taming Dexters

[Geraldine]

Just joined this forum hoping for advice about Dexters. I bred Alpine dairy goats for 37 years, and have changed over to the Dexters to have an animal that is not as demanding work-wise. We have grazing land which the goats did not utilize well, and the Dexters seem to be a more sensible animal to work with. I only intend to keep a few, meaning two or three at most, and I want to be able to milk them, probably once a day most of the time, shared with a calf possibly. Anyway, we bought a polled, black two year old with a two week old calf nursing on her, and a polled black year old heifer. They have not been handled much. The cow has been tied in the past for grazing, and the heifer has spent her life after weaning living with sheep. We have had them for a week, and have been hand feeding them several times a day. They will come right up to us now, and eat hay out of our hands. The cow will eat grain out of a pail, and the heifer is on the verge of doing that. When I give them hay in the mangers, I stand next to the heifer so that she has to touch me to get the hay. I do not try to touch her. When I feed hay by hand, she will let me rub the hay on her, but not my hand. The cow will walk away if we try to touch her without feed. She will let us rub her pretty well anywhere as long as she has food, especially grain. Both have halters on. The only possibly traumatic thing they have had happen to them is going in a squeeze to get tagged and wormed before we got them, and then the trailer ride. I am wondering what my next step is with the taming and handling. I have read that they should be tied up and handled intensively for a week and that would tame them right down. I would appreciate any advice on getting these cows friendlier.

[lsg]

Sounds like you are doing great. Just keep working with them until they let you walk up beside them and touch them while they are eating grain. You can then start to brush them, and then put a halter on them and tie them while they are eating. All the time talk to them and brush or pet them. It is just slow, slow, slow. Be patient, it seems like sometimes things will regress, but just keep working with them. Best wishes for success with your Dexters, I know you will learn to love them.

[ctownson]

The only thing I would add to the above is start working with the little calf immediately. If you have them in a small area, start with a halter on letting it drag the ground (you should always be present in this case). I would halter break the calf within a few weeks. The earlier you start the more tame you can get them.

[Geraldine]

I have been working with the cow and the heifer every day, and have got both to the point where they will allow me to touch them when they are eating grain. The 2 year old cow will let me pat her pretty much anywhere while she is eating grain and most of the time when she is eating hay. The year old heifer has begun to let me stroke her neck, and areas on her face while she eats grain out of a bucket, otherwise she moves away. Both have horse halters on, and I have worked for both to let me run my fingers under the halter straps so that I might be able to work that into putting a lead rope on them. I have put a bit of pressure on the heifer by holding the side of the halter a bit, and she backs away quickly. I have not held onto the halter when she moves away. What I am wondering is how the heifer is likely to react to having a lead put on her and being tied for the first time. I have also heard about leaving a short lead rope on that she will step on when she walks to get her used to the pulling of the rope. I would think that this would be a rope that would just hit the ground plus maybe six inches so that she would step on it. Any advice on this would be welcome.

[ctownson]

Here is an article that I wrote and was published in the ADCA Bulletin. Take a look and apply it to your particular situation - I hope you will find it helpful!

Halter Breaking Your Dexter – Practical Advice
Charles Townson
BeaverTree Farm
Cowpens SC

