Can I train a 5 yr old cow to pull?

@hillsidehome 34061 wrote:

Hi, I’m a new member here and so excited to have found this forum! My family and I would really like a draft animal to help out with the occassional farm chores (hauling manure, hay, stones from the garden, etc.) but as we only have 3/12 acres it can’t be a huge animal. I already own a 5 year old milking Jersey and her 10 month steer. So my question is: is it possible to train a 5 year old cow to pull? Or is it too hard to train them when they are that old? Would it be better/easier to train a younger animal? It’d be grand if I could use my steer – he’s already here, and is such a giant, gentle baby – the only drawback is he still grabs a snack now and then from mom. Or should we look into purchasing an already trained ox? As we are so new to this any thoughts, suggestions, or advice from you experts is greatly appreciated!

I don’t see why you couldn’t train either of them. I have always broke mine when they were young calves so I have no experience with the older ones, however I have read plenty about cattle being broke at age 4. I am sure you will have your trials but at least they are big enough to go to work right away verses waiting for a young pair to grow up.
My inclination would be to work with the steer, start by teaching him to lead on a halter, then introduce him to your yoke,collar, whatever.
~Tom

While it is very possible to train older bovines (depending on temperament), it is best to start while young. An ox will indeed work at any time he is needed, even after a month of non-use. Just remember he will be soft muscled, and energetic, but will remember his training directives.
Carmen

1. I trained my first cow when she was nearly 4 years old. Now she is 16 and the best I ever had.
2. We have in Germany a book from the 1930’s which says that a farm smaller than 17/18 acres is more economically worked with cows than with oxen or horses.
3. If you don’t have so much work it’s better (my opinion) to work with cows because they do not only the work you have to do for them but also produce milk and a calf every year. This is a profit more for you. AND it keeps the cow slim. Most oxen I have seen up to know which do not work often and hard, were to fat for being healthy or it was a big challenge for the teamster (with a lot of effort) to limit the diet for them. The cows can graze as much as they want: with a calf beside and even without work they remain in a good condition.

Wolfgang

(sorry for my clumsy English)

The most difficult of training was to get her halterbroken. We bought her from a dairy farm and she was used to be tied but not used to be lead with a halter. When that worked, I walked with her through the forrest and the fields teaching her the commands.
The next challenge was not only to teach her to pull, but to teach her HOW to pull because to that time I used the forehead yoke, the common system here, in the past a „working-cow-area“. Meanwhile I use the American style neck yoke and it is much more easier to teach them to pull. May be that this depends on the fact that the cows are used to be captured in a fence while they get fed. This winter I trained a 2,5 year old cow and she never declined the bow around her neck.
After 2 times walking with the yoke she pulled at the 3rd time the empty sled and then I increased the load.
The commands do my cows learn when I bring them without a load or being yoked to pasture. So it’s a permanent training.
Another challenge is the cows get away from their calves (even mother cows) . I myself had never problems with this. But my neighbour, who is a professional mothercow farmer, always wonder that I get my cows away from the calves. I think it’s a kind of confidence : They know that they always come back to their calves. I onlx had one time problems, not with the cow but with her calf: calf was born in July, never been apart from it’s mother. When I hitched up first time in winter, the tied calf nearly hanged up in the barn. Luckywise I noticed it before leaving the yard. This video was taken at that day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K6k194Siik
When the calves are used to be left alone for some hours from early age it is not a problem. But remember my „golden rule“: Rumen filled, udder empty.

I hope that I could help you a little bit and encourage you to do your work with a cow.

Wolfgang

I would try the cow if you don’t have a lot of work for it to do, then at leats if you do stop working her, she still has a job – I made the mistake of going for a large steer as my first ox, and ended up with a large, hungry, bored and energetic animal on my hands getting fatter by the day…jerseys are particularly amenable and if she is responding well to you already, making further little steps won’t hurt! Our 10yr old cull cow had never been on a halter in her life, but we didn’t know that when we decided to start walking her in from the field in one – we went out, caught her and she walked back to the farm with us as though she’d done it every day. It was weeks before we asked her previous owner and found out she was completely unbroken!