leadin calf?

[diamond R]

i can lead my boys steer pretty easy, but my boys just 12. and weights 75 pounds soakin wet, and that calf lowers his head and he cant turn his his to stop him, he let him get away once and ever sence the steer knows he can get away from him.  any help would be great

 

[RSC]

i can lead my boys steer pretty easy, but my boys just 12. and weights 75 pounds soakin wet, and that calf lowers his head and he cant turn his his to stop him, he let him get away once and ever sence the steer knows he can get away from him.  any help would be great

One suggestion I would make is to spend about an hour a day and tie the steer with his head up high!  Make sure and stay with the calf while your doing this so that he doesn't hurt himself!  I have had this issue with my 10 year old before!  Once the calf get's very comfortable with that head being up for a period of time, it was easier for him to lead him as he didn't have to fight the steer to keep the head up!  Like you stated,  once they get their head down the young kids loose control!

Hope this helps!

Good Luck!

Tony

 

[knabe]

you skipped a few steps on breaking a calf.  what you are explaining is one of the first symptoms to deal with when breaking calves before moving on to the other steps.  the calf kept trying methods to get his way rather than be allowed to explore it with a longer rope in a small pen and to let the lead go and not meet resistance when his head is down.  now you are trying to solve it by holding his head up.  he will not forget and will always have the "look" to escape.

much better to have them not meet resistance when they put their head down.  just let the rope go when they do it, keeping hold of the end till they act normal.  get them to take their outside rear foot  and move it backwards as you sort of walk in a tighter circle.  this is what animals do to each other to get dominance, especially herding animals.

think of the inside rear leg continually stepping across the outside rear leg as always in gear.  as soon as that outside rear leg lifts up and steps back, he is either in neutral or reverse.  pet him.  do this over and over on both sides.

once you learn this, it makes everything so much easier and really takes no time at all.

 

[GoWyo]

you skipped a few steps on breaking a calf.  what you are explaining is one of the first symptoms to deal with when breaking calves before moving on to the other steps.  the calf kept trying methods to get his way rather than be allowed to explore it with a longer rope in a small pen and to let the lead go and not meet resistance when his head is down.  now you are trying to solve it by holding his head up.  he will not forget and will always have the "look" to escape.

much better to have them not meet resistance when they put their head down.  just let the rope go when they do it, keeping hold of the end till they act normal.  get them to take their outside rear foot  and move it backwards as you sort of walk in a tighter circle.  this is what animals do to each other to get dominance, especially herding animals.

think of the inside rear leg continually stepping across the outside rear leg as always in gear.  as soon as that outside rear leg lifts up and steps back, he is either in neutral or reverse.  pet him.  do this over and over on both sides.

once you learn this, it makes everything so much easier and really takes no time at all.

Knabe --  this is really good stuff.  I understand you saying that when the steer roots down to get his leverage, let him do it and use a long enough rope that when he is done, nothing happens - he is still on the rope with the kid on the other end.  The next part is where I am unclear.  When you talk about walking in a tighter circle, are you talking a clock-wise circle pushing away from the person doing the leading?  Basically pushing the steer into the circle until he steps back with the outside rear leg?