Switching Sides

[Kevin Cunningham]

So, I have been having some serious problems with the boys lately. Tex the nigh steer has been turning out and into me with his butt causing severe consequences. This happens when pulling even with low weight, an empty sled, but more when there is weight. He is rushing ahead and turning his head in towards Joseph the off steer. I think he might even be getting frustrated with Joseph because he is being pokey and hesitant. I am having to really get on Joseph to get him to keep up. He has also developed a tendency to hold his head low much lower than Tex. Joseph is always a step behind and holding his nose to the ground. I have tried unsuccessfully to get him to hold his head up. By tapping him on the chin all I have done is make him head shy, to the point that whenever the whip gets close to his face he steps back in fear. He has always been the over reactive one. So when the boys are pulling Tex is turning in and causing Joseph to jump the chain, they get all tangled up and chaos ensues. I have managed to control the situation but it can’t continue because it could get dangerous quick. They have been progressing quite well until recently and this has stopped all forward movement with the training.

After doing some reading and thinking I have decided to try switching sides. Yesterday I tried it out and they did ok, better than I thought they would. It sets the progress back really far. I have worked them enough singly that they still know the commands for turning okay but now they really aren’t working like a team. I am still wondering if this is a good decision. Today they did even better but it is really teaching me patience. I love Joseph but he has always been hard to work with in the yoke. I am even considering a more radical approach and bringing in Star who was the other one I trained as a calf. He hasn’t been haltered since early spring and never been in a yoke. I am really starting to reconsider my original decisions. I have been struggling lately and any advice would be great.

[Anne]

Are Josephs hooves ok?

Do they have a similar walking speed, if you walk with them single?

I would put the two which match in speed together as a team and work the third one single.

Training can influence a lot, but you will never make a fast animal out of a slow one, or a slow one out of a fast. If their working speed is to different, they will never make a happy team.

[Droverone]

Have you checked your bow height adjustment?

Where is it hitting the low headed one on his neck?

Tighten up the high headed ones bow also sometimes helps

This too will pass……

[Baystatetom]

I struggled with a fast steer myself. I moved the staple an inch to his side. It slows him down on a good load but he still charges ahead on a light load or no load. I also tried switching sides but gave up on it due to lack of time to retrain them. I have accepted this “problem” as a fact of life. Other then annoying me it doesn’t seem to hamper their ability to do the job I want them to do.
Droverone is right playing with the bows can make a big difference. It never sped up my slow one, thank god cause if they were both that fast I couldn’t keep up. However dropping the bow lower slows down the fast one. I wouldn’t do that on purpose as it obviously is uncomfortable for him, but I think it lends credit to the idea that it can make a big difference.
If the nigh steer is pulling away from you to the gee side, I would not switch sides. I would rather try and put a halter on him so when he tries to pull away you can jerk his nose back over were it belongs and keep him moving straight.
Having that third steer is a big asset as well. Don’t beef him until your sure you have the right two in the yoke!
~Tom

[CharlyBonifaz]

Tighten up the high headed ones bow also sometimes helps

dropping the bow lower slows down the fast one.

isn’t that the exact opposite idea for the same problem? am I not getting the idea? please explain…

[Baystatetom]

My thought was lowering the bow on my fast steer slowed him down. Probably because it was less comfortable for him. Therefore that could be the reason the other was moving slow. Adjusting the bow could make it more comfortable for him.
I am not sure it would change the position of their head while pulling though. For me adjusting the bows up or down worked on slowing my fast steer, but not for speeding up my slower one. I found this out quite by accident while fitting them into a new yoke.
I think pulling with their head up is better, it lets them get up under the yoke like they are lifting with their necks, as opposed to pushing against the yoke with their heads down. If you can train a head down steer to pull with his head up I would love to try it.

[Droverone]

Ok here goes

It was related to me through several sources that the bows need to fit, and I mean fit. One of the biggest mistakes is generalization that infintisimal adjustments are not needed, and I believe that is wrong. That yoke needs to catch young animals correctly and precisely so as not to irritate or make them not want to work, additionally if it does not they learn to get away from work or get out of work.

If I wanted a working team to have the power they needed to work, I would want them to be able to get up underneath that load and lift it to move that load. If I had a high headed steer I would want to look and see if that bow was low and catching him late and riding back to his shoulder and pinching him, making him raise his head, which to me would make him want to haul out, or at least appear to haul out because of the angle he is working against.

If I had a low headed steer I would want to see if the bow was tight and catching him sooner making him throw his head down, or appearing to be low headed. Find a balance that allows you to enable the learning process of teaching them to lift hat load and move it comfortabley. Low bows are one of the most common sight I observe in photos. Tighten the bows up and make them fit.

Spacers are important to making bows fit and making small adjustments matters. Extra spacers are cheap!

Look closely, experiment cautiously and move foward deliberately.

[Kevin Cunningham]

I have been trying to adjust the bows on this yoke for a while now. This problem seems to have started since I built the 6 in yoke, which I thought was way better than my 5. It is rounder and more shapely. The only thing I don’t like is that it might be a bit narrow. I used the tillers guidelines, but my steers seem to have a bit more gut now that they are on hay.

Here is a picture of the yoke:

And here is a picture of the bow on Tex when he is in the nigh position:

and a picture of the bow on Joseph in the off position:

I feel like I have adjusted both up and down on both steers with no change in Josephs head position. I have a good video of it but now I need to figure out how to post it.

[Droverone]

Well I was hoping Howie might chime in here.

It looks like there might need to be a little more shaping to the neck seats in these pictures.

What equation did you use to build your yoke? Since you said it was too narrow.

My little Herefords are as fat as anything and I never thought of widening a yoke because of that.

One of the things that seems to be rampant is the distance between the steers, or the distance between the inside bows, what equation is the that you use to find this distance when you make our yokes?

Here’s how mine are working in the yoke the third time and the first time on the cart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NQBFB8AXXE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[Baystatetom]

Looks like the bottom of your yoke has a corner on the inside near the bows. Could that corner be contacting a shoulder when they start pulling? It would be a easy thing to change.
Does the problem steer give as much trouble when just walking around in the yoke without a load on or is it just when pulling? How about if you tie their collars together and walk them around with no yoke at all. If he acts fine then, it is more likely a yoke thing then a attitude thing.
~Tom

[Howie]

Try putting their old yoke on them. If they don’t act up in that then you know it is the new yoke.
The yoke needs some work.
The neck seat needs to be centered between the legs of the bow.
Those corners need to taken off.

Howie

[Kevin Cunningham]

It seems that I need to work some on the yoke; it is worth a try. He doesn’t hold his head low while just walking around in the yoke. I have tried to watch them while pulling and I can’t see where it is bothering him but it is hard to tell when they are moving. I will work on the yoke before the next time I work them. Here is a video of them. They are not as responsive to Kelly our intern, it shows him holding his head low.

[Tim Harrigan]

Kevin, I would like to see a video of you driving them with a little more of a load, something that caused them to begin acting up in the past. And take at least 2 inches off the inside of each of the corners. Bows look a little low to me.

[Author]

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