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new heifer owner.....i need help

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barrelgal

Active member
Joined
Jan 13, 2007
Messages
34
Location
missouri
so i bought a show heifer about 1 month ago. she is nice and i plan on taking her to an show on the 2-3 on next month. she is still a lil crazy when i got her show walked just fine. but about a week or 2 later she went crazy on me. she is so calm the brush and to just mess with in general but now when i try to lead her she is nuts. like she tried to get uner the fence and she runs away. im not big enough to get her head up or stop her. i need help. please. :( :cry:
 
Hmmm...I'm assuming your young,if not sorry. Does your dad have a small tractor? Tie the hiefer up to it and do a few rounds slowly,she'll try fighting,but get tired and learn to follow. I don't know,if she doesn't get better fast,your in trouble because you don't have much time at all.
 
HantaYo...sw......post a picture of the training halter thing for show cattle.......sounds like this gal could use one.

Barrelgal, they have a halter their daughter uses on her steers. Seems to work really good. If they'll post a picture and you can get someone to make one for you I'm sure it'd help you get your heifer under controll.
If my daughter decides to show a steer she'll sure have one.

Welcome aboard barrelgal, hope everthang works out with your heifer.
 
Best way we found to break cattle to lead, when our girls showed, was to tie them to a donkey. If that is an option for you, just put a chain halter on the heifer, and a regular wide strapped halter on the Donkey with 3 to 3 1/2 feet of rope between. She'll quit fighting. After 30 minutes or an hour just use pressure/release method to get her to come along. Cattle arn't dumb so much as just stubborn. Donkeys are too. Get out of the way when you turn them loose. They may put on a show or they may just have a tug-o-war. The donkey always wins. I watched a donkey break a two year old Angus bull to lead this way. The Bull got mad-the donkey got even (them suckers can kick as fast a chinaman can drink a Mountain Dew). The bull was a puddy cat when they finished.
 
"The donkey always wins."

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

In other words, it takes brains, not brawn. :wink:
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You should get a video of that halter breaking procedure while
it's in process, Shortgrass!!
 
ummm in kinda in the middle age range im 17. ive only ever had horses but some friends of mine show cows and its my last year in school so i wanted to try something new.

the things is some days she walk really good and others she is just really bad. we dont have a donkey but we have 2 large mules. i just thought it was so strange that she is soo good doing everything eles like clippin and using the blower. but when it comes to walking she is not so good.
 
unfortunately all the halter breaking in the world will not calm some inheritantly "crazy" cattle.hopefully she was not "under the influence" when you bought her. Dont get yourself hurt!
 
i dont think that she i out to get me at all becasue somedays she walks like a million dollars but other days not so much.
 
Barrelgal,

I just brought up a thread from last year, go to Coffee Shop, the thread is called Northern Rancher and is on page 2. You will see a picture of a metal halter that WORKS WONDERS!!! Montana Cowgurl has used the halter last 2 years with darn good results. Northern Rancher is the person who clued us on the halter. We made ours, he can probably tell you where to buy one.

Good Luck!! :D

Hanta Yo
 
she was a little better today she only tried to run off 3 times but she didnt get away. i will look into that post and the metal halter.
thanks for all the help. im new to the whole cow thing. but so far i am lovin it :D
 
Tried it all, special halters tractor. And best thing that has ever worked for us is just tying them up, brush and gentle them down. After Gentle tie up for a couple hours past feed and water time. Do not let her have any water or feed.

Then start leading her to a close bucket of feed and get a few bites. Then pull her head up and have someone move the feed bucket say 10 feet away. Walk her to it and let her get a couple other bites. Continue to do this a few times moving bucket a little farther away each time.

We had a heifer that I tried for 3 days to get to move. Broke two ropes trying to pull her behind the truck, cut her chin up.

Wife took over with gentle approach leading her to feed like I mentioned above. An hour one evening and the second evening by the end of the second hour my 7 year old son led the heifer all over the yard by himself. Less than two hours of gentle - feed approach did more good than my 3 days of rough work.

This heifer was super gentle to brush and touch, just would not lead.
 
i will try this also. i guess ive been going about this whole thing in a horse sorta mind. ive worked with plenty of horses. but no cows.
the first few weeks i got her she was great. but about 2 weeks ago she just went crazy. before that my 10 year old brother was leading her around. most of her problem is that she stops a lot and doesnt go. i cant hardly walk her with out my dad there to keep her going.
 
barrelgal said:
i will try this also. i guess ive been going about this whole thing in a horse sorta mind. ive worked with plenty of horses. but no cows.
the first few weeks i got her she was great. but about 2 weeks ago she just went crazy. before that my 10 year old brother was leading her around. most of her problem is that she stops a lot and doesnt go. i cant hardly walk her with out my dad there to keep her going.
Click to expand...
Are you showing for 4-h? I take it your dads walking behind to get her going? How about a mini achievement day?Once you get in the ring there will be other cattle behind you I assume, that will keep her going,cattle really buddy up with the ones showing them in the ring,try some of these things...we've done kind of like aplumsment and that really does work well......just spend time with her,alot of it,I think you'll be ok...Whatever you do make sure you let us know how it went.Once you start showing cattle you get addicted :)
 
that metal halter that Hanta Yo brought the thread up on worked pretty good for me. If you want any help, feel free to PM me. btw, welcome to the forums :D
 
oh im in love. she is soo sweet. no im not showing 4-H. the first show i am going to the the AGR show in columbia missouri. im gettin kinda excited about going there. lol ive been there plenty of times for cuttings.
 
Well, all I can say is try to do what I do-out muscle them (spin, knock them off balance to get them go move) and use your head (wrap it around a post if you have an alley and pull her a few feet at a time.) Ojnly had one heifer I couldnt break, neither could Dad, Some are just too stupid to do anything with. Would sheh happen to be black btw? :wink: 8) If she is, go Shorthorn 8) :lol:
 
yeah she is black. ive been walking her in the indoor arean. and when the weathers nice the outdoor. yes she is black.....shorthorn. is that a breed of cow. she is 3/4 angus and 1/4 Maine and chi
 
That 1/4 Maine could be the trouble.........the only ones I've ever seen are hard to get along with. The kids showing them certainly have their work cut out for them. They are nice looking cattle, on the up side.

Good luck, hope to be hearing great things and seeing lots of pics of you both!
 
Ranchy said:
That 1/4 Maine could be the trouble.........the only ones I've ever seen are hard to get along with. The kids showing them certainly have their work cut out for them. They are nice looking cattle, on the up side.

Good luck, hope to be hearing great things and seeing lots of pics of you both!
Click to expand...

Always thought Maine cattle had reputation as being gentle. That has been our history so far. Now the Chi that is another story they can be pretty hot blooded.

Many of the club bulls are so crossed up you never know were they get their temperament from, but I would suspect it is a lot from the Chi in many of them.
 
Maybe I have the wrong one?

I know Al's CharX cow was that way, (nice around here, and with him) but went nutso whenever anyone else got around her. The year he was supposed to show her at the Fair, he got his ankle broken, and was still on crutches at fair time. His friend was going to show Blondie for him, but he couldn't even get close enough to catch her! And she hated me.......(guess that's the price ya pay for wielding the hot iron :roll: ) so there was no way I could do anything with her........

Still, best of luck with her, barrelgal, and please post as many pics as you can get!!! Ya know, we all love seeing pics here. :wink:
 

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