how do you get a steer to walk

[everybreedcounts]

ive got a steer who is extremely stubborn and will not walk AT ALL. what should i do?

 

[iowabeef]

Tie him to a donkey....or another calf.

 

[everybreedcounts]

Tie him to a donkey....or another calf.

i have a miniature donkey, do you think he will do the job or would he be too little?

 

[Bilmar]

ive got a steer who is extremely stubborn and will not walk AT ALL. what should i do?

If you can get the halter on him and he calm ,but won't walk try pulling at 90 degrees untill he makes a step then comb and rub him for a reward the keep it up till he moves more but keep rewarding him for his steps before you know it you will be walking around in circles. You need to first build trust with him, then he will follow you any where. any questions google Calf training 101.  good luck.

 

[SouthAustralia2013]

first lead i think is most important. i generally have them tied up of and on for a few days, weeks, hours or however long. basically until can brush them all over without them swinging, kicking, pulling back on rope ect. then i leeave them tied up fo a good part of the day and lead them to water. let them have a drink then take them back to rail and brush again. i do that a few times so they know they need to walk to the water with you if they want a drink.

If i have stubborn cattle when im breaking them in or if they have a habbit of running and me not being able to lead them with out getting dragged around the yards i tie them to the back of the old tractor, put it in low gear and just drag them at a slow walking pace untill they respond and walk along. if you have 2 people you get someone to drive and someone walking along with them to get them to understand that when you walk they walk.

or if they walk a bit but not well i put them in a small yard and do really tight circles till im almost dizzy then walk them off. this works most of the time. another trick i use is just backing them up. if they back up just keep backing them up around a yard. that way you can uses pressure and release on the halter and they get the message fairly quickly to.

 

[Quello]

I hope to not offened anyone but putting the calf on a donkey or tied to  a tractor in my opinion is just lazy.  You should put in the time to work with the animal if you want to reap the awards in the show ring.  You get out what you put in.  If you need to rely on something else to do the job for you do not get involved! 

Thanks

 

[WJ Farms]

I hope to not offened anyone but putting the calf on a donkey or tied to  a tractor in my opinion is just lazy.  You should put in the time to work with the animal if you want to reap the awards in the show ring.  You get out what you put in.  If you need to rely on something else to do the job for you do not get involved! 

Thanks

WHOA WHOA!!!! That is the greatest thing I have ever heard!!! There are some calves that you just cant break!!! And you have to use something else on them to try and make them work!! Its not that easy pull on a 500-700 pound calf to make then walk......they are a lot stronger than any human! Dont sit here and tell people they should not get involved if they need to use a donkey or tractor.....thats is the biggest bunch of garbage I have heard in a long time. And on a second note a lot of people dont have time during the day to get out there and work with their cattle as much as they need too and most cattle need to be rinsed every day...Well if you cant get them to walk to the wash rack how in the hell are you suppose to wash them! You may get to be a stay at home dad/mom or whatever but most of us dont have that luxury so we need something to help speed up the process and make things easier!!

 

[simba]

Here's something that I tried this year with a stubborn heifer: Get the steer so that he's tie broke and nice and quiet (sounds like he is already). Get an animal (preferably bigger than him) that is very quiet and leads really well (I used a really quiet show bull because he's strong and I have the ring incase anything happened). Tie the steer's halter to the right side (where the halter is on the cheek) of the other animal's halter (leave about 2-3 feet of slack between halters). Get the other animal walking and if possible have someone follow the steer and twist his tail. The bigger animal will do majority of the physical work for you but you will still be near the animal, so he'll still be walking alongside you. Pretty soon the steer will start walking right along his buddy. Do this for about a mile everyday for a few days until the steer leads without any pulling. Then start leading him on his own. I really like this method because it's stress free for both you and the animal. It's also nice because the animal that you're breaking can't bolt and get away because he's tied. I would not recommend this method if either animal is not really quiet though, because if both animals bolt you could have a real wreck. Good luck!

 

[Steve123]

You have to remember that when the calf takes a step, stop pulling on the rope and he will get the idea. Pulling at a 90 degree angle is a great way to get them to take a step and then release the rope, that is the reward for walking after you pull on the rope. Just kept thinking...pull, release....pull, release. Keep that halter loose when they are doing what you want them to do and they won't get confused and not walk at all.

