


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## chickenzoo

I know they sell horse collars, i use them on my horses as I got tired of regular halters rubbing their nose. It has a ring on it also for clipping a lead onto.


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## gavinol

I just hear it by your mouth. Perhaps this may be a reason, I am newbie here !!!


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## goodhors

chickenzoo said:
			
		

> I know they sell horse collars, i use them on my horses as I got tired of regular halters rubbing their nose. It has a ring on it also for clipping a lead onto.


This is probably a cow collar that they re-named and doubled the price on to sell as Horse Equipment!  Everyone KNOWS horses and their stuff cost way more than CATTLE stuff!


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