The heifer from h$ll

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andy

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Mar 1, 2009
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A friend of mine has a PB Angus Jan. heifer calf at my place that we have been working on.  She was started in June by dragging a halter around the pen and tying her up for a couple of hours every day.  She ty broke well, but as soon as you go to untie her, she trys to nail you with her head (and shoulder and front feet, etc).  Yesterday, in desparation, we tied her to a donkey and turned them out in small paddock.  Same thing.  She is good with the donkey, but as soon as a human goes near her the war is on.  Anybody got any good ideas.  Is it permissable to show her with the donkey?  (Just kidding)
 

Jill

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Jan 20, 2007
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Gardner, KS
PB ANGUS was your 1st problem!  Try a temporary nose lead, you might also try someone else working with her, sometimes they just have 1 person they do not like.
 

savaged

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Mar 9, 2008
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Greenfield OH
I'd do two things:

1.  Not try to break her - turn her out.

2.  Sell her this fall.  Crazy cow = crazy babies.

Feel good option #3:  Eat her - that's what I am going to do with our goofy steer.
 

knabe

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Feb 7, 2007
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Hollister, CA
worked with a few like this.

one way is a post with one wrap, stay on the other side and scratch with stick or whatever.  another is a stout metal welded fence.  get on the other side.  don't worry about getting her tight on the leash. in fact, the looser she is the better.  scratch on her.  sometimes when you feed them too early with this, they can get mad and make things worse.

another is just a long leash and just slowy, by the day, not the minute, reel them in.  be very careful and leave when they relax their jaw and or the leash is loose.  most people can't seem to leave them alone soon enough when they encounter an animal like this.

the best thing to do is leave when they are curious, no matter how small that look is.  sometimes i just throw a small amount food in a shallow bucket and watch from a distance.  they go for the feed, i wait for  look. and repeat.

 

HeiferShower14

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Oct 14, 2007
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ks
id say a bullet thats just me. This is why i hate angus cattle. My angus heifer is the same way
 

BIGTEX

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May 7, 2008
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North Texas
Limis' used to be really bad. I still have a female that will come across the pasture if she has a young calf. Only reason i have kept her is because she has my best calf every year, and she runs off all the coyotes!
 

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blackcows

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Jul 6, 2008
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Andy,

A few thoughts, I tend to agree with Jill, we have showed quite a few Angus over the years and many seem to be goofy when you get around their heads.  In fact we are bringing a yearling heifer to the fair this week that is this way. She is puppy dog tame, leads great, the kids get along great with her but if you get around her head she shake it and snorts, doesn't take after anyone or move around but does not want her head messed with.

Also you say she is broke to tie, in my opinion being broke to tie is much different than being tame.  Like you we start by letting the calves drag a halter.  We then tie them up for a few hours.  While they are tied up we start by scratching the side of their tail, the calves really seem to calm down when you do this, we use a scotch comb and work the sides of the tail and 90% of the time the ears go back and the calves just relax.  We comb and brush on the calves, the first few times we just concentrate on the back end and over the next few times slowly move up.  We never mess with the heads or neck the first 4 or 5 times, in fact we use a show stick to pull off the halter for the first couple of weeks.  My experience is that calves get scared when you reach for or touch their head so anything you can do to avoid this is best until they are tame.  I have always tried to teach my kids that we don't really break our calves to lead we get them tame and then they lead.  We don't manhandle them a lot we just spend a lot of time when they are tied up brushing, rinsing, combing, touching, walking between them, anything we can do to get them used to being touched.  I am not going to tell you this works everytime, in fact we gave up on one of our heifers last year becuase she wouldn't calm down and it wasn't worth getting someone hurt, but it has worked well for us over the years. We still have some struggles and still have some runners once in a while but while tame calves may still give the kids a fight or get away once in a while I don't worry as much about the kids getting hurt.

Mike
 

Show Heifer

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Jan 28, 2007
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I had a shortie a few years back that I would put against a limi any day. It was AWFUL.  Wild eyed, head high, spook.

Every breed has "bad ones". Sometimes time and effort will work. Sometimes it won't.  Sometimes it is the individual animal, sometimes it is a bloodline.

My advice: Get her tied up. Work very easy around her. Keep scratching her. Brush her. Take it slow, put no time table on it.

Good Luck and remember, sometimes some animals just are not made to be show animals, just like some people are not designed to be beauty queens or Mr. Olympus.
 

knabe

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Hollister, CA
blackcows said:
Andy,

We comb and brush on the calves, the first few times we just concentrate on the back end and over the next few times slowly move up. 
Mike

they will lift their tail if you scratch underneath.  they like the dry poopy scratched off.
 

afhm

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parts unknown
aj said:
Get a Shorthorn or Herford. They have the best showring dispositions. :)
One of the absolute craziest heifers we ever had was a Shorthorn.  She would be fine then gone, never could trust her.
 

shorthorn boy

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Jul 6, 2009
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131
I had a shorty heifer I showed last year that acted the same way and she just hated the world I mean she hated every thing, i did get her broke but it took a while but i could never get her use to having her head touched to this day she still doesn't like it she would snort and throw her head around. getting her head clipped was not easy. Also if she was tied up and i would just rest my hand on her back she would either kick me or kick at me. I don't know why i still haver her Im just going to get a calf out of her then get rid of her unless she throws a pretty good calf. I think everyone gets a wild one every now and then but with mine I just worked with her allot with the halter and she eventually got the idea. O i aslo found out the calves like this become your friend fast if you have a bucket of grain that was my mane training tool. ;D
 

Show Dad

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1 AU from a G2 yellow dwarf star
When we have head problems we stand at the bunk at feeding time with a show stick. When the heifer comes to eat we start scratching her on the neck. At first she will back up and wait but when she sees her herd mates eating she will try again. By having some patients and working at it for a few days, one can eventually start using their hand to scratch her head while she is eating. It may not get rid of the problem totally but can make it manageable.
 

box6rranch

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Dec 11, 2008
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Larkspur, CO
We had a crazy Angus heifer from the Lucy line. We couldn't show her but she made an awesome shorthorn plus calf that we are showing this year who has a great disposition. I'd be interested in the bloodlines of the problematic shorthorns. We've had absolutely the best luck with ours and they are so tame and gentle.
 

CJC

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May 16, 2008
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BROOKSHIRE, TX
afhm said:
aj said:
Get a Shorthorn or Herford. They have the best showring dispositions. :)
One of the absolute craziest heifers we ever had was a Shorthorn.  She would be fine then gone, never could trust her.
I got care what breed you have they all have crazy ones in it.
 

Hofstatter Farms

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Jul 27, 2009
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Lowpoint, IL
I have shown all breeds, and it does not matter it is the personality of that particular heifer.  Just keep messing with her slowly and day by day she will get better.  The more people you can get her to trust the better.  But work from the back forward and go slow.
 
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