There are many approaches to halter breaking but we’ve found that there are some key mistakes to avoid.
1. Keep them from getting their head away from you.
Let’s be honest, a halter on a calf is a great big bluff. You may weigh all of 90 pounds while your calf weighs 650. If they really want to or learn to get away, they will. The key is to trick them into thinking they can’t get away. One way of accomplishing this is to keep control of their nose. If a calf gets his head down and away from you, only Superman will have the strength to get control again. When they are trying to avoid leading, they will sometimes drop their heads, hug a fence or try to run through you. All of these are horrible habits that you can’t allow. Out smart your calf and learn to anticipate what he is going to do before you allow it to become a problem. For example, if he leans toward or rubs on the fence as you lead him, keep pulling or pushing him away until he figures out where you’ll allow him to walk comfortably.
2. Don’t lead him too close to his head at first.
Cattle get intimidated when you are too close to their heads before they are used to it. Unlike dogs, cats or horses, cattle don’t really like you to touch their heads, especially when you are first handling them. Your local county weigh in is the best place to see this in action. There is a kid’s dad leading his calf with a 10 foot rope that’s covered in mud, leather gloves and a death grip on the halter. The calf is green broke at best and it becomes a big wrestling match. The dad “leads” the calf down the alley. As the calf speeds up, so do the feet of the guy leading him. The dad has no leverage on the calf. If he’d just get back on that rope, he’d give the calf a little time to process what is happening. Plus, as long as the calf doesn’t get his head down and away, he has more leverage. Think about it from the calf’s perspective: There is a guy hanging on my face and as I try to move away, he stomps his feet while running toward me and scares me more.
3. Don’t use a rope that is too thin when halter breaking.
Frank makes halter breaking halters out of thicker rope than what we use later on. When you tie them up for the first few times, they will pull against the rope. Depending upon how stubborn they are, they may lay back on the rope for quite some time. They can break their ears or develop nasty lumps under their jaws if you use a regular rope halter during this stage.
