Cattle scared easily

[Mouse K]

Hello--

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions.  We tied our show cattle each morning and feed.  Then we rinse, brush, feed and walk at night before letting out.  (we work in town so calves are just tied all day)  Our cattle act like little angels at home - great to work with, and quiet to be around but when we go to a show they get very nervous, normally they calm down shortly after getting there but sometimes the littlest things will scare the crap out of them.  We just returned home from our second show out with this group of calves and a couple of them acted worse this time than the first time out. Scared to death of everything in the show ring and they are not high strung cattle. We see a lot of people that we know don't work with their calves as much as we do but their calves will act better than ours.  What are we doing wrong?  How do we get them over this?  Thank you!!

 

[obie105]

Make noise in the barn. Have a radio playing, kids running, leave a feed sack laying in the aisle, things that they are going to have to deal with out in public.

 

[marku]

tie some plastic trashbags around the pens out of reach and let the bags make noise.  just need to desesnsitize the calves to things.

 

[DL]

Hello--

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions.  We tied our show cattle each morning and feed.  Then we rinse, brush, feed and walk at night before letting out.  (we work in town so calves are just tied all day)  Our cattle act like little angels at home - great to work with, and quiet to be around but when we go to a show they get very nervous, normally they calm down shortly after getting there but sometimes the littlest things will scare the crap out of them.  We just returned home from our second show out with this group of calves and a couple of them acted worse this time than the first time out. Scared to death of everything in the show ring and they are not high strung cattle. We see a lot of people that we know don't work with their calves as much as we do but their calves will act better than ours.  What are we doing wrong?  How do we get them over this?  Thank you!!

There are a couple of things you need to understand to put your situation in perspective - cattle are herd animals, (safety in numbers), cattle are prey animals (ie response to "scary things" is trying to escape), and cattle when exposed to a novel situation (without the ability to explore it on their own terms) respond by freaking out and trying to get away. Add to that the fact that when you get tense (because they are "behaving poorly") the cattle feel and react to you - so they are perfect at home because they are comfortable and they have a routine and are not challenged by novelty (for example I had a cow try to launch herself onto a quonset hut to try to kill a pea hen which appeared out of the blue yet they all ignore the wild turkeys that they see ever day) but not only does the show disrupt their routine it places them in a novel and unfamiliar and scary situation ...

So what to do - well the suggestions you were given are good but also take them places - load them up and take them to (safe) but new places, expose them to things and allow them to explore them (ie roll a basket ball in their pen), change the routine - don't always rinse and brush and walk at night - (keep the feed schedule) - get them used to the fact that things change - maybe brush and walk in the am sometimes, walk them down the road (if safe), have other people work with them etc -

they are used to a specific routine and the shows just throw them into a tizzy - if possible take them to a show where they are not showing but just hanging out etc etc expose them to bunches of things

and for next years calves - start early to expose them to different things...good luck