New teamster from Oregon

[DaveMorgan]

Hello! Just checking in for the first time. I am training my first team. They are Henry and Victor, a pair of 8 month old Dexter steers. I got them at 5 months and they are good natured and have become very tame. I am working on leading In a halter and it is going pretty well, but i have a question. I walk on the left, holding the goad in my right hand and the lead rope in my left. one steer, Victor has figured out he can disrupt the session by turning into me…like he is trying to cut me off and get me to stop or turn around. I have tried bumping him with my hip or just stopping him with whoa and the stick across his nose, but we usually end up with me turning right to keep from getting stepped on. How can I get him to walk a straight line?

Thanks. It’s great to find you all here and I look forward to hearing some ideas.

P.s. I have Drew Conroy’s book and DVD, but would appreciate any other suggestions for ox training 101.

[Kevin Cunningham]

Dave, Welcome! It is nice to have another west coast ox teamster in the group. I am in far north CA, Humboldt County, State of Jefferson. I am a fairly new teamster myself, my boys (holsteinXjersey) are about a year and a half now. My only advice is to use the butt end of the stick as a point to keep him from coming in, although with dexters they will be shorter at five months. My other suggestion is that if that steer continues to veer in when they are leading together to think about putting him in the off position. My team has a tendency to wander away from me and as a team, I would rather they came into me. It is easier to keep the near steer over than to bring the off steer closer when they get larger, but with dexters again it may not be a problem. It is important that they learn to respect you personal space, because they will get bigger and stronger, so start early.

[Anonymous]

I had the same question. My boys wanted to drift left, rather than walk in a straight line. Tim Harrigan helped me out by suggesting I press the slightly sharpen butt of my whip or goad into the left shoulder of my nigh steer. If the off steer is pushing left or walking faster than the nigh steer, they will, what I call, drift left. Your not going to be strong enough to force them over but if you put that sharp point there, your nigh steer will correct the problem for you. He’s strong enough to push back the off steer. Not too sharp a point, but enough that it’s uncomfortable for him.
Good luck, have fun, be patient

[carl ny]

I never worked oxen but I would tend to agree with Mark. We had to train a large draft cross one time,she wanted to crowd you like that.My son made a stick with kind of a “dull” point.We held the stick so that every time she started to crowd you the stick poked her just in front of the shoulder.By the second day you didn’t need the stick very often. HTH

carl ny

[DaveMorgan]

Thanks Kevin, Carl and oxspan, for the advice. I always like a simple solution and the pointed stick you all suggested sounds like a good one. I’ll try it today. By the way, I am still working them individually right now. Figured I’d try and teach start and stop to each alone before hooking them together. What is the best method of starting to work them together, in a yoke or with halters or collars to connect them?

Dave

[Baystatetom]

The jabbing stick is a good idea. My off steer tried to push everybody to the left for a while, I used to reach over my near steer and tap his cheek with my goad. You might also try tying his nose over with a halter so he can’t lead to the left with his head.
Good Luck
~Tom

[Kevin Cunningham]

Dave,

I worked both of my boys singly and together in halters before I put a yoke on. It was awhile mainly because I hadn’t made the yoke yet, but when I did put the yoke on they didn’t hardly react at all. I think a lot of ground work before the yoke makes it an easy transition but then again I am no expert.

[Oxhill]

@Kevin Cunningham 38882 wrote:

Dave,

I worked both of my boys singly and together in halters before I put a yoke on. It was awhile mainly because I hadn’t made the yoke yet, but when I did put the yoke on they didn’t hardly react at all. I think a lot of ground work before the yoke makes it an easy transition but then again I am no expert.

I would agree completely.

[dominiquer60]

Another thing that I thought of does not have to do with walking next to your steer, but does have to do with leadership and personal space. When I feed my animals (steers, horses, even dogs) I am the one in charge. I make my dogs sit and wait until they are released with an “OK.” I make the horses walk out of the barnyard to the feeder in front of me, then I make sure that they are not crowding me before I pour the grain out. With the steers, no matter inside or out, I make them yield the right of way to me, even if that means just taking one step back from where I place their pile of hay along the stone wall in the pasture. I do this because, A) It is safer for me with the big animals and it enforces everyday that I am the lead mare/cow, B) It give me room to work, C) With the dogs, I don’t share food well, if I leave a sandwich in my truck, it better be there when I am ready to eat it, I own all food unless I tell them it’s ok to eat. I am a firm believer in the 5 second rule and I’ll be damned if I am going to fight a dog for something of the floor, so every time something edible is on the floor they look to me for permission even if it is their own food dish.

This is just an personal space issue, so look at how they interact with you any time you are around and make sure they are moving out of your space when you need it.

Best of Luck,

Erika

[DaveMorgan]

Well, I was reminded how much I don’t know again today. I had moved our training sessions from the the sacrifice area where the rest is the herd is in the winter, to a lane on our place…thinking there would be fewer distractions without the other animals around. Today I worked with them back in the area with the rest of the herd, and they were perfect gentlemen. Started and stopped almost perfectly, didn’t crowd me much, and none of the rebellious behavior I had had when I was working them out on the lane. The lightbulb is dim, but it finally went on today…they didn’t like being away from the rest of the herd.

Have you all experienced this? A some point they will obviously have to work away from the herd, but for now I think I’ll keep them I
N their comfort zone until we get further along and they have more confidence. Make sense?

Dave

[Droverone]

No no and no!

Now is the time!

Make your mark on them while they are young! There is nothing harder to deal with than a herd sour, barn sour OX!

Go go and go! further and stay away longer!

In fact it would be better if they were completely away from anyone other than you and each other.

[carl ny]

Herd sour……I never worked with oxen but I have worked a lot of horses.If it was me I would completely separate them from the herd now.The longer they are kept with the herd the harder it will be.JMHO

carl ny

[Anonymous]

Separate now. You don’t need anybody looking back. They only need you to think about.

[Kevin Cunningham]

I totally agree!! this is probably one of the biggest mistakes that I made when training my boys. I too did not know how important it was to have them not be apart of the herd. Most of my issues can be traced back to them being herd sour. I now have them tied in the barn and I am working them daily in order to break them of this and I can say that this has been a hard, hard lesson to learn. You can’t keep a working animal with the rest of the animals. For me it was lack of facilities that I needed to house them properly and at first, my un-willingness to fully commit to this brand new, un-proven venture. Trust me this is a very worthy endevour. Commit fully and get them out of the herd now! You won’t regret doing it and it will save you a lot of headache and time in the future.

[dominiquer60]

Agreed. Never thought about the herd thing much, mine have been in various living situations, but now that I think of it, It was probably a really good thing that when I brought them home they lived in 2 calf hutches in a small pasture. They were loose and together during the day and tied up separate at night. When we had a real winter in 2010 I finally had to bring them into the barn, but after 3 months of training and them being separate I never really had too much of a problem with them being herd bound.

Get them out and away from the herd and if you don’t tie them up regularly it is good for them to get used to it ASAP, away from the herd.

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