# taming wild calves



## desertshi (Jul 23, 2008)

I want to tame down two heifer calves I bought recently. One is 7 mo. angus/hereford cross. The other is a full blood 4 mo angus. I want to be able to walk next to them without fearing for anything on the waysides life, touch them and eventually milk them if necessary. I want to be able to get near their calves in the future so they will be gentle as well!!

At this point you would think that I have the head of a wolf! lol. They bolt away from me whenever I go in they corral. At the expense of whatever animal is in their path... The 4 mo. old follows the older one everywhere she goes.

How can I gain their confidence?:shrug: I have done this with horses, even adopted a mustang and trained her once.... but these cows...sheesh. :cow:


----------



## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

Cattle are kind of like us men in this regard. The quickest way to their heart is through their pie hole. Hang around the feeder when you feed them. If you grain this is easy because they will forget almost anything if grain is around. After they get comfortable with your presence start offering them handfulls of feed before you fill their feeder. Pretty soon they should be eating out of your hand. 

This is just a start of course. You eventually will want to get a rope halter on them up and snub them up good, pretty much like you would do with a horse.


----------



## randiliana (Feb 22, 2008)

Well, some animals are harder to work with than others. A lot will depend on how they were handled BEFORE you ever bought them, some on genetics. I believe, that there ARE animals that are nearly impossible to tame, and if you get those type tamed that they will never be trustworthy.

Now, having said that, these are young calves, and to them, you are a predator. Calves tend to be flighty, and it won't take much to set them off. 

First, if you can, put an older, quiet cow, the older and quieter the better. But even a yearling will work if it is quiet, although, they can be such fools at that age. An older animal that is not afraid of you is wonderful, they will watch the older animal and both learn and take courage from them.

Second, spend time with them. The more time the better, just standing around in the pen, not doing anything to them. You will be amazed, but pretty quickly they will become curious, and as they get used to you, they will get curious enough to approach you. First, they may only watch from the other side of the pen, but as they settle, they will want to come closer, and may even sniff and lick you. Be careful not to make any sudden moves, even waving a fly away will be enough to set them back. But, don't stand stock still either, they have to get used to the idea of you moving. 

When you walk through their pen, walk with a purpose, don't walk directly at them unless you want them to move, and don't hurry through either. And don't SNEAK, or creep around. They will pick up on that and to them it is like a lion creeping through the grass stalking them. I know about this, we have kids in 4H, our son is a creeper, when he goes to catch his 4H steer, he tends to creep up on him. As quiet as these steers are, and used to people, they really shy when someone creeps up to him. 

As stated above, the way to their heart is food, preferably grain. For the first few days, while they are learning about grain (most calves haven't ever tasted grain before), feed them and then leave. They will get curious about the feed, and the trough, and check it out, but you don't want to distract them too much or they will just concentrate on you. If it is a trough that has been in the pen for a long time and they are used to it, move it to a new area, they will have to check it out because it was moved. After a week or so, they should have decided that grain is a treat. You don't have to feed them lots, a couple lbs/head is enough. Depending on what you are planning with them, you can just leave it at that amount or increase it slowly. But if you want to tame them down easier, I would keep giving them some grain, at least til they are used to you. Once they have decided that grain is yummy, stay around after you feed them. At first you may have to stay on the far side of the pen, but keep trying to approach them while they are eating. It might only be a step or two every day or so, move in on them til they show signs of being uneasy, then step back just enough for them to feel safe again. If they really spook and run away, back off as far as you need, let them settle again and go back to their grain. Just stay where you are for a bit, and then leave. This might take a long time or not, depends how spooky they are. After a while you should hopefully be able to just stand by the trough while they are eating.

Once you are able to stand right beside them while they are eating you have a couple of options. I am guessing you probably want to halter break them, and this is probably as good a time as any. They are no longer terrified of you, but you probably still can't touch them. You can go about it by either working to touch them while they are eating, or you can now get a halter on them, and halter break them first, then worry about petting them when they are tied up.

