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Paul T. Ferrari
ParticipantI really want to ride my steers. I started leaning over them at an early age and place my weight on them a bit. I’m a guy whose over 6ft tall and I’m not lightly built. My steers are each 1300 lbs. I’m not sure if I should ride them for any distance. I’ve had my wife who’s very petite- 120 lbs, lay acrossed their backs. My one steer just stood their wondering why this thing was lying over his back. It didn’t seem to bother him too much.
I’m wondering if the weight makes a difference. I just don’t want to give them a sore back and sour them to riding. I can give my wife a piggy back ride for a some distance and she’s 3/5 my weight. My 200 lbs. shouldn’t be too much for my steer, or is it? What do you all think.
I like to be cautious when trying new things.
ParticipantViki,
Thank you for that great link. Key information.
ParticipantIvy,
I think you’ll find the fact that your steer stops on vioce command alone very useful. This means that you can start to drive from the front, the back, and remotely. This also means that you’ve ascerted your will over your steer. He is yeilding to your commands, not because he fears being hit (may be a little), but because he trusts you and knows that you’re not to be crossed.
Just keep trying new and challenging activities with your steer. Keep your training intresting and methodical. You’ll be amazed at what you both will be able to do a year from now.
ParticipantAll of the trainers who responded to this post have given really solid advise that I would whole-heartedly second. The one thing I would add, is that you need to set specific training objectives and create a plan for how these objectives will fit together. I’ll elaborate.
-Every time you arrange a training session set a clear attainable goal that will challenge both you and your team. You will have to discern what is both attainable and challenging.
-Create a specific plan that will help you reach the above goal by asking the questions:
*What do I want to accomplish (e.g. pulling a stone boat to the top of the hill with 300 lbs of rock on it; turning around haw; going back to the barn with no running or goofing off; in other words you want them to be perfect gentlemen while they’re accomplishing this task)?
*How are you going to accomplish this task (e.g. I’m going to yoke them, fit their chain, and take them out of barn; Then I’ll give them a little walk and practice whoa and some turns for a five minute warm up; then I’m going to hitch them to the stoneboat; take them half way up the hill and give them a rest, etc.)?
*What are the hazards, distractions, and difficulties I may encounter, and how can I avoid or minimize these hazards, difficulties, and distractions. (e.g. There’s a big ditch on the right side of the trail my team can fall into; someone left a big sharp piece of tin roofing on the ground where I’m going to need to turn around; there’s a pasture full of heifers next to the road I’ll be using, which my team would like to get to know better. Therefore, I’ll pick up the roofing before I take my team out, I’ll walk the team well to the left past the ditch, and I’ll make my team whoa when we come next the heifers and be extra careful to keep them focused on me by having them turn gee and haw in as they walk up the road so they don’t lose focus.
-Stick to your plan and accomplish your goals no matter what. Never allow your team to get out of accomplishing the goal you have set for them. Absolute compliance with your commands is the only way they can get back to the barn for food, water, and relaxation. Any bad behavior is met with more work, corrections with the whip, and long walks away from the barn with an unrelenting, obstinate teamster with a goal oriented iron will).
*This is why your goals must be attainable. However, if they’re too easy your team will not mature.
*Accomplish your goal no matter what. Even if you have to repeat the exercise again and again, do it until you get exactly what you want from them (e.g. a calm focused team that is working together with each other and with you.)
*Avoid the inclination to feel sorry for them or to think that you’re being too hard on them by making them do what you want. If they’re improperly trained and uncontrollable, they’re dangerous. Uncontrollable teams get shipped to feed lots or directly to the slaughter house to be shot in the head, cut up, and eaten. If they’re well trained, they will live out there natural lives as handsome and useful denizens of your farm and community. A well trained working animal is valuable, beautiful, and useful… alive. An untrained, unruly or dangerous steer is only useful if he’s dead… unfortunately.
-The above goals and techniques are short-term goals. Come up with a master plan so you can lay out a years worth of training, and set up daily goals that will help you attain your next larger goal. (e.g. I want to have them master their basic commands; them move onto cart work so I can move compost to my garden in the spring; then I want to train them to pull with a stone boat; the culmination of their pulling training will be plowing under cornstalks in the fall; we can them move onto logging in the winter; then we can work with the scoot in the late winter so they can collect sap in the spring.)
*There’s a lot of forethought that has to go into the long-term plan. You need to have your equipment in working order when the next phase is ready to begin. You also need to have the appropriate yokes sizes so that you don’t have to stop your training to build or find a yoke that will fit your team.
