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Cow Collars
- Thread starter hooligan
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Imissmygirls
Lonley for cows
I used collars or halters on all our pastured 4H animals to make it easier to catch them on pasture. Nylon belting worked best and was washable.
use sheep halters for baby jerseys or dog collars.
Use foal/horse halters for older calves/cows- loose enough on the nose to fully allow grazing/chewing.
You will need numerous sizes as the animal grows.
And if you have nothing else, a piece of baler twin works well so long as it is knotted securely so it does NOT get smaller if the animal pulls.
Personally, I prefer the full halter for nose control. Just make sure it is sized correctly and there is nothing for the animal to get it caught in in the pasture.
I'd cut those belts so you don't have long pieces hanging to get caught in things
use sheep halters for baby jerseys or dog collars.
Use foal/horse halters for older calves/cows- loose enough on the nose to fully allow grazing/chewing.
You will need numerous sizes as the animal grows.
And if you have nothing else, a piece of baler twin works well so long as it is knotted securely so it does NOT get smaller if the animal pulls.
Personally, I prefer the full halter for nose control. Just make sure it is sized correctly and there is nothing for the animal to get it caught in in the pasture.
I'd cut those belts so you don't have long pieces hanging to get caught in things
Sara
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I have collars on some beef cattle I have here at home. I use them to chain them in the head gates we have so that I can feed them individually. It's easy to walk down the row and just clip a chain to the collar They are also halter broken.
There is a link on the American Dexter Cattle Assoc. website for halters for small calves. Believe me, Dexter calves are small! I have a seven month old heifer calf that I put in a regular small calf halter and had to put 8 inches of holes in it to make it small enough. Can't imagine how big it would have been had I tried it earlier.
My Jerseys didn''t wear halters, only collars. I kept a collar on one, with a Swiss cow bell. That is an easy way to keep track of your animals.
Nowadays, I use the same bells on my sheep. It makes them easy to locate.
Nowadays, I use the same bells on my sheep. It makes them easy to locate.
I have used nylon for my cow collars. I have both the dog collar style, reflective for finding in the dark! On the Dexter heifer, 18months, we just buckle two dog collars together with her bell on them. She wears the bell strictly for locating her if she should get out. AMAZING how easy it is to lose a brown cow in brush!!
We used the nylon snap dog collar on the calf, with a nylon strap for holding his bell on. It was a size large from the Dollar store, worked very well.
I also have the regular nylon cow collars from the farm store, heavy hardware and a couple inches wide. I DO like those collars for tying them up! 4-H Fair requires all cattle to wear a halter and cow collar or neckrope, be tied with two ropes for safety. And I saw a LOT of the cattle take off those rope halters that slide to fit. They would have been loose to wander if not restrained with two ropes!!
I figure the dog collar with bell would break with light metal buckles or break the nylon snaps if cow got hung up in anything out in the pastures. Cow is NOT going to break loose wearing the nylon cow collar, they are stuck until found or dead.
I like the nylon because I can toss it in the washer, comes out clean and fresh. Needs no attention like leather does.
Our cattle only wear collars when outside, gets removed daily when we bring the cows inside for the night. Extra handling pays off in many ways. I just picked up my heifer from the farm with bull. She has been "free" pretty much no contact by humans except to get a pan of grain daily set out for the 4 bovines. He keeps them out in a big field, does no handling, no barning at all. He got heifer separated and into a box stall. Said once he pulled on the dog collar out in the lane, she was a peach for haltering, led easily into the barn and stall!! I was quite surprised, thought she would be much more difficult to catch and maybe forget halter training after such a long visit and no handling.
We slipped our halter on her in the stall, led her out to the trailer and she loaded right up. Daughter tied her and walked out, shut the trailer door. Same ease of handling when we got home, unloaded walked into her stall and got busy eating. She will be getting a couple days of dragging a rope from her halter, to ensure being easy to catch each day. Once back on our daily schedule, she will be easy to manage again.
I use the slip rope halters for leading in and out of the barn each day. If I plan to leave them tied up for practice, bathing, we get out the nylon strap halter with the X under chin. She has rubbed the slip rope halter off a time or two while learning to drag the lead rope. Don't want her loose in the barnyard!
