Fighting in the yoke

[clayfoot-sandyman]

Had my 13 month old steers Lark & Sparrow out in the yoke last week a couple times after a fortnight of just being led to their stall for their feed, a quick brushdown and back everyday….the break was because I was taken up with supporting my wife who gave birth to our son at the start of Jan.
Well being a proud dad and all I was rather seeing the world through ‘rose-tinted spec’s’ until I tried to get my steers in the yoke to find that they’ve developed a taste for fighting one and other, both in and out of yoke, well anywhere really!
It makes yoking them up a real pain but what’s particularly frustrating is when they go for each other in the yoke because they’ll be walking along nicely when one (it’s always the same one) turns his head and attempts to knock the other with his head – it doesn’t exactly work but it throws the previously good performance into disarray as they hop around trying to get past the yoke at each other.
I’m really disappointed because I’d just got them off the halter at Christmas and hauling a small sled but have had to put halters back on to stay in control; feel like I need to go right back to basics.
Not sure what to do though really. Any advice?
Cheers. Ed :confused:

[Nat(wasIxy)]

Have you tried (firmly) disciplining the one who starts it? He’s supposed to be getting on with his work and listening to you, not eating or trying to fight or play with his friend – that’s a cardinal sin for me and would earn them an ‘AH AH!’ and a sharp tap on the nose!

Perhaps though, they really just dislike each other! It happens, although if they’ve been brought up together…that’d be puzzling?

[Tim Harrigan]

@clayfoot-sandyman 24551 wrote:

…what’s particularly frustrating is when they go for each other in the yoke because they’ll be walking along nicely when one (it’s always the same one) turns his head and attempts to knock the other with his head –

…feel like I need to go right back to basics.

Yes, keep working on the basics. Ixy is correct, they are not respecting your leadership if they are willing to ignore you and start fighting in the yoke. It is about business when they are yoked and you need to work on making sure they respect your leadership.

If it is always the same one starting it then it should be easy to see it unfold. Keep your eye on the instigator. If he so much as turns his head to his partner, correct him and thump him on the head to bring his attention back to you as soon as you sense them starting to drift away. If the other steer begins to react, thump him as well. Don’t wait until they are fighting until you put a stop to it, get after them right away.

Use a short goad without a lash that you can control and respond with quickly. Use one with some give to it that will sting if you want it to. Back when my steers were coming on one year old and they needed to understand that grazing in the yoke was not an option, I had a goad with a rubber handle. I turned it around and when they started to put their heads down I thumped them on the poll with the rubber handle. It is surprising how fast they figure it out. You do not need to knock them cold, give them a chance to understand the new rules. The goal is not to hurt them, it is to bring their attention back to you and keep it focused on your direction and leadership. React quickly, and if they keep doing it you will have to explore where the minimum force is to get them to understand you mean business.

Don’t get angry, just be quick, consistent and fair, but determined.

I do not like a lash on a goad in the situation you describe. If they get to jumping around and you start trying to whack them on the nose or poll you don’t know where the lash will go. You don’t want to put an eye out. And don’t use a heavy stick that can break a horn off.

One more thing, don’t be too quick to assign all the blame to one steer. It may look like one is all to blame, but they can communicate in subtle ways. The innocent one may be doing more to get it going than you may realize.

[Anne]

Are your animals out on the pasture or in the stable?

If they spend their time in the stable it´s a “winter problem”. Usually they avoid real fighting if they dont have the space for it.
In this case I would let them out regularly and give them the chance to fight it out. I prefer to work them single untill they got their new positions.

[mother katherine]

Are they trying to establish their social order after being tied for awhile and unable to do the pushing that guys generally do in adolescence?
We had a team that went from avery wide yoke at their former employment to a narrower yoke that we had. The off ox was dominant , and problematic in his dominance in his former home. Something they didn’t tell us when we bought them. He would try to joust in the yoke because he didn’t like his brother “in his space”. I was able to discourage that behavior. But…..we had to ship them anyway for dominance issues. It turned out he was supposed to have been the nigh steer but kept poking the teamster with his horns. Their solution was to put him in the off postion out of reach. WRONG answer.
oxnun

[mother katherine]

Quick PS
That same group has another young team with fighting in the yoke. Again, their solution was the same wider yoke instead of correcting the behavior.
oxnun

[clayfoot-sandyman]

They just seem to be at each other wether in the barn or out and about. One of them got his head stuck in the gate today and the other was straight into him with his horns and trying to mount him, I just walked in, haltered the aggressor up, walked him off and freed the stuck one, they’re gentle with me….interestingly they had their pecking order worked out as one was bigger then the other, then I started feeding the smaller one up and now they’re the same size so they’ve got some sorting out to do I guess.

I also swapped their sides in the yoke recently to try it out as I had problems with my nigh ox with hanging back in the yoke. He walks better in the off position but the whole fighting malarky has escalated.

Ed

[Tim Harrigan]

It seems like there might be two related but somewhat independent issues here. One is the steers play-fighting for social position. This is natural behavior and not at all a problem as long as they do it on their own time. The other and most important issue is that they are doing it when they are in the yoke. The yoke should mean business, not playtime. As the leader you can’t just throw up your hands and say ‘oh, well, I guess they will have to sort this out some day’. The teamster needs to make it clear that even if it is OK in the pasture it is not OK when they are in the yoke. It is not OK because you have informed them that it is not acceptable. If it is not play-fighting it might be something else like ‘let’s go for a run’ or ‘let’s grab a bite to eat’. Do you only care if they follow your leadership and direction when they decide they have nothing better to do or are not distracted? When they are this age the effort needed to establish leadership is pretty minimal. It only gets more difficult.

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