This is the way I train my teams and I’ve found that it works well. With all of this talk of planning and forethought I should mention that stuff comes, wrecks happen, equipment breaks, and plans need to be broken or changed. The most important thing is that you’re calm, confident, and in control or your own emotions and thoughts. Your animals will respect calm confident leadership that keeps them safe, in good conditions, and in good challenging work. They should look forward to working, being in the yoke, and having discipline and structure in their lives off the pasture. Go into every session with a calm, confident attitude and your animals will take on that same attitude. Good luck!
ParticipantMy first piece of advice is that you should lose the halters. In your thread you said “I can’t hold back the team with a halter.” In my opinion you can ruin a team of calves with halters. It can become a crutch that usurps the place of a proper working relationship with your cattle. I eschew halters throughout the whole first year of training. I use collars and ropes both individually and when I’m working them as a team. It’s harder to guide a team with collars. I only use the ropes as an emergency break to prevent run a ways. With that said, you might be in trouble now. If your cattle are still running away at >1,000 lbs. you will need halters to stop them from running off. The command whoa is completely non-negotiable. If your going to go back to basics, go back to whoa. Do nothing but drill the command whoa for a month. You’ll drive all three of you crazy but you’ll never have a run off again. Whoa is the foundation of all other commands. Don’t move on to anything else if whoa isn’t understood and complied with 100 percent, at all times, with no exception what-so-ever. Spare the rod, ruin the team.
You want to have your team psychologically a tune to your commands and subordinate to your leadership. And if they get out of line, you need to immediately correct them with your whip or goad. By correct, I mean that you use the goad as a physical means to reinforce you psychological dominance. Most cattle will readily submit to a singular crack of the whip. However, don’t be fooled into thinking that a whip is anything more than an extension of your role as leader in the psyche of your two steers. At 1,000 lbs. a smack with a goad is still just a mere suggestion to them that they stop kidding around because they’re working. A well placed smack with the goad can help you reinforce your dominance or make them comply with a command. However, use your goad judiciously. Differentiate between taps and signals when driving (communication) and using your whip as a tool to assert dominance when they’re testing you.
As for the first part of your question, yes they do get more rowdy at that age. They’re getting big and powerful and every steer at his genetic core is a bull. They just want to do bull stuff like fight, wrestle, and mate. It can be fun to watch from outside the fence, but if you’re on the other side of the gate it can feel a little bit like a disaster waiting to happen. My advice is to not play along. Don’t chase them if you’re trying to capture them. It’s too much fun for them to run away from you. If they’re acting like that in the yoke, make sure that you’re in control by drilling the command whoa. It’s a great tool when the team gets out of hand. Make them concentrate and pay attention to you. Then you can go to work. Good luck!
ParticipantAmanda,
I’ve trained two of my own teams and I can say that I’ve been pretty successful. I’ve also made a variety of equipment from primative to complex. Let me know if I could be of any help.
-Paul T. Ferrari
ParticipantMichael,
I live in Craftsbury and head out your way sometimes. I can’t make any promisses that I’ll be able to fix your problem but I would be willing to take a look at it with you. Feel free to email me at pferrari@sterlingcollege.edu if you would like.
-Paul T. Ferrari
ParticipantRod,
I’ve had similar experiences with my off steers. They seem to always be quick to mess around. I think your relationship with the off ox is a different one than what you share with the nigh. What has worked for me is working the off steer single. It would be great if you had a single yoke to really work him. However, I’ve always just used a halter and a goad to take my off steer on excursions. This will deepen the relationship between you two. In a sense, you will make him into a nigh steer if you spend enough time with him.
I did have a steer who was a real SOB. I ended up beefing him. Behaviorally he was challenging, agressive, and too fast for my nigh steer. He also didn’t have good conformation and would loose his wind easily. These traits put him in the freezer. However, if you have a well built animal that is mated and matched to your nigh steer, I would try my best to work out the kinks with him. Chances are you would end up with the same traits in a new team, and possibly to a greater degree!
I’ve found that all teams have a quiet, even tempered steer and one that’s more challenging. We like to fantasize about how wonderful our team would be if we could just make a carbon copy of the “good” one and turn the “bad” one into beef patties. However, if you can make your challenging steer into a good, well behaved worker, your skills as a trainer will deepen immensely.
I say create a plan for going over the basics with your off steer. Set some goals for his training and commit to a training schedule for him. I think you’ll find that he’ll come around if you give him some one-on-one work that reinforces the basic principles of training. Really work on building a solid relationship with him Then you’ll have a great team that you made yourself and the skills to work with challenging calves and steers.