My pastures are pretty darn clean, no branches, nothing to get snagged on, for animal safety. Horses will find SOMETHING to hurt themselves on if possible, so horse safe is fine for the cows!! But I still want daily-wear collars breakable enough to prevent injury or death. Collar will hold if I want to grab the cow for a moment to halter her or lead her out of the way, all the strength I need. If I am tying someone up, cow or horse, I want them to stay tied until someone comes back to get them, regardless of what is going on around the animal. Those halters and cow collars are built to hold ANGRY animals, won't break.
The belt with metal squares could be a cute item, but daughter has a similar belt and those squares came off pretty easy. The bent over prongs are not strong, do not pull off clean all the time. cows rubbing on stuff will not leave the belt nice very long. You may have some sharp objects inside the belt, against the cow skin, making sores or holes. I try to look over each animal daily, and removal of collars is part of that. Just leaving the collar on all the time, could cover quite a lot of skin area that has problems developing that you can't see until collar is removed.
We used the nylon snap dog collar on the calf, with a nylon strap for holding his bell on. It was a size large from the Dollar store, worked very well.
I also have the regular nylon cow collars from the farm store, heavy hardware and a couple inches wide. I DO like those collars for tying them up! 4-H Fair requires all cattle to wear a halter and cow collar or neckrope, be tied with two ropes for safety. And I saw a LOT of the cattle take off those rope halters that slide to fit. They would have been loose to wander if not restrained with two ropes!!
I figure the dog collar with bell would break with light metal buckles or break the nylon snaps if cow got hung up in anything out in the pastures. Cow is NOT going to break loose wearing the nylon cow collar, they are stuck until found or dead.
I like the nylon because I can toss it in the washer, comes out clean and fresh. Needs no attention like leather does.
Our cattle only wear collars when outside, gets removed daily when we bring the cows inside for the night. Extra handling pays off in many ways. I just picked up my heifer from the farm with bull. She has been "free" pretty much no contact by humans except to get a pan of grain daily set out for the 4 bovines. He keeps them out in a big field, does no handling, no barning at all. He got heifer separated and into a box stall. Said once he pulled on the dog collar out in the lane, she was a peach for haltering, led easily into the barn and stall!! I was quite surprised, thought she would be much more difficult to catch and maybe forget halter training after such a long visit and no handling.
We slipped our halter on her in the stall, led her out to the trailer and she loaded right up. Daughter tied her and walked out, shut the trailer door. Same ease of handling when we got home, unloaded walked into her stall and got busy eating. She will be getting a couple days of dragging a rope from her halter, to ensure being easy to catch each day. Once back on our daily schedule, she will be easy to manage again.
I use the slip rope halters for leading in and out of the barn each day. If I plan to leave them tied up for practice, bathing, we get out the nylon strap halter with the X under chin. She has rubbed the slip rope halter off a time or two while learning to drag the lead rope. Don't want her loose in the barnyard!
My pastures are pretty darn clean, no branches, nothing to get snagged on, for animal safety. Horses will find SOMETHING to hurt themselves on if possible, so horse safe is fine for the cows!! But I still want daily-wear collars breakable enough to prevent injury or death. Collar will hold if I want to grab the cow for a moment to halter her or lead her out of the way, all the strength I need. If I am tying someone up, cow or horse, I want them to stay tied until someone comes back to get them, regardless of what is going on around the animal. Those halters and cow collars are built to hold ANGRY animals, won't break.
The belt with metal squares could be a cute item, but daughter has a similar belt and those squares came off pretty easy. The bent over prongs are not strong, do not pull off clean all the time. cows rubbing on stuff will not leave the belt nice very long. You may have some sharp objects inside the belt, against the cow skin, making sores or holes. I try to look over each animal daily, and removal of collars is part of that. Just leaving the collar on all the time, could cover quite a lot of skin area that has problems developing that you can't see until collar is removed.
Ariel301
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Metal or plastic chain is also common for collaring dairy goats. They don't slip through a ring like a choke chain though, they are connected with a solid connector so they can't choke the animal. They are harder to break than nylon or leather collars, they don't really wear out as fast, so that makes them popular when you need a lot of cheap, sturdy collars.aggieterpkatie said:
chickenzoo
Overrun with beasties
I know they sell horse collars, i use them on my horses as I got tired of regular halters rubbing their nose. It has a ring on it also for clipping a lead onto.
