Best way to tame the calf?

[NATIVO]

Our new calf has been pretty wild since the day she was born.
We let her run loose with her mother and that's most likely the problem.
(mother is a very tame milk cow). Should I seperate them to calm her down? Or will she tame down on her own?

 

[Farmer Kitty]

You need to spend time with the calf. Petting her, haltering her (if you intend for her to lead), just handling her. Whether you leave her with mom or not is up to you but, you need to spend time working with the calf to tame her down.

 

[Thewife]

I don't tame my pasture babies to be petted or halter broke.
I do wander close to them, until they look like they are going to run, then I turn and walk away. I talk to them, using their names over and over! I slip them an extra hand full of feed when I can.
It takes awhile, but if I can build some trust, in the end they know their names and are usally eaiser to work with!

 

[Farmer Kitty]

I don't tame my pasture babies to be petted or halter broke.
I do wander close to them, until they look like they are going to run, then I turn and walk away. I talk to them, using their names over and over! I slip them an extra hand full of feed when I can.
It takes awhile, but if I can build some trust, in the end they know their names and are usally eaiser to work with!

But, your dealing with beef and she is dealing with dairy. An animal she is going to want to have more hands on later. If she tames her down as a calf she doesn't have to fight a wild cow later. Not saying she should spoil her but, she should work with her so the calf learns to trust her.

 

[Thewife]

That makes sense!

I don't like mine too tame. The one I over did it with, likes to be petted and does not move when I need her too!
If do need to help calve, help a calf nurse or catch one without the whole herd, my taming method works well for me!(usually)

 

[wynedot55]

she needs to start spending time with the calf.halter it an rubb on it.an work slowly with her.an she should gentle down nicely.

 

[jhm47]

Occasionally a calf is born that is just plain wild. They stand with their heads up and stare at you. I believe that this is genetic, and a throwback to when cattle were truly wild, undomesticated animals. Usually these type cattle are not able to be "tamed" as such. Some breeds seem to have more problems with this than others. The worst breeds seem to be: Salers, Chianina, Charolais, Galloways, Limousine. Of course, there are exceptions in each breed, and even some of the most docile breeds will have a wild one sometimes. The worst breeds mentioned above will often have very tame individuals, so there is no hard and fast rule on this.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Occasionally a calf is born that is just plain wild.

I think this happens more in beef breeds than dairy breeds. Her calf is a dairy breed that has been nursing so, they aren't getting the contact with her as they would hand raising her.

Not to say that you can't get a wild, untameable one in dairy but, in 20 years with our own farm, we have only had one. I tried and tried but, couldn't tame her. I had told DH to ship her when she was born because you could tell right away that she wasn't going to be tameable. His brother told him to ship her. He didn't. When she was in the pens as a young heifer she would climb the walls when you walked into the barn! She ended up dead out in the pasture-if I remember correctly it was a case of she broke into the corn silage pile and ended up laying with her back downhill and couldn't get up. Probably for the best as I'm sure she never would have broke for milking and it would have been an awful tramatic experience for her.

 

[wynedot55]

when we was milking cows.we milked a few wild cows over the years.but our barn was a harringbone.an the wild 1s wasnt to bad.i dont think we ever had to sale a cow because we couldnt break her to milk.

 

[jhm47]

When I was in high school (loooooong ago), we had a 1/2 Holstein, 1/2 Guernsey cow. She was extremely wild, and would kick till she fell down sometimes. My Dad milked her, since I couldn't get close to her without getting kicked. We often had to drop her to the floor to milk her. By the way, do any of you know of the old rope trick to make a cow fall down without choking her or causing pain to her? I learned it in 4-H when I was a member. It has come in very handy over the years.

If any of you are interested, I could start a post and tell you how to do it.