 

[iowabeef]

I hope to not offened anyone but putting the calf on a donkey or tied to  a tractor in my opinion is just lazy.  You should put in the time to work with the animal if you want to reap the awards in the show ring.  You get out what you put in.  If you need to rely on something else to do the job for you do not get involved! 

Thanks

WHOA WHOA!!!! That is the greatest thing I have ever heard!!! There are some calves that you just cant break!!! And you have to use something else on them to try and make them work!! Its not that easy pull on a 500-700 pound calf to make then walk......they are a lot stronger than any human! Dont sit here and tell people they should not get involved if they need to use a donkey or tractor.....thats is the biggest bunch of garbage I have heard in a long time. And on a second note a lot of people dont have time during the day to get out there and work with their cattle as much as they need too and most cattle need to be rinsed every day...Well if you cant get them to walk to the wash rack how in the hell are you suppose to wash them! You may get to be a stay at home dad/mom or whatever but most of us dont have that luxury so we need something to help speed up the process and make things easier!!

COMPLETELY agree....Using other methods to help break a calf is NOT lazy, it is smart.  Work smarter not harder is what I have learned. 

 

[everybreedcounts]

thanks everyone! ya this steer is tame, i can catch him and tie and brush him and he doesnt fuss, its just walking he hates. He is extremely stubborn. i literally cannot get him to walk at all. if i pull hard enough he sometimes will take a step, but usually he just throws his head up and resists. ive tried scratching then trying to get him to step and scratching when he does, to make friends with him, i tried hand feeding him grain but he wouldnt eat it. ive tried tying him to  a heifer, but he just stood there, like he is cemented to the ground. he was giving her whiplash when she tried to walk, it was actually kind of funny. the bottom line is that he i just an extremely strong, muscular, stubborn animal. i do agree that trying to gentle them is better then tying to a tractor, but it gets to a point when  700 lb animal doesnt want to walk, he is NOT going to walk. im going to try the less agressive suggestions like tying him to cow and scratching when he steps, but i might have to tie him to a truck

 

[Woodland Farms Show Cattl]

I hope to not offened anyone but putting the calf on a donkey or tied to  a tractor in my opinion is just lazy.  You should put in the time to work with the animal if you want to reap the awards in the show ring.  You get out what you put in.  If you need to rely on something else to do the job for you do not get involved! 

Thanks

WHOA WHOA!!!! That is the greatest thing I have ever heard!!! There are some calves that you just cant break!!! And you have to use something else on them to try and make them work!! Its not that easy pull on a 500-700 pound calf to make then walk......they are a lot stronger than any human! Dont sit here and tell people they should not get involved if they need to use a donkey or tractor.....thats is the biggest bunch of garbage I have heard in a long time. And on a second note a lot of people dont have time during the day to get out there and work with their cattle as much as they need too and most cattle need to be rinsed every day...Well if you cant get them to walk to the wash rack how in the hell are you suppose to wash them! You may get to be a stay at home dad/mom or whatever but most of us dont have that luxury so we need something to help speed up the process and make things easier!!

COMPLETELY agree....Using other methods to help break a calf is NOT lazy, it is smart.  Work smarter not harder is what I have learned. 

I dont know how that could not offend anybody, im sorry but i hope you continue reading this because your comment about people that use their resources being lazy is complete BULL. You have obviously never had a large group of show cattle to get broke for a sale or show/anything. I go to college full time sell show calves and campainge a large group of heifers everyyear. i someties have to use a tractor and wagon and i know a lot of other producers that use a donkey or tractor. Not sure how someone is supposed to work full time or go to school full time and spend countless hours with cattle just trying to break them and not get the other stuff done such as the daily rinsing. so next time you'd like to make a comment about us being lazy maybe you should rethink it and call yourself lazy since you obviously have nothing else to do. 

 

[johnmetzger]

What I do in cases like yours with no help is take a show stick and place the hook under his tail head and with tension on the halter and pulling the hook of the show stick under his tail head that gets thier attention pretty quick. After a few times all it takes is the stick to be placed on thier backs and they usally know whats next.

 

[everybreedcounts]

I hope to not offened anyone but putting the calf on a donkey or tied to  a tractor in my opinion is just lazy.  You should put in the time to work with the animal if you want to reap the awards in the show ring.  You get out what you put in.  If you need to rely on something else to do the job for you do not get involved! 

