Stubborn Heifer I am trying to break.

[RedFordFarms]

I have a heifer that is 8 days old that I have started to break. Today was her first day. I put on her lead and started to "pull" her out of her pen. She then proceeded to fling her head around, then she leaned over and fell to the ground on her side. I let go of pressure and made sure she was okay, got her to stand again and then began pulling her towards the door again. She again, proceeded to fling her head around and fall on her side. I made sure she was okay, took off her lead and left her alone. Is there any way to make her stop doing this? And yes we do prefer to break our calves young as we bottle feed our show calves and we like to make them easy to handle.

 

[SheepGirl]

All of my sheep act like that when I try to halter break them. Just keep working with her, eventually she will 'get' it. Maybe you can try to lead her around with her bottle/bucket? I know it helps if I'm breaking a lamb and they have a bucket of grain shaking in their face.

 

[BrownSheep]

Quite a few of my "steer" friends start halter breaking their year old steers by just tying them up for an hour or two a day. I've actually done this with by lambs and have found it to help. Being as she's very young Ild just halter and keep the lead on her. I don't think at this stage you need to be forcing her to walk. Let her learn no amount of hissy fitting on her part will get the halter and lead off.

 

[RedFordFarms]

I agree, but to tie her up, I have to take her out of her pen since there is nothing strong to tie her to in her pen. I couldn't even get her to take 2 steps before she would plop over on her side.

 

[Karma]

If you have a seperate halters, like the ones used on horses, you can hook a length of rope to it and leave her in the pen for awhile assuming it is safe with nothing to snag her. When she steps on the dragging rope she will eventually learn to yield to pressure. I would not use on of the one piece lead and halter rope sets though as stepping on it will make it tighten around her head and will be really uncomfortable. The nylon cow halters that look like the horse ones work best as they won't break under pressre but do keep an eye out to make sure she doesn't get snagged on something as well, it won't break if she does.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Couldn't you build or make something strong to tie her up with in her pen? Besides, she's just a 1-week + old calf, not a 900 lb steer.

 

[lovinglife]

I would not tie her up at this age... Get a long rope and loop it around her rear. then pull on the halter and also on the rope around her rear. She will get the message. If you find a treat or a bottle or something she likes will help her get the tug and walk idea. Pulling her till she falls over, just is not teaching her anything other than I don't have to more...

 

[20kidsonhill]

instead of pulling her and standing in front of her. put the lead on her and try letting her go infront of you, like you are herding her. Also, halter her up before you feed her and let her walk a little with the lead on before each feeding. Get her used to following you. Just getting her to walk around the pen a couple times with the lead on for a few days will help a lot. The first few days always feels like it is never going to happen and then all of a sudden they are trotting along side of you.

 

[redtailgal]

Is she on a bottle?

If so, the simplest thing to do is make the bottle, have someone stand within her view holding that bottle for a couple times or even sit it down somewhere where she can see it, and lead her to the bottle. Once she sees the bottle she should forget about the halter and almost drag you along.

If you'll do that for a couple day, she will associate getting the halter on with getting her bottle and will WANT to be lead.

this way is easy peazy, no mess, no fuss, and it always, always works very quickly for me (with hundreds of calves)

If she is not on a bottle, take her away from her mom for about 20 minutes, leave her in a stall or something all by her self for just a little while. Then halter her, and take her out leading her to her mother.

Calves fall down, often at the SLIGHTEST hint of pressure. Dont release the pressure on them when they do, otherwise you are teaching them to fall over to get the pressure off the nose. Keep that pressure on them, and stand them back up (it takes two people usually). Once she takes a step forward THEN release the pressure. NEVER EVER release pressure without forward movement.