Nervous/ Shy heifer

[HJR Cattle]

I have a show heifer who doesnt like new poeple or being the center of attention she prefers to hide behind others . When I take her out to walk half of the time shes great and the other half of the time shes afraid of somthing and freaks out , so going to a show isnt going to be in either of our best intrests yet . Any tips on getting her desensitized would be greatly appreciated.
  Thanks

 

[dimebag]

Load her up and take her to different places .. do you have friends that also show cattle ? if so , take her to their places and spend some time around other cattle and people .

 

[Chuck Wagon]

We have struggled with a heifer since Nov and even left her home from a show due to her stubbornness and craziness you have described but there is no shortcut short of a donkey.  We use the pressure and release method to walk but when she won't step it makes life hard. It takes patience with those "special" ones and here it is June and she just now comfortable with strangers and my daughter leading and setting her up.  We have rinsed and haltered at least 95% of the days since we have had her, so we have worked her a lot.  I think having a gentle steer working along side has helped keep her calm and over time she began to relax

Hang in there!

 

[knabe]

when you have friends over or any situation you can create, just get her out and ignore her.  let her explore her surroundings and be a cow instead of a show animal.  let her initiate the communication. pick little times to move her foot, then ignore. let her do stuff that isn't so focused on showing. think of it this way. if one had a boyfriend or girlfriend, they wouldn't want to be paraded around like the "boyfriend or girlfriend" they would just like to "be" in the barn or whatever just chilling at least a little bit.  mix it up.

 

[HJR Cattle]

Thank you all so much. I plan on letting her have a few more free days to explore!

 

[knabe]

update?

 

[HJR Cattle]

Update- My heifer is MUCH better . She feeds off of my energy so as long as I am calm she is calm . Today my friends got together and walked around it went pretty well . Thanks for all the advice !