Halters

[Christiaan]

How the heck do I decide on halters for my cattle? Rope, leather, nylon? Sizes? the feed store people just give me blank looks, they only seem to know about horses.
Thanks.

[uncle Will in In.]

Do they have cattle halters to sell or are all they have is horse halters. A cattle halter is designed a little different than a horse halter. Take a tape measure and put it around the cows neck. Cross it under the neck and bring it around the front of their nose. The toial distance will let you measure a new cow halter and see if it's about large enough. If it's too large it can be made smaller but if it's too small you have a problem. Nylon is really strong and may cost less than leather.

[willow_girl]

Are you looking to show your cow, or just for a utilitarian sort of halter, to give you some control while moving it from point A to point B?

In the latter case, I find it's easy to whip up a simple rope halter. The pressure it puts on the poll is helpful in keeping control over the animal, moreso than with a nylon halter (same holds true for horses too!).

[wr]

The general rule is rope or nylon halters for training and at home, leather halters for the show ring. The leather ones really don't stand up that well for day to day use. I don't personally like the nylon rope halters because if they aren't used properly or are left on (sometimes during the halter breaking process) they tend to carve into the skin, the cotton is not as durable but not as agressive either.

[milkstoolcowboy]

I agree with WR.

For working with the cattle at home, I prefer rope halters with one exception. I like to switch to a nylon rope halter when washing the animal. Wet rope is a bear to deal with. Sometimes, you'll see regular rope or nylon rope halters with a flat leather nose strap. The nose strap is the only part of a halter that is not adjustable (typically).

For showing cattle, round leather halters are for dairy cattle, flat leather strap halters for beef. Do not buy those colorful synthetic flat strap halters for showing. Keep your leather halters well-treated with Neatsfoot oil or similar.