Re-establishing routines

[clayfoot-sandyman]

Hello All,

Need a spot of advice…..
I seem to have lost a bit of momentum and discipline with my calves (they’re 4 months now) over the last month with lambing, preparing ground for sowing and having turned them out onto pasture now the grass is growing.

They’re out of the routine of going into the stalls everyday to get their grain and one is getting to be a bit tricky to catch in the field (having been really docile and into the routine of walking to the stalls for feeding/brushing down when stabled over the winter).

Am already feeling the wave of summer farm work rapidly approaching so need to refocus my intentions and make some goals for getting these boys going again….SO my question is……

• What would you recommend as a routine for working with them (do they need to come in everyday and get tied off for a while? Do I need to be training everyday, how many hours per week would suffice?

That way I can look at my week and see where I can do this important work with my calves.

Also I work with youngsters with social and learning difficulties on my farm. The calves are now reasonably good at leading on a rope – would you recommend that the students are allowed to lead or is it important that it is just me to establish dominance and trust?

My last question…hope it’s OK to ask so many!….I’ve noticed when I lead a calf up and someone else takes the other one the lead one often pulls back on the halter (and it is true for both calves when infront) – is this normal – they seem to walk more easily when the front one can see the other one??

Any help much appreciated as it’d be a shame to lose the momentum with the calves due to other farm/teaching pressures.

Ed

[Carl Russell]

Hi Ed, they are getting to that perfect age where they will be more aware of how to resist you. I would say the best bet would be to bring the in each day to feed them at the very least. When they are tied and eating spend some time with them even if it is only brushing. Even if you only do this a few times a week it is better than nothing.

They need all the guidance you can give them, but it won’t be too detrimental for others to lead them, unless those people can’t follow your simple guidance in how to lead them so that they don’t develop bad habits resisting leadership.

Take your lash with you when you take them on the lead, and when they hang back, just encourage them to keep up with you. You don’t have tp rationalize why, or whether it is normal for them to do what they’re doing. They need guidance to do what you want them to do.

Good luck, Carl

[mother katherine]

Last summer, when our calves were about 4 months old, I didn’t have loads of time. But every day I captured, led them to the feed bunk(which is a good time to reinforce directional commands, rather than just a straight line to the feed), left them tied for a bit, and every few days got out the yoke and did 15 -30 minutes of “play time’: walking, pulling a tire, executing moves.
You don’t have to spend lots of time a whack, just consistently exercise dominance regularly and make social contact. Any time can be a simple disguised period of dominance that they will understand: executing commands while on the way to/from the feed, capture, release, stepping in or out while grooming.
And, yes, always take “the stick” for these times: I find it helps cut down on the confusion for them of what you’re telling them.
oxnun

[Nat(wasIxy)]

I am not into the everyday thing, especially when working with babies. I only do enough to get the lesson learnt, the rest of the time they are free to be babies. When my first was young he went sometimes a month between lessons, but they do not forget and we could just pick up where we left off. Now I might work mine a handful of times until they are a year – just to get catching, leading and stopping and starting down. Even after that, I don’t work anywhere near everyday – for me this is one of the very positive points of oxen Vs horses, they just don’t need endless repetition, once it’s in, it’s in.

The way I ensure mine can always be caught is to reward them *just* for that, especially when young, and doing work or boring endless leading training doesn’t strike me as much of a reward, and if that’s done everyday they know to run off rather than do work. So, my ‘training session’ may just simply consist of catching, tying, then releasing straightaway as a reward for being good. Or catching, tying and giving a feed/brush/treat, then releasing. This way they never know if they will be caught for a boring training session or a treat, but they never pass up the chance for a treat!

I can forsee the trouble with using their daily feeding as the opportunity to catch them being that they know when and where they will be fed, and if you tried to catch them for something else, outside of their daily routine, you won’t be able to. I want mine ‘on call’ 24/7 so I can just grab them out of the field/herd and get to work whenever I want.

[Author]

Posts