Need advice on Halter Breaking a 3 year old, Dexter Cow
May 22, 2020 9:38:22 GMT -5
dexterranch likes this
Post by medley on May 22, 2020 9:38:22 GMT -5
Hi all! I'm looking for advice/suggestions on how to train/halter break my Dexter. When I bought her I knew I'd have at least a month in training because she's never been handled. She's due to calve late June/early July so I'm hoping to gentle her by then. This will be her second calf. Fiona comes from the milking Dexter lines. I'll try and get a photo of her uploaded later after work.
Fiona arrived at my place Sunday (5/17) and I've kept her in an 8x16 stall. I let her in and out of the barn at certain times during the day, lock her in at night. I built a 16x16 cattle panel pen off the back of my barn for her.
Like I said, she hasn't been handled. And I knew that when I bought her. She's used to being around people - her previous owner just didn't handle his Dexters or Kerrys aside from calling them for hay/grain and trailering. Fiona follows me, but won't let me touch/brush her. She backs away. Not as much as she did Sunday-Tuesday. I've started hand feeding her hay and apples as treats and at first she wouldn't come. Wednesday she came right over. Thursday I fed her hay while standing in the 8x16 pen but didn't touch her. I've also forked manure with her watching from the barn door - she can come in and sniff me and the fork and then backs away.
What else should I be doing? Should I leave her penned up and not let her in and out of the barn? Do you recommend halters with the control chain or rope halters to start out? Fiona's previous owner just broke his 12 month old Dexter/Kerry cross and it took him a month.
My field is growing like crazy and Fiona knows it too. I'd like to get a halter on her because then I can lead her to and from grazing. I used to stake out my Jersey and it worked well with her training.
I raised Jerseys and Jersey/Dexter crosses for seven years and halter trained my calves. I'll admit this is different than my friendly, curious Jerseys. But I purchased Fiona because she's smaller than a Jersey so more economical and I wanted to raise beef with the option to milk if I wanted to.
Fiona arrived at my place Sunday (5/17) and I've kept her in an 8x16 stall. I let her in and out of the barn at certain times during the day, lock her in at night. I built a 16x16 cattle panel pen off the back of my barn for her.
Like I said, she hasn't been handled. And I knew that when I bought her. She's used to being around people - her previous owner just didn't handle his Dexters or Kerrys aside from calling them for hay/grain and trailering. Fiona follows me, but won't let me touch/brush her. She backs away. Not as much as she did Sunday-Tuesday. I've started hand feeding her hay and apples as treats and at first she wouldn't come. Wednesday she came right over. Thursday I fed her hay while standing in the 8x16 pen but didn't touch her. I've also forked manure with her watching from the barn door - she can come in and sniff me and the fork and then backs away.
What else should I be doing? Should I leave her penned up and not let her in and out of the barn? Do you recommend halters with the control chain or rope halters to start out? Fiona's previous owner just broke his 12 month old Dexter/Kerry cross and it took him a month.
My field is growing like crazy and Fiona knows it too. I'd like to get a halter on her because then I can lead her to and from grazing. I used to stake out my Jersey and it worked well with her training.
I raised Jerseys and Jersey/Dexter crosses for seven years and halter trained my calves. I'll admit this is different than my friendly, curious Jerseys. But I purchased Fiona because she's smaller than a Jersey so more economical and I wanted to raise beef with the option to milk if I wanted to.