Cows aren't a whole lot different than horses are, so I'm sure that a lot of this should make sense to you.....


----------



## Timberline (Feb 7, 2006)

I'm currently doing this with two 9 month old Hereford heifers. I have them up in a solid, safe corral and the first thing I did was halter them (in the squeeze chute) with long lunge lines for horses. I can hold the end of the line without them getting away and without getting right into their flight zone. I then rub them with a long broom handle, show stick whatever. It only took a few days to work up to rubbing with my hands. I can't stress enough how helpful a broom handle is. I can rub them all over the backs, bellies, flanks, legs, without being right in their flight zone. It really helps calm them down. And, they can't kick me.

Also, they get just a bit of grain once a day and they can't have it unless they stand right me at the feeder. At this point, they can't have their grain unless they are being touched the whole time. They seem to think this is a fine trade-off.

I've had them 3 months now and can pet them all over when they are eating grain. Sometimes I can pet them when they are loose in the big pen and sometimes not. They are better every day.

These were range calves and their only previous handling was vaccinating, branding and dehorning. They wanted nothing to do with me. Now they wait at the gate for me, follow me around.

I have gentled lots of calves this way. I use good soft nylon halters, I don't like to use rope or chain halters when training. I want to develop trust, not fear. I also don't tie them up until they respond fairly well to leading. This way, they almost never fight being tied for more than a few minutes. After seeing a heifer with permanent jaw damage from fighting a halter the first time she was tied, I won't do it. 

This is just my way, I know there are many others. It takes lots of patience. Good luck.


----------



## bigmudder77 (Jun 9, 2008)

feeding them when your around will help they and dont make fast movements thats all i do with mine and there fine with me now i can walk up to them with out them running


----------



## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

Probable not practical but a good story. I worked on a ranch in Montana years ago. The purebred breeders would always halter break their sale bulls. They would do it in the winter in their feedlot. They would tie up the young bulls (6-8 months old) to an old experienced mule. They would put a horse collar on the mule, tie up the bull, and turn them loose. The bull would be totally halter broke in a couple days. Then they would tie up the next one, and so on. 

Now most of these bulls went on to become range bulls and never again wore a halter, but you could rope a cranky old bull 6 years later and he would follow you like a puppy dog.


----------



## 65284 (Sep 17, 2003)

A wild calf owners best friend is a bag of "cow cookies" aka range cubes. Toss out a handful and after they have discovered how good they are you can lure them in closer with a cube. It usually doesn't take long before they will take from your hand and with a little persistence you can soon scratch them. Just be patient and don't make any sudden movements.


----------



## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

65284 said:


> A wild calf owners best friend is a bag of "cow cookies" aka range cubes. Toss out a handful and after they have discovered how good they are you can lure them in closer with a cube. It usually doesn't take long before they will take from your hand and with a little persistence you can soon scratch them. Just be patient and don't make any sudden movements.


I have an old picture someplace of an old range cow eating a piece of range cake out of my mouth.


----------



## desertshi (Jul 23, 2008)

tinknal said:


> I have an old picture someplace of an old range cow eating a piece of range cake out of my mouth.


hahaha!! I would love to see that one! :happy:


----------



## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

Getting beef cattle gentled to the point of being able to feed them and stand close by is one thing. Getting them gentled enough to be your friend is another. (especially if they're with other cows and not all alone in the world.) 

It's possible for some cattle and impossible with others. You'll know after about a month if they're gonna settle down or not.


----------



## Cheribelle (Jul 23, 2007)

Ha! I have a Charlois cross Bottle Baby that is wild as a coot! And it's too darn cold out to do much more than feed her right now! 
I hope she settles down, but my last heifer really never got comfortable, either. The steers love me.......


