Kicking Cows

[Shawn_Larsen17]

I have this calf that we are going to be showing this year, but she will not stop kicking at me when I try to blow her or even brush her. We clipped her today and she kicked at me about 25 times. Does anybody have any tips or tricks to get her to stop kicking?

 

[knabe]

get a hip pincher or have someone stand in-between her and the chute so she can't lift her leg. other ways but not recommended without serious professional help to avoid injury to yourself or the animal.  you can also train her not to do it but it will take some understanding and since it's a "horse" technique, no one will do it because cattle are supposedly different.

 

[trapper]

You can try usiing your blower hose and flip that hose around to where is smacks them on the leg.  On a kicker this is most likely to get a response.  Keep doing this until they simply get tired of kicking and hitting nothing.  Do this around their flank and belly too  being careful to stay out of the danger zone.  It wont go away all at once but this is a good place to start in my opinion.

 

[simba]

Take a stick or something not flexible and start poking, scratching and rubbing the animal all over. Every time it kicks, hit it in the muscle it kicked with, about as hard as it kicked. Do this for about 20 minutes at a time, once or twice a day for as many days as it takes. It's amazing how quickly they learn that kicking is not okay. Good luck. Pm me if you have any questions.

 

[paj315]

We spray their legs with and hard stream of water, they can kick all they want and not hurt anything and they finally get tired of kicking then start combing their legs and flank if they start kicking again get the hose back out.

 

[obie105]

Had one probably 10 years ago that was a kicker. We tried everything. Ended up just kicking her out to be a cow wasn't worth getting someone hurt over it. Found out later her moer was a kicker and was also kicked out to just be a cow. Some can't be broke of it. Don't want to be discouraging but its not worth getting hurt over either.

 

[renegadelivestock]

We spray their legs with and hard stream of water, they can kick all they want and not hurt anything and they finally get tired of kicking then start combing their legs and flank if they start kicking again get the hose back out.

I always use the pressure washer for this, that way you get a Little extra noise to go along with, just in case that bothers them also.

Jeff cagwin has some interesting ideas that kicking, as well as various other forms of rebellion (chute fighting etc.) are often the result of back, and neck pain, and brushing or blowing intensifies it to a point where the animal lashes out, and he has seen great results ith chiropractic work,