Taming the wild beastie - heifer

[cjb]

I have pretty much let Violet raise her heifer by her side. The calf is now ten weeks old. I need to start separating, milking regularly and taming this heifer as she is intended to be a replacement family milk cow.

What is the best way to go about the above?

I caught her last night and put her in a stall. I separated them for over 12 hours then milked the Mama out. Yum! I'm back into sweet milk again! I let the calf into the stall and left them together for awhile. I need to disbud this calf tomorrow night (see other thread) so I am going to keep her in that stall until I get that done. Then, she'll really hate me. She does have a calf halter on so I can grab a hold of her but otherwise, she runs away.

She is also a VERY independant calf. We had a male calf that was very placid and always happy to be next to her Mama. Not this one! She dives between the top and bottom hot wire and wanders the property and sometimes the neighbor's

She will actually follow me around the yard. If I try to pet her, she runs away but always comes back as if she's playing. She even chases the cats.

All that to say, I think I have a real personality on my hands with this one. Thanks in advance for any advice you have on lead training and just curbing the savage beast.

[francismilker]

If she's ten weeks old and as you mentioned in the other thread she'll eat feed if offered, I'd say you'll have an easy time of it. Just keep her in seclusion and feed her. Before you know it, she'll be waiting on you to show up. Next thing you know you can start petting her while she's eating and so forth.

As far as the haltar training, it shouldn't be to bad either. Get one of those cheap nylon rope haltars and put it on her in her stall for a few days and let her drag it around. Make sure there's no way for her to get her head caught on any junk or farm treasures that would "hang" her. After a few days of her dragging the haltar around and inadvertantly stepping on it a few times, her nose is going to be sore. Tie her up at 18" high and leave 18" slack in the rope and let her stand. She might fight it but will learn that she has to step forward to get some relief from the pressure on her nose. Let her do this for several hours a day if necessary to get used to not fighting the pressure. Then, as small as she is, I'd start "drag leading" her around the lot. It shouldn't take no time to get results. Once again, with her being so young weight is on your side. Let her get six months old and you may have a handful.

[cjb]

Thanks Francis - that sounds good.

I think this one is a pistol so we'll see if typical experience really applies

[Judith]

we often halter train the calves using the tractor or the 4 wheeler. Tie the calf to whatever you are driving and go SLOW..... She will have no choice but to follow. The idea is to get her walking nicely. She will have the mother of all temper tantrums but just keep going along slowly. They catch on really quickly and it saves your back

[freedomfrom4]

I have been trying to get some 1-3 week old calfs to walk on the halter and some are taking to it and some lay down and refuse. I have one that if you try and make him go anywhere he promptly lays down. How do you deal with that? I use the nylon calf halters. It looks really bad when your dragging your calf.

[topside1]

Freedom, just some advice. I'd wait till the calves are around 8 weeks old before I'd be training...Do what you want, remember stress is not a calves friend...Free advice, of course that's my opinion...Topside