ParticipantRod,
I’ve had similar experiences with my off steers. They seem to always be quick to mess around. I think your relationship with the off ox is a different one than what you share with the nigh. What has worked for me is working the off steer single. It would be great if you had a single yoke to really work him. However, I’ve always just used a halter and a goad to take my off steer on excursions. This will deepen the relationship between you two. In a sense, you will make him into a nigh steer if you spend enough time with him.
I did have a steer who was a real SOB. I ended up beefing him. Behaviorally he was challenging, agressive, and too fast for my nigh steer. He also didn’t have good conformation and would loose his wind easily. These traits put him in the freezer. However, if you have a well built animal that is mated and matched to your nigh steer, I would try my best to work out the kinks with him. Chances are you would end up with the same traits in a new team, and possibly to a greater degree!
I’ve found that all teams have a quiet, even tempered steer and one that’s more challenging. We like to fantasize about how wonderful our team would be if we could just make a carbon copy of the “good” one and turn the “bad” one into beef patties. However, if you can make your challenging steer into a good, well behaved worker, your skills as a trainer will deepen immensely.
I say create a plan for going over the basics with your off steer. Set some goals for his training and commit to a training schedule for him. I think you’ll find that he’ll come around if you give him some one-on-one work that reinforces the basic principles of training. Really work on building a solid relationship with him. Then you’ll have a great team that you made yourself and the skills to work with challenging calves and steers.
ParticipantBefore you take them into the woods hook them up to a stone boat and pile some rocks on it. I’m not sure how old your boys are or how big. You want it to be enought that they can walk for about an hour with a little rest, but not so little that it won’t eat up their energy. You can also contrive something out of concrete and old truck or tractor tires.
Once they’re chained to that, go for a long walk. about an hour will do it. Un hook them. Walk them into the woods and I think you’ll find their energy greatly diminished. They’ll listen better too. Driving from the front is a great skill to learn in the woods. It’s handy to have a whip (6ft) when doing that. Good luck.
ParticipantRod,
The best advice I can give you is that cattle will do what you make them do. It sounds cruel but that is the only way to make a solid team. To me it sounds like your boys are just doing what cattle naturally want to do. Basicly they want to wander around, chew on grass, lick interesting things, and lay in the shade. You’re correct in observing that cattle do not seem to naturally follow a straight linear path through anything. However, they are intelligent creatures that can modify their behavior to your expectations and commands. Set a goal: five times a week, for the next three weeks, yoke them, pick a straight and narrow path, and force them to walk in a straight line. At first, make them do it for 20ft. Once that is easy for them, make them do if for 50ft. When that’s easy 100ft. I like to count fence posts. I will say to myself “We’re going to walk in a straight line until we pass that fence post on the corner. It’s easiest to have them walk on the side of the road. I know my off-ox loves to walk on the shoulder of the road. I think it gives him a straight line to follow. The other part to this is that if they don’t walk in a straight line for the distance you have set, you have to turn them around and start all over. You can not stop doing this untill they get if perfect. This reinforces two lessons. The first is that you are leading them. The second is that you’re practicing walking in a straight line, which they are perfectly capable of doing. If they’re doing anything less than exactly what you have in mind they’re leading you. You’re reacting to what they are doing. It should be the other way around. Your the boss. Good Luck.
ParticipantRod,
The best advice I can give you is that cattle will do what you make them do. It sounds cruel but that is the only way to make a solid team. To me it sounds like your boys are just doing what cattle naturally want to do. Basicly they want to wander around, chew on grass, lick interesting things, and lay in the shade. You’re correct in observing that cattle do not seem to naturally follow a straight linear path through anything. However, they are intelligent creatures that can modify their behavior to your expectations and commands. Set a goal: five times a week, for the next three weeks, yoke them, pick a straight and narrow path, and force them to walk in a straight line. At first, make them do it for 20ft. Once that is easy for them, make them do if for 50ft. When that’s easy 100ft. I like to count fence posts. I will say to myself “We’re going to walk in a straight line until we pass that fence post on the corner. It’s easiest to have them walk on the side of the road. I know my off-ox loves to walk on the shoulder of the road. I think it gives him a straight line to follow. The other part to this is that if they don’t walk in a straight line for the distance you have set, you have to turn them around and start all over. You can not stop doing this untill they get if perfect. This reinforces two lessons. The first is that you are leading them. The second is that you’re practicing walking in a straight line, which they are perfectly capable of doing. If they’re doing anything less than exactly what you have in mind they’re leading you. You’re reacting to what they are doing. It should be the other way around. Good Luck.
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