This steer is puppy dog tame, can walk right up to him and put the halter on, he stands calmly tied up .The problem comes when trying to lead him. He sets his feet and drags you backwards! We can lead him when he's following another calf, but on his own he puts on a fight and there is no stopping him!!! Any tips? He's 550# or so.
Calf won't lead
- Thread starter Wisrose
- Start date
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knabe
Well-known member
take him to the side. he doesn't need to move his feet to get rewarded. he will probably start moving his back feet first, and if he does, tug a little less and reward more for effort. make sure he puts the slack in the lead. do this on both sides so both eyes get used to you, otherwise they can be looser on one side than the other.
Cattledog
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2008
- Messages
- 1,116
knabe said:
This works! I broke all of my calves using Knabe's methodology this year and it was the easiest year ever! Giving the slack as reward sure does the trick! Sure beats the pulling and fighting that I used to do. Thanks Knabe! <rock>
JoeDirt
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 1, 2007
- Messages
- 283
What I do if the calf will not lead or needs to learn to lead is this.......
I take the halter lead part of the rope and then i cross it over his nose where the halter wraps over the nose andthen I will walk him in a clockwise circle with my hand about 1 to 2 feet from his head.
With the rope on the show sideand crossed over his nose area and you wallking in a clockwise circle you can push his butt to make him walk in a circle (if need be). THIS IS THE FIRST STEP
When he will walk in a tight circle with out pushing on his butt then start making your circle larger until he will walk in an 20 foot circle. With this large of a circle he or she is walking almost strait.
I have found this trick to work wonders because when you are in a show ring you are mostly walking in a clockwise circle.
I have tried to make a calf go in the counter clockwise circle but the position of the rope pulls the calf's head down and it is harder to make him walk in a circle.
I hope this helps and GIVE US A REPORT BACK ON HOW IT IS GOING
I take the halter lead part of the rope and then i cross it over his nose where the halter wraps over the nose andthen I will walk him in a clockwise circle with my hand about 1 to 2 feet from his head.
With the rope on the show sideand crossed over his nose area and you wallking in a clockwise circle you can push his butt to make him walk in a circle (if need be). THIS IS THE FIRST STEP
When he will walk in a tight circle with out pushing on his butt then start making your circle larger until he will walk in an 20 foot circle. With this large of a circle he or she is walking almost strait.
I have found this trick to work wonders because when you are in a show ring you are mostly walking in a clockwise circle.
I have tried to make a calf go in the counter clockwise circle but the position of the rope pulls the calf's head down and it is harder to make him walk in a circle.
I hope this helps and GIVE US A REPORT BACK ON HOW IT IS GOING
knabe
Well-known member
good tip 100 million.
with regards to the head lowering, if you take the time to get them to put slack in the lead, you can get them to put their head in any position depending on the direction you are holding the lead. from the start if they learn to put the slack in, it makes them so much easier to microtweak their position with almost no effort.
one of my favorite tricks was to tip their head to the right and get their hind end to move over one small step at a time. this made it so much easier to set up and you never have to walk them out to get them set up unless the judge forces you to. it's also easier to just move over if someone is crowding you, and, at least in my day, if you moved over because someone crowded you, the judges liked it. don't know what the preference is these days.
with regards to the head lowering, if you take the time to get them to put slack in the lead, you can get them to put their head in any position depending on the direction you are holding the lead. from the start if they learn to put the slack in, it makes them so much easier to microtweak their position with almost no effort.
one of my favorite tricks was to tip their head to the right and get their hind end to move over one small step at a time. this made it so much easier to set up and you never have to walk them out to get them set up unless the judge forces you to. it's also easier to just move over if someone is crowding you, and, at least in my day, if you moved over because someone crowded you, the judges liked it. don't know what the preference is these days.
knabe
Well-known member
jallen said:
resentment.
OqRanch
Well-known member
One of our good friends did that with her daughters steer. It layed down, stressed & died right there. We just paid $10 @ the vet and put in a nose ring.knabe said:
Thanks for the help! I took the calf out and worked with him and he did pretty good. I think my sons frustration and lack of patience triggers the calfs reactions. I tugged and he would start to lunge forward so I gave him slack and he stepped forward. We did this a few times and he finally started to follow me. Not the best yet but he did great. Started a couple of heifers tonight too and used the method knabe recommended, seemed to do the job.
farmboy
Well-known member
yea try the slack thing and walk him in circles, its either he moves or breaks his neck in that situation. i think he chooses to move most of the time.
rub his feed all over the halter too.
rub his feed all over the halter too.
knabe
Well-known member
i got a few emails asking the same question, so i thought i would respond here what i mean taking a calf to the side.
