Novice Ox Man

[clayfoot-sandyman]

Been taking my two 6 month old steers walking every other day on the halter. They’ve got pretty good, they’ll start and stop and stand easily. Haven’t got them yoked yet, the first one I built they outgrew before they were ready for it (!) – the next one is work in progress but the rest of the work around the farm, working with my students and the endless reams of paperwork that come with them seem to absorb those patches of workshop time where yokes could get made at present!
So this afternoon the students broke up for a week and I thought I’d take the lads out walking for an hour around the farm. It was a beautiful afternoon; sunny with a cool breeze, flat bottomed cumulus passing overhead, the grass just starting to head up on the warmer slopes.
Well I don’t know what happenned but both the steers were really tricky, pulling back on the halter and bumping into me, like they were when I first had them out.
I don’t know if I did the right thing, but it felt like a battle of will’s and so I just walked each of them until they straightened out. One didn’t take long to get walking normally, the other I had to walk halfway around the farm but with a bit of firmness got him walking more or less normally although it was a rather sluggish and mopey walk. I wondered if it was having them out in the afternoon, I usually only work with them in the morning for no other reason than that’s when I can do it.
Came away feeling a bit dented, having thought I’d gotten them halter trained was disappointed at their performance this afternoon……….I guess being a novice I have very little experience to compare this to.

[CharlyBonifaz]

expect them to talk back to you 😀
they don’t like to work when it’s hot, when it’s feeding time, when they don’t want to, ……
mine has to accept, he still has his obligations no matter what (not when sick!)
I have to accept, it might take longer 😉

we all have good days and bad
I like to think I’m more stubborn (you may want to read this as “persistent”) than he is :rolleyes:

[mother katherine]

You did the right thing by keeping them going until they performed just as you wanted. Once they figure out that if they are stroppy and you let them out of completing whatever the task at hand is, you’re lost.
One of our teams was a rescue pair of 6 year olds. Even if we were “done” and headed back to rest, if they acted up(ran away), we went right back to work for 15-30 minutes with a load. They never did straighten out, so we shipped them.
Yes, I’m more persistent/stubborn than they are, but that’s because I’m the dominant member of the group.
oxnun

[Vicki]

Yes, Ed, you did exactly the right thing by persisting with them. It’s much like working with teen-agers: they will test your will and try to get out of work, but with gentle firmness they yield to your leadership and fall in line pretty well. Then you are so proud of them. What you describe is normal for steers. It can take 10 to 20 minutes for steers to get their mind into “work” mode when first yoked for the day, so walk them and stick to a simple course for the first few minutes before getting on with a job or training new skills. The older they are, the less this is an issue. But after a hiatus, even my ten year olds sometimes give me a few minutes of goofiness before falling in.

[dlskidmore]

I don’t know so much about oxen, but with dogs we retrain each skill in multiple contexts. New environments, new timing, new equipment, new people, any of these factors can throw an animal off kilter. It takes multiple different types of exposure to make the skill generic, and able to hold up under unusual/stressful circumstances.

[nwilliams]

I don’t have an idea about the Ox but when I read this then I felt you are doing you are doing the right thing by taking care and persisting them. This will surely get in to the big profit for you and always treat them with gentle and kindness due to which you will feel very proud of them.

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