How not to Halter Break a Calf !!!! ( Video )

[Spring Creek Farms]

I had a calf in the barn last night that had never had a halter on before.  I could scratch him a little only while he was eating before last night.  Within 2 minutes I had the halter on his head, had combed him all over within 20 minutes and at the end of a half hour we had moved from a 10 X 10 area to a 10 X 30 and we were taking a few steps at a time around the stall.  No bawling, yelling or throwing himself on the ground.  I am guessing he will be broke to tie and lead by the weekend. 

same here. . . this is how we halter break all of our calves and i have won numerous showmanships awards

 

[Cowboy Up]

This is kind of how we do it, but we do it in a smaller pen, with no other things for them to get wrapped around or hit on. We also let the rope slack and don't keep it tight like he did.

 

[justme]

OMG my daughter and I were laughing...it could be my husband but he's using cleaner language lol (lol) (clapping)

 

[jason]

Hang on and wear him out.

 

[cattleking]

my god id never break a calf like that simply pull on his rope until he lead, instead of killing the calf!

 

[shortyjock89]

my god id never break a calf like that simply pull on his rope until he lead, instead of killing the calf!

The calf flipped himself over.  Do you just let your calves get away if they try to take off running? We try to get ours in a smaller pen, but it's pretty close to how most calves react when you put a halter on them for the first time.  I will say though, that after a day of work, it is VERY rare for us to have a calf act like that. 

 

[farmboy]

the guy is pretty stout and the calf flipped him self over, we had a few calves act alot worse then this that never came around, some calves can not be broke..... especially some heifers....  ;D the steers are always pretty good. must be a female thing...

 

[LazyGLowlines]

the guy is pretty stout and the calf flipped him self over, we had a few calves act alot worse then this that never came around, some calves can not be broke..... especially some heifers....  ;D the steers are always pretty good. must be a female thing...

Zach, funny you should say that.  I was just talking to someone else the other day who said the same thing...that heifers are harder to halter break than bulls. That's what I'm finding as I've been getting quite a few (10) ready for Denver.  The bulls were halter broke very quickly but the heifers not so much. 

 

[shortyjock89]

Heifers are MUCH tougher to break than males.  But we can still usually get one ready to show within two weeks if we need to.

 

[inthebarnagain]

That is because it has to be the heifers idea to start leading, not be forced into it.  The boys can be pushed around a little more.  Us girls like to be sweet talked and let believe it was our idea to begin with!!

 

[SKF]

We've had calves that acted like that calf but usually after a couple of days they calm down. My daughter had one a few years ago that would that would flip himself when he had enough of us and did not want to walk. Then one day we tried to get him on the wash rack which is concrete and he flipped himself on the concrete and that took care of that problem, he never did it agian.

 

[renegade]

From what I have done bulls were the easiest to break and judges seem to love it when you take a bull in showmanship - idk why but they do.

 

[savaged]

No, it's not a good way to break a calf.  I used to fight and have tug-o-war with calves until I learned that a calm, non-threatening, and no-pull method works so much better.  We can have most calves leading easy in three days, and almost never apply any heavy pressure to the halter. 

The method in the video quickly teaches the calf to fear the halter  - and the person holding it.