I saw a meme the other day that had a picture of a big kid and his calf in a tug-of-war and it said something to the effect of “how cute, you need to go walk your dog.” This was pretty darned funny, but only because we’ve all been there. Teaching your calf to lead can absolutely be a challenge. Use these three tips and you’ll be on your way to teaching your calf to lead.
Teaching Your Calf to Lead
At a basic level, you know why your calf should lead…it’s common sense. Likely you know that your calf needs to lead because you have to be able to get him from point A to point B.
However, have you considered the deeper reasons that it’s important? Things like showmanship and even how well your calf places hinge on your calf’s ability to lead well. Let’s explore that a little.
Showmanship
It’s awfully tough to win a showmanship contest if your calf won’t lead. That’s not to say it’s not possible, but you’ll have to be that much better than the competition in all other aspects of your showmanship to overcome that basic requirement.
It Shouldn’t Matter How He Leads in His Market Class
In a perfect world, I’d agree with that. In the real world, it’s just not true. Your judge is only human. It takes imagination on his or her part to overcome the picture you are presenting with a calf that doesn’t lead.
Maybe your calf has his spine up and is dropping his pins because he’s sitting back on the halter and the ring steward is doing her best to push a 1300 pound animal around the ring. (Basically, his topline looks like a half-moon).
Or, maybe your heifer is impeccable in her structure but you’d never know it because she looks like a donkey…locked up in the ring and unwilling to move. (No offense to good-looking donkeys everywhere.)
If your calf won’t move, your judge can’t make a fair assessment of important things like structure, profile, and balance.
So what to do??? Teach your calf to lead.
These tips are all assuming your calf is broke to tie so he understands the basic principles of pressure and release. We don’t ever just throw a halter on a calf and start trying to lead him up and down the alley.
Start in a Confined Space
Leading a calf on a halter is a great big bluff. Meaning, they just learn that following you is the thing to do. If they really wanted to or worse, are taught that they can get away…they will…often.
Start in a small area so they can’t get a head start on you. Even broke cattle want to run and play if they see a wide-open space. This can be dangerous for everyone involved.
1- Pressure and Release
I’m forever repeating myself on this one. Here’s the thing. Tug-of-war never works. Okay, maybe you’ll get them to lunge forward and land square in the middle of you. That’s a bad plan.
Give them space at first. Get to the end of the lead rope, gently pull on the rope to get them headed in the right direction, and have someone push from behind. They will likely lunge forward here too, but you have much more control. If they lunge past you, be ready to pull them back around. We discuss and demonstrate this in our Show Smart halter-breaking video.
Have you ever noticed that it can take forever to get a calf on a trailer? Two things are going on. He needs a second to process the new area and you are literally trying to lift him into the trailer by his halter. I think I’ve said the words, “Let off his head” about 150 times this fall. Meaning, stop pulling and let me bring him to you. Just guide him at first.
He outweighs you by a bunch…
“Lifting” him onto the trailer won’t work as well as if you do this:
Guide him on the trailer with the halter and have someone push from behind. Keep steady pressure on the rope, but not too much. This way, you are encouraging him to come forward. Guiding him along the way is helpful in teaching your calf to lead.
He’s thinking about moving away from the person behind him, not avoiding you on the end of the rope. Are there some calves this strategy won’t work on? Yep. Some are just plain stubborn. However, if you have a nice clean trailer with shavings, they will jump in much more often than not. Oh, and they won’t slip on the ride.
2- Make it a Good Experience
Cattle are no different than you and me in terms of action and reward. If you get an A in your math class and your parents are super proud, it makes you want to do it again. Conversely, if you get a D in math and get your phone replaced with a flip phone, so only they can find you, you may rethink how you study. Seriously, back in the day, it would take you 5 minutes to text someone the simple phrase, “I’ll be right there.”
To get them to move forward, push on them. Don’t smack them or startle them. Once they start moving, stay in front of them. Pretty soon they learn to follow you. You go…they go.
3- Reward for Desired Behavior
Like anything, you can overdo working with your calf when he or she is still green broke. Lead your heifer up and down the pen or alley or backyard…whatever you have will work. However, when you see a small improvement, quit for the day.
Don’t keep working with them to the point that they think, “Well I did what she asked, but I guess that wasn’t right…so I’ll stay right here.” Instead, get a little improvement and call it good. If you went one lap around the pen well yesterday, try to get two today.
Bonus Tip: Don’t always stop and set your calf up in the same spot. You just are training him or her to stop in that one spot. You want them to stop when you say stop.
There is an old saying you’ll hear horse trainers use. Keep in mind, many of the same philosophies translate well to training cattle.
“If you improve 1% every day, in 100 days you’ll have 100% improvement.”
– I honestly don’t know who said it originally
It won’t take you 100 days to get your calf to lead. But, I’ll bet that by using that theory, you’ll be hard to beat when it comes time for showmanship.
While you are teaching your calf to lead, keep these tips in mind. Use the principle of pressure and release and reward your calf for desired behavior. Be patient with them. It’s easy to expect your new calf to be as skilled as your steer from last year, just not realistic. You are starting over. Have fun with it!
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