How do you get cattle show ring broke?

[red]

I'm open to some suggestions. My calves are all halter broke. Now I need to get to stage where I'm getting them show ring broke. this is an area I always seem to fall short. I work w/ them but when they actually get into the ring they just don't seem to cooperate. One of the problems is that I'm not the one that does the showing.

I usually start out by setting them up in the grooming chute w/ the stick. Then I begin walking them around the place several times a day. I try to get them so they will walk into the set-up formation. Biggest problem there is that the ones showing don't do that. They like to use the show stick. So once we get into the ring, the heifer want to dance around & generally act like idiots.

Any suggestions on how you get your calves show ring ready? I'm too the point of getting the boys here to work w/ them more but that's always hard to do. At Louisville this year it may come down to me showing & that is a scary thought! Would love to hear any advice or suggestions on your training.

Red

 

[knabe]

one thing i have noticed about cattle is that they are leery of strangers and or things out of place.  move things around, place things that stick into an area where you set them up.  have strangers come right up to them fast and invade their bubble and scratch them.  what you want to do is decrease the bubble of awareness, the bubble of tolerance.  there is nothing like finding out what angle to take towards an animal and seeing how they move their hind end to keep an eye on you.  this is most evident when the have no halter on.  then you can see their tendencies extremely easy.  they are also leery of thresholds.  this is a behavior that they are looking for an escape route.  for them to minimize this, they need to trust you.  so instead of rushing them through these thresholds and "training" them to resist, pause at these areas.  use the same one, but put different things at the threshold.  too often, the default is to make everything sanitary when you want the opposite.  remember, when they move their hind end, they want to look at something.  you can also encourage them to crane their neck instead of their feet.  by bracing their neck, they move what they have control over easiest, their hind end.  their neck is like a fulcrum, if you take the bend out, the will bend or move somewhere else.  another trick i learned is to not only get them in a routine like you mentioned to get them to walk into place, but provide a backup strategy that it only takes one movement of the foot out of place to get into place, as they want to stand square anyway.  i think it is a mistake to get them to move the furthest out of place first.  in fact, this is the easiest foot to move into place if all the others are in place.  the other thing i did was get them to respond to direction of foot placement with where i am pushing or pulling their head and with bend in their neck.  each foot will have a separate command.  i know this sounds like overkill, but it works in horses too.  same skill involved, the more subtle the cue, the better it looks like you are doing nothing.  then you don't have to struggle with holding their head up, pulling, grunting etc.  it will be almost that they will seek to be in place.  the other thing i get them to do is to start leaning when i lean, without taking steps.  only when i take a single step do i expect them to step and i dont' take a second step till they take that step.  none of this has to do with what people seem to want in showmanship or moving around when the judge walks by which find distracting.  i call that the wave, when everyone is lined up, the judge walks by and everyone changes.  i think it's kind of a joke.  in my opinion, and i know it doesn't count, your job is to be invisible.

 

[afhm]

You need to go to several small shows.  Experience is the way they will learn.

 

[afhm]

Make sure and use a show halter a few times at home before the show, sometimes the chain being new will freak them out.  Also try making them setup and stand there for several minutes before you feed them at night.  That way they will learn they need to setup and stand there if they want to eat and get turned loose.

 

[DLD]

Up until this fall, we've only had one kid showing, and he always worked each calf seperately. Once in awhile his mom and/or I would work another one or two at the same time, but not much because we figured it was most important that he worked with them all. But this fall we've got 3 kids showing, plus right now my nephew has a couple here (since they got flooded out) so every evening it's almost like a real show, with 3 or 4 kids working their calves together. We switch off and do different calves in different groups, and every kid here can show every calf here, and it's really seemed to help alot. Even the very first time the little ones walked in the ring, the cattle behaved well and everything worked. I guess this isn't much help if you don't have some more people around to help out, but I've been surprised at how much more good it seems to do than working them individually.

 

[jason]

I just used to try to man-handle them  around the arena and hope for the best...of course I never won any kind of showmanship award either

 

[red]

One of my biggest problems is keeping their heads up for a long period of time. Due to different reasons, I have strength issues in my arms. It is difficult to keep the heads up & handle the show stick at the same time. Tying them up for a couple hours a day really helps but that's why I use the chute to first start out. I also think if you can get a couple of people over to help & work w/ them all at once is a big plus.

Keep the ideas coming. Any suggestions are welcomed!

Red

 

[Jill]

We bought one of the new halter chains from Sullivans that has the rivet things in it, it gives my little guys a little leverage that the animal can actually tell they are trying to push the head up, didn't seem to bother the cattle, but they did keep those heads up.  My boys spend a lot of time in the barn and by the time calves leave my house they are bullet proof, if you break them in with a couple of young children there isn't much else that will ever bother them .  We tie our calves with the heads up for 4 hours a day and for most that works great, but there are some that are just don't like to stand.  Our biggest challenge is usually the pine shavings, they don't like the squishy underneath, but like afhm said if you can get them into a couple of smaller shows they just kind of get used to it.

