Training a steer to ride/drive/pull ????

[Middle River]

I was just wondering if this is a silly idea or not, so please do tell me what you think.

I have two steer calves ( ayrshires ) that are about 4 months old. The plan for them is to go to freezer camp at around 18 months. They are however the sweetest little guys, and very cute, i'm hopeing this WILL change, so we can have our home raised beef still. They are already halter/collar broke, and i can handle them all over - since we aren't set up for handling less then tame cows, i went about teaching them the same as we teach our foals, so we could handle them if need be.

Well, if we end up not being able to butcher them, we also cannot keep just "pet" steers, so i was thinking, and remembered my shorthorn steer i had as a kid that i taught to ride and drive, and instead of eating him, we sold him to a friend of a friend for $1800 and bought a steer we weren't attached to ready to butcher. So i was wondering if this is just silly, or if it would be a good thing to do for a plan B.

I would most likely train them to drive single and double ( with modified horse equipment as that is what i have to work with ) and ride. My questions are, do you think anybody would be in the market for such a novelty ? At what age would they be able to work without the risk of injury to them ? What would be the bad and the good ( if any ) with doing this ? would it be possible to get enough money out of them to replace them with two eating steers and not lose money ?

I'm hopeing that they just get big, ugly, mean and smelly and we can't wait to eat them - thats what we are still keeping our fingers crossed for, but either way we will want beef in the freezer - so i'd like to get a plan in place for if they don't go in it. Thanks !

[tinknal]

It's never too early to train. You can train without taxing their bodys. I would forget about modifying horse equipment and make an ox yoke. It is a simple device and you should be able to make one yourself. You will probably want to install nose rings. Bear in mind I'm no oxen expert (although I am very experienced with cattle) . You can train them to drive without a load (or with a very light load) while young and increase the load as they age.

If you decide to sell them as a team I would look for someone who is looking for a parade unit, or a rodeo act.

[lgslgs]

We've trained our cow to ride and pull.

For riding, we started very young, standing in "cow riding position" with our feet on the ground. She got used to us doing that every day and one day she was finally big enough to lift our feet off the ground. Then we did a bit of cow sitting each day and then leading her with a rider. We won't do anything more serious than that until she reaches full size - but already we can lead her off halter to the nearest stump and have her hold steady for us to climb on. She'll also lead off halter to the word "step" with someone guiding her with a hand on her rear. That's enough to have her serve as an ATV ambulance right now if we need her to.

For pulling, we started her as a young 'un using a a bed sheet tied into a horse collar shape, a few rope lines, and a plastic Walmart sled. First led her with an empty sled to get used to the sound. Then her first winter she graduated to pulling little sleds full of logs.

Rural Heritage has lots of good info.

Lynda

[Middle River]

Thanks for the information !

Does anybody know of any plans or how to make an ox yoke ? I'd like to use this for draft work, but light driving ( the novelty type stuff ) i found with my steer as a kid was easy to use modified horse tack, this way too they could be hitched to a easy entry cart and other things that are more availible and more common, not just for me, but for potential buyers ? But i would also like to look into driving them with the yoke system as well.

Will i need nose rings ? I plan on using halter/bridle like head gear ( minus the bit, like a side pull ) - they are gentle, if they stay gentle will i be able to just use this ?

Rodeo acts and parades, good idea !

Thanks !

[tinknal]

Find some yoke pics. There are only three parts. The yoke itself, which you can rough out with a chainsaw and rasp smooth, and the hoops, which you can bend with steam. Ask a few woodworkers what the best woods would be. I'm thinking white oak but a wood expert may have better ideas.

[lgslgs]

Check out this article for some ideas for hitching up your steer: http://www.prairieoxdrovers.com/collars.html

Lynda

[Middle River]

Thanks for the link !