Issue: Daughter's show heifer acts like she wants to hurt my kids

I need help with my daughter's show heifer. This particular heifer usually lets me come up to her in the pasture and scratch her ears, pet her and put a halter on her. Once I halter her, she gets a bad attitude (tries to push me with her head).  Once I tie her up with the other calves, she will act pretty good. I can comb her, blow her out, etc. Once my kids get done working on their other calves and try to work on her she gets all spooky. If they try to pet her, comb her, etc she seems like she wants to attack them. This heifer will try to kick them with her front and/or back feet. She will also shake her head at them and snort at them. When I try to calm her down afterwards so I can work on her, she will try to kick me (not just swing her leg, she aims for my head). I don't want any of my kids (5, 10, 12 years old) to get hurt. Other than getting rid of her, does anybody have any advice? One thing I'm thinking about doing is go back to the drawing board and having the calf tied up in the alley-way so my kids have a panel protecting them from her so they can work on her and maybe get her to accept them again. 

Put her in a squeeze chute or somewhere where she can't hurt the kids or herself until she accepts them.  Some cattle just don't like little kids, don't know if they see them as predators or what.

I know this is the one answer you do not want but life is too short to deal with bad attitudes wether it be cattle, people, or any other animals.  I have kids the same age as yours and we might not win any show at this point but all of the calves in the barn have great attitudes.  I want the experience to be very positive for my kids so they may develop a love and passion for the industry.  Plus it hurts for a lot longer when I get roughed up or kicked that it used too.

If shes mean now-she could get flat dangerous later-I agree with Will-Id sell her-not necessarily sale barn-but shed be gone.

I agree that it's not worth it to fool with a wild one. That being said, playing with and petting calves when they're young can make them aggressive when they're older. I know it's tough to not pal around with them when they're sweet little 400lb babies, but more times than not it can cause trouble later.

I appreciate you all replying to my post. I tend to lean to letting her go to pasture but I really don't want to give up on her. It looks as though my only choice is to put the animal in an environment (squeeze chute, alley, etc) that will allow my kids to work on her and be safe.  If the heifer doesn't seem to change after spending a couple hours with my kids every evening for a couple weeks, I won't have any other choice than to let her go to pasture.

Olson Family Shorthorns said:

I agree that it's not worth it to fool with a wild one. That being said, playing with and petting calves when they're young can make them aggressive when they're older. I know it's tough to not pal around with them when they're sweet little 400lb babies, but more times than not it can cause trouble later.

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I could not agree more.  When they show up and are wild and scared and they turn the corner, it is very hard to resist the temptation to "play" with them.  We learned first hand, this is a very bad practice. We thought it was cool to be able to walk up to them out in the pen and brush and comb on them.  They sure liked it, but quickly decided that they ONLY wanted to be brushed and combed and not haltered.

It reminded me of a story that an old uncle told me once when we were out hunting pheasants and I was sitting in the back of the pickup playing with his bird dog.  He told me that the quickest way to wreck a hunting dog is to make him think he is a pet. We have broken this habit.

What I have found with my kids is that they do not handle the nervous cattle with enough authority.  They kind of tickle them with the comb, and annoy them with the show stick.  They touch them when they walk behind them rather than LEAN on them.  I try very hard to encourage them to handle them with a firm and non-threatening hand.  Talk LOUD to them when they approach, rather than sneak up on them. 

To answer your question, if you don't want to get rid of her I like your idea of starting over. Protect the kids and go back to square one. I would also break every routine that you have in place as far as the handling of her. If you walk up to her in the pen to halter her, then run her down an alley to halter her now.  If you turn left out of the barn to turn her loose at night, then turn right and take her for a walk before you turn her out.  Change the routine every couple of days.  Don't let her have any idea what is next so that she doesn't know how to act. 

Many years ago, I had a heifer that started out pretty good, but then the more I worked with her, the worse she got. She just did not enjoy being on the halter. I turned her out, and she is easy to deal with in the pasture, in the lot and working down the chute. Just do not show her a halter.
I would echo the previous sentiments, call yourself luck no one has gotten hurt yet and turn her out.

