Breaking Nicky

Nicky is LuLu's little bull calf.  He was born on August 5th and so that makes him 2 months old.  He's grown quite a bit.  He is frisky and spunky.  Lots of times we'll see him running around in the pasture, kicking up his heels with his tail in the air.  I've been thinking it is a good idea to begin breaking him as it is much easier to halter break them while they're young and small enough.  If they get too big, they end up pulling you instead of the other way around.

Many years ago, I would hook a lead rope to a halter and pull them.  It would be a literal tug of war.  I would pull and pull and pull.  The animal would pull and pull and pull back.  Sometimes the animal would flop on the ground.  Sometimes I would feel like flopping on the ground, too.  Eventually, the calf would get the idea that it is easier and less painful to just relent and go in the direction that I was pulling.  The animal would walk a few steps and then get stubborn again.  I would continue to pull until the calf would give in.  It took weeks.  It was hard work.  If you were persistent and kept at it, before long the animal would be broken.  The calf would go willingly anywhere you wanted it to go.

There is a much easier way to do it, I learned.  The same principle is used, but it doesn't require as much energy as the way I used to do it.  Each day when I go out to the barn, I get the breaking halter.  Nicky sees me doing that and plays this game where he runs away.  I feed his momma and while he's distracted, I stealthily put the rope around his neck and fit the halter around his head and nose.  Then I tie him securely to a solid post.  The goats are very interested in this process, as you can see.

While I have him tied up, it's a good opportunity to check out his horns.  A few weeks ago we used a de-horning iron to kill his horn buds.  The place where the horns were growing is flat.  No new growth.  The only thing remaining is a small scab.  Nicky will not have horns.  That makes Our Maker's Acres Family Farm a safer place.

What Nicky will do is this:  He will pull against that fence post as hard as he can.  Two safety precautions I'll mention:  Always leave enough slack so that if the animal falls down, he won't hang himself.  It is important to secure the animal to a place where they can't walk around and around and have the rope tighten up on them and choke them.  We had a friend have a calf the died like that.  We learned that if we are going to do this, we ALWAYS are nearby to supervise.

The calf pulls and pulls in stubborn fashion.  At some point, a light bulb goes off in it's head, saying, "It is a lot more comfortable to back off and stop pulling against this post."  When that concept has been considered and accepted, instead of pulling tightly, they take a few steps toward the post.  That loosens the halter around their head and nose.  We haven't reached that point yet.

To see if any headway is being made in the breaking process, from time to time, I'll untie him from the fence and pull around the pasture.  Nicky is still fighting me with everything he's got.  Just look at the determination and stubbornness in that little face.

That just means we've got more work to do.  I'll continue tying him to a post.  At some point (all calves' demeanor is different) he will acquiesce and I'll be able to lead him.  But that point hasn't arrived yet.  We will keep at it.  Sooner or later, things will come together and he'll lead.  Perhaps when Nicky is halter broken, he'll sing the old hymn, "He Leadeth Me, O Blessed Thought."  It will be a blessed thought indeed.

A Boy and His Calf

Clarabelle has proven to be a stubborn little Jersey heifer. Halter breaking her was a real chore.  After tying her to an immovable object and letting her pull against it until she was either tired of the struggle or realized that 'resistance was futile,' she finally saw things my way.  It took longer than I thought, though, and longer than other calves I've broken.  I spent several weeks leading her (translation: pulling her) until she figured out that life was much simpler to walk along with me when tension was applied.

Some days I would be real encouraged and she would walk along with me like a champ - other days, she would regress and pull against me until I was sweaty and exhausted.  At long last the task was done and little Clarabelle became a compliant and obedient little heifer, walking along at a leisurely pace, enjoying her surroundings and making the afternoons more pleasurable for me too.

Clarabelle and Benjamin

This is the time of year when the days are getting shorter.  The sun seems to be hitting the landscape at a different angle than the harsh beat-down it assaulted the land with during the long, hot summer. Tricia had Benjamin put the halter on Clarabelle on the days that he doesn't have track practice and he walked her around the perimeter of our little homestead.

Benjamin put on a cowboy hat for the task and he and his heifer went walking.  I cringe looking at him barefooted, because even though she's a small heifer, her hooves are sharp.  If she were to step on Benjamin's foot, it would be very painful and he would not be happy.

Barefootin'

This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago and it reminded me that I need to start the same process of breaking little Luna - our most recent calf born to Daisy.  It is best (much, much easier) to halter break them to lead when they are small.  Also on the to-do list for Luna is to de-horn her.  The dehorning process with Clarabelle was the smoothest and best job we've ever done.  Her head is all healed up and horn-free.

When I was Benjamin's age, I showed sheep.  Every afternoon I would walk them. They became very tame and gentle.  Some would even follow me around.  As the livestock shows approached, I would walk them for longer distances and time so that they would be at their very best come showtime.  I became very attached to those animals and each year it was hard for me to let them go. Livestock shows taught me a lot about responsibility, work-ethic, and growing up and I treasure the years I was involved in 4-H and FFA.  I hope my kids feel the same way and are able to learn valuable life lessons like I did in their involvement with livestock.

Walking around the pumpkin vines with Clarabelle

With Clarabelle halter-broken and the process about to begin to break Luna, I was thinking that just around the time that Luna is done, Amy (our third Jersey heifer that is 2 1/2 years old) will have her first calf.  She is due right around December 31st.  So far this year our two girls (Daisy and Rosie) have given us two heifers. Both of those heifers have A2/A2 genetics.  We're hoping for 3 out of 3! We'll know in a month and a half.

Training a calf is a lot of work, but once the work is done, the dividends pay for a lifetime as the cow will respect the lead rope and will follow you wherever you lead her.  There's a good life lesson in there somewhere.