 

[knabe]

i've never "held" any animals head up with my hands, just tying them up.  be very binary in your attitude.  animals think in pictures, like temple grandin, and i think dl said.  think head up, use trigger of choice, ie with chain link halter or show stick, and place slight pressure on them.  when they release up, don't ask for more then.  get them used to THEM getting off the chain for release and when you are not doing that, DO NOT hold their head up, in fact let them let it down.  tired arms should only be from you holding your arm up, not their head.  they will get the "picture", you have one attitude and picture of yourself that their head needs to be up, and that they know they can have it down when you have another "picture" of yourself.  it's the ambiguity that leads to the incrementalism of them getting their head down, kinda like a kid getting closer and closer tothe candy jar, and when they have their hand in it, they are suprised you yell at them.  in their mind, you were approving all along.  when you are at the point of them keeping their head up themselves, it becomes extremely easy to isolate which foot you want moved depending on how you push or pull through their head.  to me, the show stick is only used to teach them to lift their foot in the beginning, not as an aid to do it everytime.  there was nothing i liked more than for a judge to see me have the calf move his foot before the stick got there. of course again, this is preference and i haven't seen it done much as a good portion either get them to set in place or are grinding at the hairlines.  the steer knows what picture you present for each foot you are reaching for him to move whether you are aware of it or not.  allow them to be rewarded for thinking.  none of these techniques are consistent with the "active showing" of animals, which i think is too bad.  oh well.  just ignore.

pictures, how does a cow in 5000 acres tell a bull she's in heat?  a picture of either her or allowing herself to be mounted, therefore violating the smooth horizon.  it's amazing how far you can see that.  of course if they (the cow) are upwnwind, that's an advantage too.

 

[cattlejunky]

When we work our calves we have someone follow behind them whether its a person or a calf.  This way they get so use to someone following them they tune it out.  After they are leading well we  take two out at a time.  We do the whole show ring routine.  walk them, head to tail line up and side by side line up.  We also tie their heads up in the stall and work feet and walk or stand behind them.  I have a four year old that we have stand outside the corral that is usually making some kind of racket or running around.  I will lease the 4 year old out if you need him.  I am sure you do this but we are big on talking to the calves while we are leading them and my son does it in  the ring also it seems like the calves really tune into him especially if they are nervous.  Like you said calves act differently with different people.  We have had calves that are real pistols with my son, but are fine with my husband or I.  I think they were smart enough to know they had someone on the other end that was not as strong and they were going to see what they could get away with.

 

[afhm]

The longer each day that you tie their heads up the easier it is to hold their heads up. 4-6 hours per day or more.  The spiked leads that Sullivans and Hamms sell work good, but are expensive around $50 just for the lead no halter with it, and takes some getting use to.

 

[ELBEE]

At Louisville this year it may come down to me showing & that is a scary thought! 

Red, Too bad we couldn't be in the same class! After 22 years out of the game, we'er thinking about taking  the bull calf SJ Cattle\Knight Cattle Co's chose, down to Louisville. Nothing like a green calf at the grandaddy of shows. I have to get a new hose and some bearings in the Electra-groom. If only I could talk my good-lookin wife into showing, I think we'd have a little advantage. Oh well, it's all fun and games, until someone pokes an eye!

 

[red]

Elbee- we'd probably stand there laughing at each other so much they'd just give us the boot.
Will be fun to see you there!

Red

 

[ELBEE]

One thing for certain, if we do make it down, we'll be there for the pleasure, and to enjoy the WHOLE event!

Will the Maines be there same time as the Shortys?

 

[afhm]

If I understand right the Chi. Maine and Shorthorns will all be there at the same time.

 

[Turkey Creek Ranch]

I show at county fair, and we have a problem with the calves getting spooked by the hogs, because the hog barn is 2 feet from the show ring. We usually talk to someone on the fair board, and we go up there and walk them around in the ring a week or so before the fair, and then take them down for a little while every night until the show. It works good.

 

[pigguy]

well we usually dont have that problem with the cattle being spooked by the pigs.but hauling the pigs and cattle at the same time to shows proably helps a bunch. i would jsut play a radio in the barn alll the time and see if you can get a goat or something to let run around

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

I play the radio loud when we have calves in. Probably the quietest calves I ever had was when we had a bunch of bantom chickens that ran loose in the barnlot and barn. They would be in and under the calves feet all of the time and made alot of noise. Coons took care of the chicken population though. I try to put them through as many different situations as I can while at home, aside from feeding and catching them I try not to be too routine with new calves.

 

[40yrold4her]

I love helping out my son with the day to day chores and hair upkeep I work on every calf every day it is on our place, but the one thing I do not get to do is lead that calf around or from one site to another we make sure that calf has full trust in who is on that lead line.