Thanks

WHOA WHOA!!!! That is the greatest thing I have ever heard!!! There are some calves that you just cant break!!! And you have to use something else on them to try and make them work!! Its not that easy pull on a 500-700 pound calf to make then walk......they are a lot stronger than any human! Dont sit here and tell people they should not get involved if they need to use a donkey or tractor.....thats is the biggest bunch of garbage I have heard in a long time. And on a second note a lot of people dont have time during the day to get out there and work with their cattle as much as they need too and most cattle need to be rinsed every day...Well if you cant get them to walk to the wash rack how in the hell are you suppose to wash them! You may get to be a stay at home dad/mom or whatever but most of us dont have that luxury so we need something to help speed up the process and make things easier!!

COMPLETELY agree....Using other methods to help break a calf is NOT lazy, it is smart.  Work smarter not harder is what I have learned. 

I dont know how that could not offend anybody, im sorry but i hope you continue reading this because your comment about people that use their resources being lazy is complete BULL. You have obviously never had a large group of show cattle to get broke for a sale or show/anything. I go to college full time sell show calves and campainge a large group of heifers everyyear. i someties have to use a tractor and wagon and i know a lot of other producers that use a donkey or tractor. Not sure how someone is supposed to work full time or go to school full time and spend countless hours with cattle just trying to break them and not get the other stuff done such as the daily rinsing. so next time you'd like to make a comment about us being lazy maybe you should rethink it and call yourself lazy since you obviously have nothing else to do. 

exactly. i agree!
if it was a perfect world everyone could spend hours a day just making friends with their cattle. but in the real world no one has time for that. thats why is called "halter breaking".  cattle have to know whose boss, you, not them. you can still build a great relationship with cattle, and being quckily halter broke first is not going to damage that relationship, because they respect authority. thats why cows have pecking orders in the herd. to be a little more diplomatic, all in all, everyone has their own opinion on the right way to do things. i figure if something can get done successfully in different ways, then its all good. its really up to the person doing it how they think it should be done.

 

[everybreedcounts]

What I do in cases like yours with no help is take a show stick and place the hook under his tail head and with tension on the halter and pulling the hook of the show stick under his tail head that gets thier attention pretty quick. After a few times all it takes is the stick to be placed on thier backs and they usally know whats next.

ive never even thought of that! thanks. i will try it

 

[SlickTxMaine]

Remember when you put pressure (pull) on the halter, make it constant.  Don't do the tug, release, tug release.  Put constant pressure on the rope and release as soon as the calf steps forward, and reward him with a pat and verbal praise.  Then repeat.  Then repeat.  Then repeat.  You want the calf to realize it is more comfortable for their chin if they walk instead of resisting.  Good luck and be careful!

 

[Quello]

Well I guess that whole " hope not to offened anyone comment" backfired. I was not trying to push any buttons.  I was just giving my opinion not trying to upset anyone.  I am not a stay at home dad,  I work 6 days a week and coach two sports as well as take my children to compete in both cattle and swine shows.  I am sorry this was just my belief.

 

[knabe]

You have obviously never had a large group of show cattle to get broke for a sale or show/anything. I go to college full time sell show calves and campainge a large group of heifers everyyear. i someties have to use a tractor and wagon and i know a lot of other producers that use a donkey or tractor. Not sure how someone is supposed to work full time or go to school full time and spend countless hours with cattle just trying to break them and not get the other stuff done such as the daily rinsing. so next time you'd like to make a comment about us being lazy maybe you should rethink it and call yourself lazy since you obviously have nothing else to do. 

it's really not that hard.

what is really a waste of time is trying to show some people how easy it is.

 

[iowabeef]

Well I guess that whole " hope not to offened anyone comment" backfired. I was not trying to push any buttons.  I was just giving my opinion not trying to upset anyone.  I am not a stay at home dad,  I work 6 days a week and coach two sports as well as take my children to compete in both cattle and swine shows.  I am sorry this was just my belief.

What made you think that calling people in the same field as you lazy for doing something differently than you wouldn't be taken as offensively?  You may not agree with that method for you, but to call others lazy because they use a different method is where you miscommunicated your intentions. We are all in this business together....

 

[knabe]

not using thought to outsmart a steer without using force is lazy.

using increasing levels of force is lazy.

people used to think breaking horses wasn't being lazy till tom and bill dorrance came along.

it's amazing how long these techniques have been around but people still refuse to use them.

it's amazing how really little time it takes.

it's amazing how easy it is to teach animals bad responses without knowing it and how hard and wasteful time wise it is to undo them.

it's so much easier to learn how to save time and apply it to each animal.