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the top figure is a calf and his head, the second lower one is you with you standing just slightly ahead of their shoulder. when i start, have about 3 feet slack between me and the calf. i wait till they are standing still and put some tension in the rope. if they even give a hint of even turning their ear or their eye looking at me, i put slack in the rope. if they will stand to be scratched with a stick i will do it at this point. usually by this time i have been handling the calves, scratching all over, their bottom, picking up their feet, scratching under their tail, between their front legs, whereever it's difficult for them to scratch.
as they get used to putting slack in the rope themselves, i move on to getting their feet to move. i do this on both sides for a variety of reason, mostly so they will get used to focusing on things using just one eye, so when they get in the ring, they won't be annoyed with something to their right moving around. prey animals usually like to twist around to see what's after them. this is the trust you will have to overcome to get them not to do this knowing that you will allow them to look at things and not expect them to act like a robot all the time. you can expect them to act like a robot, but a little at at time.
back to the pulling to the side. the reason this is important, is because as long as the inside hind leg is crossing over in front of the outside leg, they are in gear. for them to get out of gear, they need to lift up the inside rear foot and move it backwards. usually when they do this, they will give a strong expression of relaxation and let out a sigh. this is the expression you are looking for when you ask them to put slack in the rope. for them to pick up their FRONT foot and bring it towards you takes a lot of trust. forcing them to do this will never allow them to experience oneness with you. if you expand on this, you can literally tip their nose one way or the other, left or right, up down or any combo and get them to place their feet where you want without ever having to use a show stick. of course at this point, you should only have to merely reach with the stick and never even have to touch them and they will know what you want because they are soft and responsive.
the thing you should look for is that the unweight their foot when they pick it up rather than just stiffly picking it up because you are pulling them. when a calf sits down, sometimes i just sit there instead of slapping on them to get up. i'll even just scratch on them and just let them know it's ok, this is typically the opposite of what most people do.
when i really want a calf to listen, i will kneel down and lead the calf with his head near the ground and have him walk circles around me. it takes a lot of listening by both calf and me to do this.
another thing to look at is the spine. if it's curved around you, this is good, if it's curved away from you, it's bracing and is not good. asking them to move their feet when they are in this frame of mind is counterproductive to achievement. get the frame of mind you want first, then ask.
0-----
0
the top figure is a calf and his head, the second lower one is you with you standing just slightly ahead of their shoulder. when i start, have about 3 feet slack between me and the calf. i wait till they are standing still and put some tension in the rope. if they even give a hint of even turning their ear or their eye looking at me, i put slack in the rope. if they will stand to be scratched with a stick i will do it at this point. usually by this time i have been handling the calves, scratching all over, their bottom, picking up their feet, scratching under their tail, between their front legs, whereever it's difficult for them to scratch.
as they get used to putting slack in the rope themselves, i move on to getting their feet to move. i do this on both sides for a variety of reason, mostly so they will get used to focusing on things using just one eye, so when they get in the ring, they won't be annoyed with something to their right moving around. prey animals usually like to twist around to see what's after them. this is the trust you will have to overcome to get them not to do this knowing that you will allow them to look at things and not expect them to act like a robot all the time. you can expect them to act like a robot, but a little at at time.
back to the pulling to the side. the reason this is important, is because as long as the inside hind leg is crossing over in front of the outside leg, they are in gear. for them to get out of gear, they need to lift up the inside rear foot and move it backwards. usually when they do this, they will give a strong expression of relaxation and let out a sigh. this is the expression you are looking for when you ask them to put slack in the rope. for them to pick up their FRONT foot and bring it towards you takes a lot of trust. forcing them to do this will never allow them to experience oneness with you. if you expand on this, you can literally tip their nose one way or the other, left or right, up down or any combo and get them to place their feet where you want without ever having to use a show stick. of course at this point, you should only have to merely reach with the stick and never even have to touch them and they will know what you want because they are soft and responsive.
the thing you should look for is that the unweight their foot when they pick it up rather than just stiffly picking it up because you are pulling them. when a calf sits down, sometimes i just sit there instead of slapping on them to get up. i'll even just scratch on them and just let them know it's ok, this is typically the opposite of what most people do.
when i really want a calf to listen, i will kneel down and lead the calf with his head near the ground and have him walk circles around me. it takes a lot of listening by both calf and me to do this.
another thing to look at is the spine. if it's curved around you, this is good, if it's curved away from you, it's bracing and is not good. asking them to move their feet when they are in this frame of mind is counterproductive to achievement. get the frame of mind you want first, then ask.
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