Halter Breaking stubborn calf

Any suggestions for halter breaking a calf that as soon as you tie up go absolutly crazy.  Stands on hind legs and drives self into the fense that he is tied to. Do not want to give up on him just yet.

I think that you should just put him in a small pen, and just talk to him and feed him and just love him, be careful and have fun and good luck

is he on feed yet? if yes then be on the other side of the fence and just stand quiet, when he is calmed down let him smell you, trust me he will get curiouse. then give him small handfulls of grain as he lets you scratch him. before you know it he will be your best friend.  i had one that didnt break until the week before the fair.  once he gets comfortable with you you can start to work up to him from the same side of the fence. be careful and show him love. he will get that you wont hurt him so much faster if he feels loved.

Dont tie him to a fence yet. Get him in a small pen 12x12 or so. Put a halter on him and then get a showstick. Get him used to being belly scratched. Then Hold the halter, give a pull, is he gives you a step relax the pressure and give him a scratch. Get him used to pressure first so he doesnt hurt himself.

I have a calf like this too.  She was extremely wild and did the same things that your calf did.  I tied her to a gate for about fifteen minutes everyday for about three weeks and she has really calmed down since then.

first thing i would do would be hand feed him, make sure he sees you putting the feed in the bunk or where ever, tells him your there to help and care, not to hurt. As far as actually halter breaking i like tying him to a fence or pole and walking away (not so far where you cant see him) but just far enough he knows your not right next to him. then after he calms down a bit put a little feed in front of him, if he starts eating come on to him slowly and scratch his back with your hands, keep doing this and everyday put your hands on more parts of him (working towards belly and brisket) talk to him and dont be forceful or get mad through all of it. if he starts freaking out when you come back up to him walk away, tire him out. If he is really looking like he's gonna do damage to himself i would just get an old halter and get it on him and leave it on him for about a week, 24/7 he'll get used to it and when he steps on the rope itll teach him tension means stop.

I have done the above for about 2 and half weeks now and no progress except a cut up steer.  Will let me touch him only when he has his rearend against the wall. His counter part luckily is gentle as a dog.

I have had plenty of calves i have done this to and its worked. not every calf is the same, get him to trust you. when you actually get the halter on him he goes crazy on just when you tie him up?

I had to halter break a heifer in school that was "crazy" like that.  She seemed to have trust issues.  For a week I spent an hour or more sitting on a bucket in her pen with her.  I didn't tie her or put a halter onher--just sat there and ignored her.  eventually she saw that I wasn't going to hurt her and would walk up to me and let me pet & brush her.  After that she would "hide" behind me when anyone else came into the barn!

Two of my sons 3 steers this year were what I call 'buggers'!  Just calm down take your time and keep at it.  Like a few other said don't tie him yet if he's so crazy, just small pen walk around talk to him, scratch him (hand or show stick) and do nothing else but feed and show him affection.  Blake's one steer still to this day has a wild eye at times, he still is in shock that we're not going to hurt him, he actually loves being brushed etc, but still doesn't like to be caught but once he is he doesn't try to get away anymore.  Been working with these daily since April-May.  Good luck.

Like all the others said let the heifer build up trust of you and make sure she knows that your the one that feeds her. Until you have her pretty well halter broke dont let anyone else feed her and leave the halter on her so she get used to stepping on it and giving to pressure. Id suggest when you tie tie onto something solid with a quick release knot so if it hits the fan she can be easily realesed. the reason i say dont tie to a gate is they can break the hinges and take off with the gate and hurt you themself or others, it happened to one of my good friends with a heifer that had been shown for 2 years and she had to be care flighted .

Sit in the feed bunk and stay there while he eats..    If he won't eat with you there, take the food away.    If you have another tame calf, let that calf eat  with you there & the other calf will get the idea.  Don't try to make any miracle progress, you might spend a week doing this and only this without even touching the calf.    Take it slow and expect itty bitty steps.  Once you've established the trust that the others have mentioned, the rest will come. 

Sometimes if we have a bad or more skittish one, we run them up the working alley and just get our hands all over them..  it's kind of super intense but seems like if you do it once it is like sacking a horse out. 

If he is not mean try using a straw bristle broom. Put him in a 10 by 10 pen or close to it if he moves set the broom on his back and leave it there the whole time he is moving. Once he stops moving rub the broom up and down his sides and start moving it all over his body. Once he starts moving just set it on his back again and hold it until he stops then start rubbing again on his  side and then his head and all over they like the feel of it. Keep doing and pretty soon you will be able to get close and rub him with the broom and your hand most steers after a few times will let you put a halter on while doing this.

Like everyone else has said, do not tie them up until they are broke to lead.  Tying them up is a pretty severe restraint to some cattle.  It would be like you getting put into a straight jacket after you have been running around free all your life.  I don't know about you, but I would go nuts under restraint too.  Get a lead rope long enough for your pen size that they cannot get away from you.  Then work on the stick or broom work, progressing to brushing all without tying them up.  Don't pull on the lead rope hard -- they will just set up and resist and you do not accomplish anything.  Little give and take progress starting with just getting them to turn their head in the direction of the lead rope pull and then release the pressure is the best way I have found to get them started after you have them gentle.

I have broke a lot of calves. I always start washing clipping tie them up. In your case she likes to jump up tie her so low to the groung she cant lift her head wants she realizes she cant do anything tie her up. If she starts doing it again tie her down. Good luck and hope this helps.

When ever I halter break my calves I leave them tied up in the barn for a couple of days.  Tie the calfs head down low so that they can't rear up, make sure that when you have them tied up during the day that you check on the calf every 30 minutes or so.  If you do decide to use this method make sure you start it on the weekend or when you know you'll have a couple of days off that you can keep the cald tied up and watch it.  I have used this method for the past five years and it has worked everytime. Good Luck.

Whenever I have this problem I will start by putting them in a chute and tying them up in there first, to get them used to a halter is nothing else. Then I will move them to the barn. If they're still wacko, I just let them tire themselves out. As long as someone's there to make sure they stay right side up and don't strangle themselves, all is good. Even when they're like this its good to get a brush on them. It seems to calm them a bit more and gets them used to when you will be working their hair. Also, its tough to halterbreak an animal on its own; have at least another one with the calf if it is that jumpy.

you need to be careful tying up calves.  i've seen one calf hang himself being tied up low and no one had a knife to cut him loose.  pretty disgusting.

Yes good point; always tie them high when they're still being broke.

Don't give up just yet. For my bull calf after he got used to me I finally got the halter on him and let him drag it around for a couple days. After he got used to that I would pick the halter up and try to lead him if he fights you tie him up to a tree or something solid where he can't get off. Leave him there for 30 minutes to and hour. You can also try range cubes. They tend to work very well when halter breaking them. If he trusts you enough he will start eating them out of your hard. Good Luck!