How can I calm a show steer?

I've got a steer who just seems to be high strung. He is calm and works well at home, but when I take him to shows he goes crazy. He runs, jumps, bucks, and is just wild. I'm in 4-H and our county doesn't allow us to use medication on our cattle. So what can I do to calm him down?

there is a product called relax fit, it's all natural. and it's a feed additive so they can't say you medicated them its not medicine, and it's not in a syringe or has a doctors label on it. it works amazingly. we get it at the feed mill. i think either kent or showmaster makes it, i can check for you. we use it on the craziest, witchiest cows ever and it calms em right down. you can feed it the whole time your at a show and actually i'd feed em the day before you load em on the trailer. its like 20 dollars for a container of it but it will take care of one animal for a few days. i use it on all my animals in smaller doses for the calm ones just to keep em calm in the ring. sometimes you still have to use show cattle calm that's still not a medication. medically calming them would be using ace or rompin, there is both powder and liquid form of ace, and rompin is liquid. we will use that at home if we have a crazy one to take the edge off at first, give a quarter cc of liquid on the gums. don't do more than that they will fall asleep.

it is essential relax fit. essential is the brand name of the company. you can probably google it. the mill by us that had it sells kent and showmaster feeds. also all the products that i mentioned have no withholding time on meat or milk.

So is the show steer calming paste like you can buy in Sullivan's considered a medication?  I've never tried it, but have a heifer kids are showing that is the same way.  Great at home and high headed at the shows.

we can use it it was meant for shows and yes the the show cattle calm is the sullivans paste. i dont see how they can consider it medication, there is no with holding on it, and its natural ingredients as well. we can use it at any show i've ever been to and i've been to shows on every level. county up to nationals. we don't really use it anymore but we keep a few tubes in the tackbox in case we have a really bad one.

If you have a field or pasture pre-tend ur in a show arena by building a large pen, then practice setting up your animal and moving it around, or (if that does not work) take ur animal 10-20 miles away to a pasture and repeat words 1-17.

Archlord Pie said:

If you have a field or pasture pre-tend ur in a show arena by building a large pen, then practice setting up your animal and moving it around, or (if that does not work) take ur animal 10-20 miles away to a pasture and repeat words 1-17.

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only thing is sometimes its not the different place that freaks em out like my steer hes fine in different places. but its the different stuff, the people in the bleachers, the little kids running everywhere. my steer sidesteps away from little kids that are within 5 ft of him, i think he thinks he might hurt them if they get to close. becus otherwise he's a big baby. hense the relax fit additive. taking them to a different place wont help if its the kids or people that scare him/ her for heifers.

use calf calm from sullivans or melitonin tablets. the tablets are an all natural sleep aide for humans you get them in the vitamin section at any store. they arent an over the counter drug. if they are 200 mg tablets give the steer like 5 at each feeding the day before you go to your fair and everyday you are their. it will help to mellow him out a bit.

The melatonin works, we would give 30  of the 3 mg tablets per feeding starting the day before you go to the show and keep it up through the show. I think calf calm works on the exhibitor just as much  as it does on the calf, which is not always a bad thing.

Do you have noise and commotion at home? I always leave a stereo on and fairly loud. If I have a spooky or a new calf I make sure to bang around in the barn. If kids scare him leave him tied up and have some neighbor kids come make noise in the barn. It sounds like you have shown him before did he get away from you at all? if he did he may do it to see if he can get away again. Also stay relaxed they can sense if your nervous or worried. My heifer was really nervous acting and I took her to one show and after a day of being there she decided that life really wasn't that bad and has turned into the biggest puppy dog.