Calves!

[Kevin Cunningham]

I remember trying to get my boys to eat some grain early because I thought it might be good for them to get a little extra, but they were always more interested in the grass growing around the bucket of grain rather than the grain itself. So I just decided that it was best to graze them and supplement with some good quality clover hay. I think that if they had the chance now they would quickly scarf up a bucket of grain, but now I want them to just eat grass. I can see supplementing some grain when they start working harder but mostly I want them to be grass based traction.

[Andy Carson]

I sprinkled a little brown sugar on the grain and they are eating grain great, now even without the sugar. I don’t think they really need it, and am not feeding much, but it nice to have a treat to get them to come running. They will probably need it this winter too. I am planning on feeding the same grass hay to both my mature oxen and these young ones. It’s last years first cut and the calves will probably do better with some supplement too. The biggest calf is becoming less and less my favorite. He laid down rather than walked when I was practicing leading him. The other two are doing quite well leading already. The single is still the best, which is suprizing as the smaller twin got the most people time. Go figure. If the biggest calf keeps laying down and being generally obstinate, I will probably stop training him soon and relegate him to being him to beef. I can probably work around these problems with him, but it already feels that he has a different temperment than the other two, and this make make pairing him up difficult. He’s very very dominant over the other two calves. He pushes them around all the time, seemingly just for the fun of it. It is interesting how clearly the personalities come out in calves that are still so young.

[Oxhill]

He very well may have a less desirable personality but it is very common for them to flop over and lay down rather than lead. If you nip it in the bud they normally won’t do it for long.

[Andy Carson]

Oh really??? Well, I’ll keep my mind open for longer then…

[Kevin Cunningham]

When I raised my calves last year we started with four of them and early on I decided to train two of them for oxen. That is what started me down this path. I halter trained all of them with basic commands from day one because we were bottle feeding them. I had one, Red, who was my favorite. He was the most responsive right away, seemingly the healthiest of the bunch and I liked his coloring the best. Another one, Joe, flopped over and became sick, and he is just another black steer (he’s black like a cuppa joe). But I kept training all of them because I had read that it is better to train several and choose the best. But I did not make my decision until at least 4 or 5 months into it. I even then I paired them up in seemingly good pairs and trained them together for a while even before yoking them. It probably wasn’t until six months that I made a final decision. And it turns out that Red my favorite from the begining is the most obstinate and wild of the bunch, and Joe is the most responsive (and affectionate). And in hindsight I might have chosen, Star, another one instead of Joe, but now I am attached to him and we have a lot of training into him already. You never know who will be the best pair, so I would make sure to work them all for a while so you can make the best decision.

[near horse]

I agree with Kevin that calf personalities can change from what they seem to be initially.

[Andy Carson]

I am getting to know the calves personalities more and more, just through leading them around and interacting with them on a daily basis. It is such a luxary to have ample time to do this while they grow! The one I like the most is Freddie, the smaller twin. He is friendly, responsive, smart, quick, and seems to want to please. He is going into the team for sure. I am still not sure which of the other two I will keep in the team.

The biggest calf is George, who is also Freddies twin. He might weigh 75 lb more than the other two, and is clearly the dominant calf in the field. He is less interested in being pet than Freddie, but once he gets used to you, tolerates everything you want or need to do with him. He picks up some lessons fast and some things slowly (mostly dependant upon how much he wants to learn that particular lesson). Once he understands what is expected of him, he moves quickly, just like his twin. If the task involves food, he moves very fast indeed. 🙂

Bilbo is a very similar size to Freddie right now. He is about as friendly as Freddie is, but in a different way. He doesn’t seek me out to pet and handle him, but if I go to him he likes it. He learns everything at a moderate, predictable pace (whether he wants to learn the lesson or not). He is somewhat slower in thought and in action than Freddie or George, but is close. All three are substantially quicker than my mature team, but they are at such different ages, I am not sure if this is a fair comparison.

I hope to finish my first team yoke in thier size soon, so will being teaming them up soon to see which combos work best together. If anyone has any thoughts as to what combos I should try first, or have the highest chance of success, please share. I think I will try Freddie as in the nigh position, because we like being next to each other. Not sure if this is the best, but I will see how it goes. In the off position, I think George might be better because he is faster and I find it easier to slow the off down than speed him up. On the other hand, I like that Bilbo would likley be more predictable in that position where I will (eventually) have less ability to put my hands on him. I will probably try all sorts of combos. Again, if anyone could share thier philosophy on how to choose working positions for thier team and what makes a good “nigh ox” vs “off ox,” I would appreciate it.

PS. I do plan switch sides with my team from time to time and also to teach them to work single. Taht said, I think the vast majority of the time they will work as a team of two in a set position, as most of the time I just want to get the work done without much fuss.

[Kevin Cunningham]

When I teamed up my pair it was immediately obvious which sides worked with whom. I too thought I would switch sides but it has not gone well any time I tried so I gave up. I do work them single but not yet in a single yoke, that is this winters project. With my pair Tex, the solid rock, is nigh and Joseph, the eager, but easily frightened one is off. I wish Joseph would go nigh because Tex, who is dominant, is always one step ahead of Joseph. Which puts me in the position of having to always speed up the off steer. It would seem easier to slow down the off and speed up the nigh. And while Joseph is my “problem child” he is the one who when it comes down to putting it into a heavy load he gives it all. Tex has a tendency to give up. So with that is mind they are on the appropriate sides for pulling, because I am right there to goad Tex where as Joseph is already laying into the yoke. In my limited experience the steers kinda made the decision for me. One way it worked the other way it did not. I will be curious who ends up where with your boys.

[Author]

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