first time teamster training a young steer

[ivy]

Hi!

I have started training my ox! Well, he’s not an ox yet. He’s 2 months old and I’ve been training him since he was 2 days old. He is halter trained and follows really well. I also walk him without the halter and he usually follows really well. He will always stop (woah) and go (come on) if I stop and start, but only sometimes will he obey when I am also not preforming the command. Does anyone have any advice on getting him to obey commands when I am not acting them out myself? This is my first experience in animal training. I always try to be consistent, firm and to end our lessons when things are going well, but I’m sure there are many things I don’t know!

Thanks!
ivy

[Crabapple Farm]

Cattle respond more to your movements than what you say. And of your movements, they pay attention to your whole body, not just your whip hand. It’s generally easier to drive them without saying anything than it is to drive them with voice alone.
They can be trained to respond to verbal cues alone, but that is a very high level of training.
When, specifically, do you want them to do something without you having to lead them in it? Are you trying to teach them to drive from behind? Or are they getting ahead of you, making it hard to stop them (since hurrying to get caught up just gets them going faster)?
My one comment is that while rope-free driving is the ideal, it is better to use the halter than have them ignore your commands. You can use rope and stick to provide physical clues as to what your voice command means, reducing the need for acrobatics on your part.
-Tevis

[ivy]

Well, perhaps driving from behind could be a goal some day. For right now it’s mostly enforcing the idea of “okay, we’re stopped now and I’m going to go pick up something 10 feet away and you’re going to stay stopped – not come with me or wander over there and eat some grass or take off back to the barn.” I don’t expect my animal to be perfectly trained at 2 months old but I am wondering how I teach him an idea like “stay still while i move.” Thanks for responding.
-ivy

[jen judkins]

Ivy, I know nothing about oxen, just horses, but would it help to ‘park’ them in front of a fence or a log or some physical suggestion to not go forward while you work on that? My other thought is that you will likely need to reinforce the ‘whoa’ cue on-line and have them responding to your voice pretty consistently (without any need for reinforcement) before you are likely to be very successful off-line (as Tevis has already suggested). Like I said, I’m not a cow person, so take my advice with that disclaimer, 😎 Good Luck! Jennifer.

[Crabapple Farm]

@ivy 3267 wrote:

Well, perhaps driving from behind could be a goal some day. For right now it’s mostly enforcing the idea of “okay, we’re stopped now and I’m going to go pick up something 10 feet away and you’re going to stay stopped – not come with me or wander over there and eat some grass or take off back to the barn.” I don’t expect my animal to be perfectly trained at 2 months old but I am wondering how I teach him an idea like “stay still while i move.” Thanks for responding.
-ivy

Here’s one thing to try. After driving them around and coming to a stop (whoa), and standing with them for a few seconds (to reinforce the “not moving” part of whoa), start scritching them, under the chin and behind the ear of the nigh ox at first, but slowly working towards giving them a good rubbing all over, moving around them while you’re doing it. It would be good to have them tied the first few times, so they don’t turn around to compete for your attention. But I find that they tend to stand still for grooming.
This is a way to introduce the concept of you “moving out of position” while they are standing still in the yoke, with positive reinforcement for them. Once they stop trying to follow your every move, walk back to behind them, giving them a little scratch at the base of the tail if they don’t try to turn around. Once you can walk in circles around them with them standing still untied, then you can start trying to move away from them. But once you are ten feet away, there’s really nothing you can do about it if they start to move, so it’s better from a training point of view to work on it from a position in which you can do something to stop them.
-Tevis

[ivy]

those are both good ideas. i will definitely start working on them tomorrow.
thanks for your helpful response!
cheers
ivy

[mstacy]

@ivy 3256 wrote:

Hi!

He will always stop (woah) and go (come on) if I stop and start, but only sometimes will he obey when I am also not preforming the command.
Thanks!
ivy

Hi Ivy,

I was tickled to read your post, as I am in just starting out as well. I have two pairs of devon calves, 3 and 4 months old respectively. I’m far too inexperienced to offer much in the way of advice but I can share what little I’ve experienced so far.

Like your calf, mine respond to “body english” more readily than voice or stick. I’ve been working hard to associate all three giving a verbal command “WALK”, a gentle touch on the rump with a stick, and stepping forward. After lots of repetition my calves and I are starting to agree that all three mean the same thing. Lately I’ve been making a concious effort to say “Walk” and give a tap with the stick, but keeping my feet planted until after they take a step. I find that if I stand back beside them, instead of out front, that helps too. I am encouraged by what I’ve seen so far.

I see it as “command substitution”. For instance with a dog you might start by physically guiding him into a sitting position while holding a hand in front and saying “SIT”. Later you can coax him to sit without actually touching. Some dog trainers later substitute a whistle tone for the voice command.

Halter, physical pressure, body english, voice commands, stick, … there’s a gazillion ways to express something to an animal.

I was inspired to by your comment about keeping the animal in place while you walk around. I’ve had a little bit of luck in the past day or two by making my calf “whoa” then dropping the halter and backing away. If he moves I step to him, give him a very light swat on the forehead with a stick (wispy thin) and reprimand him verbally with “whoa”. If he steps out of position I’ll physically push him back to where I placed him initially.

I’ve also spent alot of time going through doors and gates. I make him wait while I open the gate, have him follow me through, then wait while I close the gate.

I’m learning as I go and look forward to hearing the experiences of other teamsters just getting started. Good luck Ivy.

Regards,

-Matt

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