Halter Training

[Jac]

We've had the planning survey (or at least it is ongoing).

Can you estimate the following?

Man hours required to train to a acceptable standard your 'average' youngster. By average I mean one that is used to humans and is not a 'head case'. The animal must tie up and stand without fuss and walk quietly at the handler's side with change of direction/stop/ starts when asked to do so without following the lead of another animal.

[Rob R]

I said 4-6 hours, my wife said 4, but then she does take it to a whole other level.

[Duncan MacIntyre]

About 2 months, but only doing 5-10 minutes once a week.

Duncan

[Lasserade]

Please can some one tell me
How?
And When? Do you halter train.
Chrissie H
Greenman

[Louisa Gidney]

Crash course would be an hour a day for a week. Some of this time in being tied up and washed/groomed. Actual walking time prob 20 mins each session.
I've started with newborns just slipping a halter on and off the head, then progressing to tie up. Much easier when they're tiny to do the whole paddy fit thrashing legs in air routine, not so good when they've just calved and penny drops it's first time on a halter........

[Jac]

Please can some one tell me
How?
And When? Do you halter train.
Chrissie H
Greenman

Everyone has different ways of doing things but Louise is right it is much better to start very young. You can follow the link on my web site 'useful info' - it works for us.

not so good when they've just calved and penny drops it's first time on a halter........

Yes, I've got to get to grips with two older heifers that missed the boat and I can tell you that I am not looking forward to it one little bit.

[Jac]

Crash course would be an hour a day for a week.

So after the crash course, could you go into a field with a halter and it would stand still to be caught up and led off?

[Jac]

About 2 months, but only doing 5-10 minutes once a week.

Duncan

What age are we talking about here? As per Louise, do you have to put the halter on in a restricted area when trained in the above timescale?

[Duncan MacIntyre]

Calves usually born April/May, outwinter with cows till early March, calves go inside then and spend time tied in an old fashioned byre with chains and stalls. Try to take all that will be retained for breeding out on halters now and then, sometimes do in relays take one down the farm road, tie to fence at bottom, maybe 200 yards, walk back up and take down the next one, so they are used to being taken out and tied up in unusual place alone. I do not show regularly so not too worried about perfection, just making sure they are used to being tied, led, and on their own.Minimum training when under/about 1 yr is never forgotten.The halter is put on when they are tied by neck chain, they are not all trained to allow halter to be put on in field though some will let me do this.

Last week had trouble getting two heifers with six month calves in for blood testing, they had been at Lanark sale and taken home unsold, so had to do BVD/IBR/Lepto test before rejoining herd. Would not come through the gate, so caught the quietest and led on halter with others following up to the crush.

Duncan

[Jac]

The halter is put on when they are tied by neck chain, they are not all trained to allow halter to be put on in field though some will let me do this.

As they have been trained in the same way, can we put this down to temperament?

I hope that we will have more contributors to this thread - come on you show people I know you are out there!

[ann]

As I rarely show these days I usually start training mine after they have been weaned as i rarely have cows calving in winter. My method is to tie them up to a ring feeder, you can tie up to 4 at a time and give them some feed to keep them happy. With some it only takes a few days before they will walk nicely on the halter. Anything which doesn't settle happily to being tie up and led around tends to end up in the meat chain.

[Mkay]

I had the exact same question earlier this year and went searching the web, my favorite find was this one. http://www.bairnsley.com/Breaking%20in%20cattle.htm

[Jac]

I had the exact same question earlier this year and went searching the web, my favorite find was this one. http://www.bairnsley.com/Breaking%20in%20cattle.htm

As I rarely show these days I usually start training mine after they have been weaned as i rarely have cows calving in winter. My method is to tie them up to a ring feeder, you can tie up to 4 at a time and give them some feed to keep them happy. With some it only takes a few days before they will walk nicely on the halter. Anything which doesn't settle happily to being tie up and led around tends to end up in the meat chain.

Apart from the time of year issues (bear with me all there really is a point to this whole thread)

It doesn't matter when you do it (pre weaning/post weaning) the end result is identical in every way?

The time spent achieving the standard is exactly the same in both cases?

[Jac]

I had the exact same question earlier this year and went searching the web, my favorite find was this one. http://www.bairnsley.com/Breaking%20in%20cattle.htm

Have you actually tried it?

If you have, are you able to give a time estimation (man hours) for achieving the end result?

[LISA]

O.K I am going to be bold and say it takes 30 minutes in man (or lady!) hours to halter train an animal. However this is based on 3 "tie up sessions", allowing 5 minutes to catch and tie up, and 5 minutes to untie and release x 3 sessions = 30 minutes.

Session 1 - do not even attempt to lead the animal.

session 2 - lead the animal maybe 5 meters and back to tie up position.

session 3 - walk the animal a little further and tie up again.

Always stay safe (ALWAYS two people to handle a bull), and make sure the animal is safe too, give the animal an edible treat during or after the session so it becomes enjoyable (handler too if it helps!).

This method works well for me when very pushed for time eg a show next week. If time was a luxury I would tie up and feed for several more sessions first. We do not have any "nutcase" animals in our herd, therefore the animals for training are good temperament anyway which does help.

Best Wishes Lisa Bell.
P.S Jac what time do you get up? Looks like you fit a few halter training sessions in early in the day!