Your idea of starting over might work, you might also try a blindfold and have the kids talk to her while petting her. I get the feeling this heifer is afraid of the kids and has learned to take the first swing so the kids don't get the jump on her. She then takes her fear and hate off on you because you allowed the kids near her. 

I would turn her out and try and save her attitude for future use.

Two words "thirst" and "starvation." (The two best motivators known in the universe! (maniacal laugh!))

Now before you go and call the PETA crowd let me explain.

I have found that in varying degrees this works for halter breaking and attitude adjustment. I halter break over a feed pan. If the calf won't come forward and is just pulling tight on the halter after 30 minutes they get nothing to eat until evening. And we start the whole process over. Never had one take over two days before they get the idea. (I then start scratching them with a show stick while they eat. Not a lot, but a few gentle strokes so they get use to it.)

After they are broke to tie, it's time to walk to the waterer after they eat. If they don't walk to the water then I tie them back up and every half hour we try again. Eventually they get thirsty and they walk to water. Again it doesn't take but a day or so and they are walking. (Well sometimes it's more like a hop, skip, and a jump, but we have forward motion.)

You need to have a pen that you can shut them off from food and or water that is safe for them (i.e. not barbed wire fence). Just be smart about it and do it when you have the time to watch the calves more closely. (I plan this time better than calving).

It's just a suggestion but it is not for the soft at heart.
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In my opinion that animal would be gone, no questions asked. Its never worth risking a child over a walking cheese burger for a ribbon.

Will said:

I know this is the one answer you do not want but life is too short to deal with bad attitudes wether it be cattle, people, or any other animals.  I have kids the same age as yours and we might not win any show at this point but all of the calves in the barn have great attitudes.  I want the experience to be very positive for my kids so they may develop a love and passion for the industry.  Plus it hurts for a lot longer when I get roughed up or kicked that it used too.

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I totally agree with Will. Projects for young kids should be gentle so they can learn and enjoy it at the same time. When they get experience and are physically stronger they can decide if they want the challenge of a difficult and possibly unsafe animal. Don't forget if she is a kicker anyone working around or near her at a show could be hurt.

I will add another vote for not allowing kids to show a heifer with a bad attitude. There is absolutely no fun in trying to show an animal that has a bad or even unpredictable attitude. It is always better to be safe than sorry. The only thing I would suggest if you really, really want to have a youngster show this heifer, and that is, try to find someone close to you that has a halter breaking donkey. I have seen some animals with real nasty attitudes turn into puppy dog quiet ones after having to deal with a donkey for awhile. I have no idea what the donkey does, but they seem to be able to change mental issues as well. If your heifer still is agressive after trying this, give up on her before someone gets hurt!

I am still suffering the effects of keeping an unpredictable animal around, even though I was pretty certain his previous owners were wrong about him. I purchased a bull from an older couple who said they did not trust the bull so were sending him to market. He appeared to be very quiet to me, so I purchased him because he was a real good bull for that time. I had absolutely no problems with him during the first year I showed him, and we showed him all over Canada and the US, including Louisville and Denver where he won his class in both shows.He was trucked over 10,000 miles in his first show year alone.  He was handled by numerous people and several of them commented that all animals should be this quiet.  One day when he was just past 2 years of age, I walked into his pen and slipped a halter on him and he seemed to be very normal... which was almost too quiet. As I led him to another pen, this bull suddenly turned and hit me so hard that he put me completely through the wall of a shed. I don't know why, but I got up, came back through the hole and picked up the halter again and tried to continue to his pen. He hit me again and got me down on the ground. I am pretty certain that if I had not been able to get my fingers into his nose ring, that he would have killed me that day. I felt very little pain until an hour or so afterwards, when the adrenaline quit having its affect in my system!  I still have an indent almost an inch deep in the muscle on my upper leg below my hip, where he got his poll against me and then flipped me around( even though this was over 20 years ago now!) He went to slaughter the same day this happened.
I found out after this happened that he had turned on the former owner and knocked him down. He was less than a year old at the time, and they decided they could not trust him anymore. I should have asked more questions when I bought him.