Training cattle to ride

farmerjan

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What other cattle do you have? Do you raise any for your own beef? I mostly raise jersey steers and jersey angus crosses for my own beef. Like the flavor and leanness of the jerseys . Have eaten mostly all jersey beef for 30 years. We sell a few animals every year for beef and they are mostly angus and angus crosses.... some are hereford/angus or a few times there is are angus/red poll crosses. I also have jersey cows for nurse cows and raise baby calves on the nurse cows.
 

farmerjan

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Also, where are you located? General area..... you can put it in your profile so that we get a general idea of your area, the weather, the pluses and minuses of the area. You will see many of us have our area/state in our profiles. Then when someone is talking about snow and another is talking about the 80 degree heat wave, we can relate to the area that person is in. Plus , if the world ever gets back to normal, you might be close to someone else and can maybe meet in the future. There are a couple of us here in Va that plan to meet up in the spring if at all possible. Several of the Texas members have gotten together in the past. Nice to be able to meet and get together with like minded people that understand what you like.....
 

Spokeless Wheel

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I wanted a horse and my dad gave me a Black Angus heifer calf to raise when I was a kid. I played with her (Ferdinanda) all the time. As a baby I would stand over her back with my feet on either side of her and pull her around left and right with her halter. When she got too tall for me to stand over I started teaching her to neck rein by leaning the rein on her neck and pulling her around me with the direct rein from the other side. I did this in both directions till she got very proficient at it. I got her use to blankets over her back and later even a pony saddle strapped on. As she got older I added a couple of feed sacks with some feed in them and draped them over the saddle so she got use to some weight and the shifting. weight. I would spent lots of days and tons of hours hanging out in the fields with her. She was my pride and joy! By the time she was old enough to ride she was a pussycat and had all the groundwork done. I also taught her to jump. I was a kid and that wasn't the best thing to teach a beefer. lol But I loved jumping her when she was old enough to ride. Hope this helps. Brought back some fond memories for me
 

beefalocindy

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Most any animal is capable of being trained it is a pressure release system. be it cow or horse. you trained it to lead same thing. Turn head both ways and lean over back or straddle back rub your legs on that side all over. Mount from both sides. constancy is the key. If your start do, it a few minutes every day. lots of interaction is needed lengthen training time as animal gets older. Also most importantly go out with a plan and work to achieve that plan. Always end on a good note and a treat is in order too.
 

Nao57

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A separate but related issue is to address what kind of weight threshhold is needed first for the animal to be at to safely do this without causing some health problems. With horses, its considered necessary to not try to ride them too young that you cause them to be ruined.

I don't know what the weight threshhold for young cows would be, but I just hope this is thought of. (I wonder if you are thinking of training them with lighter non-people weights first, and working it up until the real thing?)

But this isn't criticism. And I wish anyone luck in looking at this. I don't know if it will work or not, but hope for happiness.
 

Baby Duck

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A separate but related issue is to address what kind of weight threshhold is needed first for the animal to be at to safely do this without causing some health problems. With horses, its considered necessary to not try to ride them too young that you cause them to be ruined.

I don't know what the weight threshhold for young cows would be, but I just hope this is thought of. (I wonder if you are thinking of training them with lighter non-people weights first, and working it up until the real thing?)

But this isn't criticism. And I wish anyone luck in looking at this. I don't know if it will work or not, but hope for happiness.
yes, I have been thinking of the weight threshold. He won’t be mounted until he’s a lot bigger. I’m the lightest person that lives here, and I don’t think my weight will be a problem. When researching it, I think it said about half their weight is the limit. Not positive though.
 

Baby Duck

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What other cattle do you have? Do you raise any for your own beef? I mostly raise jersey steers and jersey angus crosses for my own beef. Like the flavor and leanness of the jerseys . Have eaten mostly all jersey beef for 30 years. We sell a few animals every year for beef and they are mostly angus and angus crosses.... some are hereford/angus or a few times there is are angus/red poll crosses. I also have jersey cows for nurse cows and raise baby calves on the nurse cows.
I have another Holstein cross heifer. She is for milk, offspring will be raised for beef.
 

Baby Duck

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Also, where are you located? General area..... you can put it in your profile so that we get a general idea of your area, the weather, the pluses and minuses of the area. You will see many of us have our area/state in our profiles. Then when someone is talking about snow and another is talking about the 80 degree heat wave, we can relate to the area that person is in. Plus , if the world ever gets back to normal, you might be close to someone else and can maybe meet in the future. There are a couple of us here in Va that plan to meet up in the spring if at all possible. Several of the Texas members have gotten together in the past. Nice to be able to meet and get together with like minded people that understand what you like.....
Near Columbus, Georgia.
 

Baymule

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I vote for making him a steer for safety reasons. Cattle are notional as it is, toss big testicles in the mix and you have a thousand plus pounds of hormones that are a ticking time bomb. You have received some very sound advice from some very experienced people, people who have been there, done that, walked the walk and have years and years of experience. He can be fine for a long time, but someday, something will click in his bovine brain and he will do what bulls do.

If he is to be used for breeding, that makes him even more unpredictable. If you want a riding animal, train the cow. Or keep a bull calf from her, make it a steer and train it to ride. Then you get a riding animal and get to keep your breeding stock.

 
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