----------



## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

I would have believed that spending time and treats can "tame" a cow. But that was before I got a pair of Angus calves. Wild as the wind and if I stay with that breed, I'll have to modify all my fences and build a Rhino-proof barnyard enclosure.

I've broke lots of horses, riding and draft. I've had milk cows and herefords that I could walk up to and herd them where I wanted.

I know of people that have trained a turkey to pull a cart. I've seen pictures of someone riding a moose. The wild west show had someone riding a bison. So anything is possible. 

I do not believe an average person could tame my Angus.


----------



## randiliana (Feb 22, 2008)

Well, while I will agree that Angus are not the quietest breed out there, they are not usually THAT bad. Lots of kids using them in 4H, so they have to be tamable. When you get something as wild as what you describe, about the best thing you can do is get rid of them. Some of the wildest cattle we have had here have been Herefords. They are usually the quietest cattle, but when you get a bad one, they are completely nuts. As for meanest, we've had the odd Angus cow that you couldn't get close to for several weeks before and after calving. They don't stay here long.


----------



## Tad (Apr 2, 2003)

If they are angus good luck. We just sent a half breed holstien angus. We didn't tell the trucker until he came to pick her up because we knew he wouldn't come if he knew. His last words on the way out were. "why can't you eat holstiens like the rest of the dairy farmers"


----------



## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

I'm with you guys on the angus thing. My daughter has shown a few in 4-H and most of them we've encountered are crazy and an outhouse rat!


----------



## DJ in WA (Jan 28, 2005)

Like most things, assessing their potential for taming depends on their genetics and their environment. They could be genetically programmed for docility, but if they've never seen a human, they might be skittish. These are the ones with the most hope.

Conversely, the calf from my cow this year is genetically wild, and I've worked with her daily (halter breaking, bringing her in to nurse, etc), and she's still skittish. I will make steaks out of her. I knew when she was 2 days old that she would be wild. I would rub my hand over her back and watch her flinching and crouching down to avoid my touch. Nervous disposition, kind of like mine.

I understand that the Angus breed now has a scoring system for docility so they can improve the breed's reputation. Though some say that too much docility can be associated with less mothering ability. Angus are known for good mothering - in some situations, like around predators, you might want a more wary mother.


----------



## jode (Oct 24, 2007)

This may be a little late to contribute to this, but since you mentioned taming these cows to milk, you might want to get them to the point where you can call them in by name. This can be done simultaneously to the taming and takes no extra effort. Here's how I get a calf on my side:

1. Separate them from the herd
2. I feed them "sweet" pellets and regular all-stock feed on a regular basis
3. As I am walking up with feed, I will make whatever sound I want that cow to come to. For some of them I have a specific whistle, for others, it is the way I say their name with the emphasis on certain syllables. It doesn't take long for the sound to be associated with the food.

One caveat is that the other cows may come too out of boredom or curiosity sometimes, but the one cow that you can count on coming is the one that has received the above treatment.

When we received our first very flighty calf, I put him in a 10X10 stall for several months. The only food was food from me, and if she wanted to eat it, she had to deal with me being nearby or touching her while she came to eat it. It doesn't take a calf long to figure things like that out when the choice is to either overcome fear or miss a meal. I find that slow deliberate movement, calming speech, and no distractions really helps the calves to calm down.


----------



## KMA1 (Dec 9, 2006)

I have an Angus/AngusXHerford cross that acts more like a puppy than a cow. I can call her anywhere and at any time by name. She will come running across the pasture bucking and jumping. Begs for petting like a dog. I can handle her any way, even milk her in the pasture. She will come up and rub her head gently against us or lick our cloths asking to play. I sometime place my weight on her when I am petting her, and I think I could ride her as long as I continued petting her.

Have a highland heifer, about 16 months old that is almost as bad. The heifer used to love hanging out with the angus when she was a calf, since the angus was a heifer then. 

Key to any cow or bulls heart is range cubes.


----------