When I approached the Editor regarding this topic, I did so with some trepidation as there is no single technique to get the best results from halter breaking and training your Dexter to lead. Many folks swear by their “tried and trued” method. However, there has been a lot of discussion about this topic recently and many new Dexter owners desire an animal that is extremely easy to handle. Thus, halter breaking and training the cow to lead provides a number of advantages in terms of managing your herd – whether it is one Dexter or twenty.
Why halter break? What are the advantages? First, it gives you a tremendous amount of flexibility in terms of how you can manage your herd. From vaccinations and health work to moving animals from one pasture or pen to another, having a Dexter that will walk anywhere with you makes management much easier. Yes, many cows will follow a “bucket” anywhere. But, when they are scared or you have a situation that requires a cow to go somewhere she is unaccustomed to, halter breaking can make the difference between a difficult, frustrating situation and one that can be handled easily and confidently. We also see that the “relationship” with a halter broken animal is different. The entire process of halter breaking and training results in a special type of relationship, built on trust, versus that of a cow that will simply follow you when you have a bucket of feed. A halter broken animal will also bring a premium in terms of pricing. We see this repeatedly when potential buyers visit our farm. Having a few cows on a halter and handing the visitor the lead and allowing them to walk the Dexter can be an amazing selling tool. It gives the potential buyer a sense of confidence they really can manage the animal.
Hopefully, you are now at least somewhat sold on the idea that halter breaking offers benefits. Where do you start? What is the best approach? How much time is required? We halter break in one basic approach – but it can vary significantly based on the individual Dexter. For example, a young calf versus a 9 month old heifer might require a different approach. First, evaluate each of your cows in terms of their disposition. How easy-going are they naturally? Do they let you pet/scratch them or are they skittish? We try to take each animal’s disposition into consideration before we begin the halter breaking. The more you know about how each of your cows responds to new situations, the more likelihood of success in halter breaking and training.
Here is our basic approach to halter breaking. We tie the animal to a post in our barn, with the lead no longer than about 18-24 inches in length. A long lead can result in potentially dangerous situations. Tie the lead so the animal can not get tangled up or trip over it. The cow is going to strain, pull, and show signs of distress – this is NORMAL. Once we are sure the animal is securely tied and cannot hurt herself, we simply leave her alone for approximately an hour. We watch her from a distance to make sure there is no danger of injury, but we let her struggle against the halter – it is critical that the animal learns she cannot escape from the halter!
After an hour or so, we approach the cow (using a calm and reassuring voice) and scratch/pet her. Then, we walk her to a tub of water that is about 20 feet away. CAUTION – depending on the animal, they can still be very “wild” at this point. Be prepared for the animal to try to escape from you. Here again, it is vital that the animal learns they cannot escape while on the halter. If you do not think you are physically able to perform this step make sure you get proper assistance. Walk the cow to the tub of water and give her a chance to drink. She may or may not drink at this point. Give her a minute or two to take a drink. Then, tie her up again using the same approach. Repeat this process every 60-90 minutes. After a couple of hours, the cow will typically want a drink of water (a reward). Chances are that after a few hours you will begin to see significant progress. Make a determination of how well and quickly the cow is learning and adjust the routine accordingly. In our experience, it is not uncommon for a totally “wild” Dexter to be halter broken and showing enormous progress in terms of leading within 8 hours using this approach. If you try this method, be prepared to dedicate a full day of your time.
For the following two weeks, we catch the animal and put the halter on her again. We then practice walking for at least 10 minutes. We try to do this at the same time/place at least once each day. It is usually easiest to do this when you feed the cows in an area where you can catch them. After a few days, you should notice that the cow almost becomes resigned to the fact that they are going to be walked. Every time we walk the cow, we praise them and give them treats when they perform correctly. It is usually during this period that the cow will begin eating treats out of our hand. This entire process builds a trusting relationship. It is important that you remain positive and patient throughout the training so the cow will not associate you with pain or trauma. The repetitiveness is very important – if you halter break them, but then do not do any follow up, the animal will quickly regress. If you reinforce every day what they have learned, they are much more likely to retain the lesson forever. Thus, you should schedule halter breaking when you have sufficient time to dedicate to the process.
There are a couple of variations on the above that are worth noting in our experience. For young calves where you have a mother that is well trained we will often walk the mom and baby together. Once the calf is halter broken, they will frequently follow the mom while on a halter without any hesitation (See picture 1 – this is a 5 month old calf). We have someone walk the mom and put the baby immediately behind her. The calf will follow the mom easily many times and gets used to walking on the lead. After a few days of this, the transition to walking alone is much easier. We have used this method to train a calf as young as 2 months old.
If you have an area that is very safe, you can also put a halter on a cow and let her walk around with it dragging on the ground. You MUST be sure there is nothing the halter can get tangled up in, wrapped around, etc. Should this occur, you will face a situation where the animal panics and you must get her loose. The benefit of this approach is every time the Dexter steps on the lead, she gets used to being stopped by the pressure of the halter. We use this sometimes when we are working around the barn and can constantly observe the calf dragging the halter.
Another helpful hint (especially with a cow that is reluctant to walk) is to approach the situation more from a “push” perspective than a “pull” perspective. Sometimes the animal will learn to lead faster if you push them along instead of tugging on the lead constantly. There are two variations we have used in these situations. First, simply have a stranger walk behind the cow. Having someone unfamiliar to them positioned behind the cow will often get them started walking. Another option is to get a rope and put a big loop in it. Position the loop over the rear of the cow and pull on this rope instead of the halter – again, the cow has the feeling of being pushed instead of pulled.
During the entire breaking and training process, the cow should receive positive reinforcement when she is performing correctly. Use treats, such as an alfalfa cube, to reward the behavior. Scratch and rub the Dexter’s back as much as possible. This is the time for you to build a trusting relationship with the animal. See Picture 2 where the calf is well positioned.
Finally, the more people you can have walk the cow the better. This reinforces the concept that once on the halter the calf is required to act in a certain manner. We use our kids and other youth and rotate them repeatedly between the cows we are halter breaking. Using this approach, a cow might be walked by 3 or 4 different people in a short period of time. Again, some words of caution here – make sure the folks walking the cows are educated and prepared for any challenges. In some cases we will walk alongside the young person leading the cow with our hand on the halter also. In the event of a problem, we can quickly intervene and control the calf.
There are undoubtedly other methods that will work as well as what is suggested in this article. If you are committed to halter breaking your animals, find a system that you are comfortable with and stick with it. Every time you halter break a Dexter you will learn something and future training will be even more effective. We strongly feel the benefits of halter breaking and training to lead are significant and worthwhile. Begin slowly, be patient and positive, and you will be successful!

[noah]

Being new to Dexters, halter breaking was something to be considered. We purchased a 1 year old heifer and put her in a pasture with a small goat so she would not be lonely. She wasn't a problem, goat was. In less than a week we had a no problem putting on a halter and lead on her. Of course she bulked at first but in a very shor time she behaved. She has a very pretty heifer calf now that is also halter broken at age of two weeks. Start early and they will love you forever. We believe that easy and early will make the halter something they enjoy as we do walk them and graze them in some areas not often accessible. Slow works for us, also a prayer now and then as every now and then God's creatures want to show off a bit.
There is a story of the first birth but not now.

[Leonida]

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