Always have a knife handy

one of the new calves we got, i tied him up for the first time in his life and went outside to get more halters, i was gone 30 seconds total and he was hung. lord knows i couldn't have picked him up so i snipped the halter with my trusty knife and he got back up. i have heard of calves hanging them selves and thought it would be unlikely to happen to one... 30 seconds and it happened. I took a pretty deep breath when he showed me he was fine and went to his buddies.

so all you guys need to take a knife to the barn.. just in case

I never leave the house without one.

Have one for cutting baler twine and a sharp one to cut through a halter fast if I have too. Heard lots of times that calves will just drop the first time they're tied up and some times their being attended too.

one of my friends had his heifer tied up acoss from me for the first time and he left for a second to help someone, and his calf went crazy trying to break free and lost its footing. on its way down i heard a crack come from its neck and she just layed there which scared me half to death fortunatly she got back up but never did walk quite right again.

Have always found calves that do get hung up when halter breaking will actually be a lot quieter the next time you tie them up(probably scares them pretty good)

ROMAX said:

Have always found calves that do get hung up when halter breaking will actually be a lot quieter the next time you tie them up(probably scares them pretty good)

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i tell you, he is a very quiet natured calf, he was the one we got the first halter on, no chutes or ropes.

The tame ones will throw fits just like the crazy ones.  If the crazy ones throw fits, it usually helps tame them down.  Good job getting him cut loose, I'd hate for you to lose one of those good calves you just got in.

Olson Family Shorthorns said:

The tame ones will throw fits just like the crazy ones.  If the crazy ones throw fits, it usually helps tame them down.  Good job getting him cut loose, I'd hate for you to lose one of those good calves you just got in.

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I'll have those pics tomorrow, i promise  ;D

You had better.  I'm lookin forward to it! 

I hope we get our calves in really soon, but I'm having enough trouble rinsing my heifer twice a day and getting the crops in the ground.

From stierwalt's fitting clinic.  You don't tie em up short the first time.  Tie them to a tall fence that they have no chance of jumping.  Tie them high with a long enough halter rope they can actually get turned almost the opposite direction of the fence.  Theyll go out spin and come back to the fence.  They'll teach themselves to come to pressure.  Lead rope should be tied so that if the calf was standing with it's head in a normal position at the fence the hanging loop should be 6 inches off the ground.  Theyll fight it awhile, keep coming back around to the fence and then stand there after awhile with a loose halter rope.  Then tie them up.  I never tie one short the first time..

Olson Family Shorthorns said:

You had better.  I'm lookin forward to it! 

I hope we get our calves in really soon, but I'm having enough trouble rinsing my heifer twice a day and getting the crops in the ground.

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i am definitely in the same situation it's pretty rough.


i agree on tying them loose and low. i normally give them around 2 ft of slack in the rope and don't tie any higher than their head is naturally. i could care less if they lay down cause then they probably have stopped fighting the halter and they can't hardly hang themselves like this either.

What I have found that works pretty well is wrap the rope around one fence rail 2x then tie it on the rail above.  That way when they fall or fight the rope it tightens up on the 2 wraps and not the knot.  Now if they are tall enough you need to wrap on your top fence rail then only go around it once the wrap 2x and tie on a lower rail.  The reason for only going around the top rail once is when they jump around or rear up then can get the ropes crossed if wrapped more than once on the top rail causing it to be too hard to untie and causing it to have to be cut.  HOpe this is helpful and not confusing.

afhm said:

What I have found that works pretty well is wrap the rope around one fence rail 2x then tie it on the rail above.  That way when they fall or fight the rope it tightens up on the 2 wraps and not the knot.  Now if they are tall enough you need to wrap on your top fence rail then only go around it once the wrap 2x and tie on a lower rail.  The reason for only going around the top rail once is when they jump around or rear up then can get the ropes crossed if wrapped more than once on the top rail causing it to be too hard to untie and causing it to have to be cut.  HOpe this is helpful and not confusing.

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That's right on, then you can always get it loose easily..

There was a issue at our barns whether if we could keep a knife with us since it was school property. Quick thinking!!

I was sick when I found out Schrade sold out and you couldn't buy Old Timer's any more.