Last weekend, I acquired a pair of 3-month-old Ayrshire calves. They are destined to become a working team of oxen. I have not trained oxen before, but we own a pair of fully trained animals, who are amazing. The calves, aka Nip and Tuck, had been started by the previous owner and have a small yoke.
Traditional ox training consists of using a small "goad", or whip, and teaching the animals to move away from it. The calves are not enjoying their training, which is no surprise. I had to chase them down to get a halter on them. No fun for me, either.
I first read Karen's book "Don't Shoot..." about 15 years ago and have used clicker trqining w/ dogs, so am anxious to try it w/ the calves. I have decided that I first need to develop a relationship of trust w/ them , so they are eating their sweet feed from feed pans in my lap.
I have been told that oxen should not be trained using food, because they will learn to expect it and not work, if it isn't offered. I am no cattle expert, but I am game to try this w/ the clicker.
Only thing about oxen that may complicate the picture is the part about getting them to work as a team. I am envisioning teaching them basic behaviors as individuals, but then will have to teach them to work in sync while in yoke. How am I going to utilize a clicker in that context? We'll see.
Looks like the pictorial horse training book will be a good reference for starters.
feed back from clicker training your ox
I am very interested in the idea of clicker training with cattle. I do not know either the basics of clicker training nor even training a calf or cow to halter. But...I do have a small herd of Red Poll cattle and love them. I fantasize about training up a pair of calves one day. I have a friend who might be buying a trained team of oxen to put in with our cattle. I have read on ox training and have decided that I want to go unconventional. I like the idea of a harness vs wooden yoke. Articles in Tillers International speak of the benefits of the harness: more comfortable for the animal; no horns needed for backing up; one ox can do the work of two in the harness; one can even use a cow; I think there were other benefits too, can't remember off the to of my head. I also don't like the idea of keeping an ox in a stall all night tied up or not out with herdmates for most of the day. I also keep my calves on their moms until they wean themselves naturally. No separation at birth to bottle feed and make them more used to us. I know this will make it harder to train them, but I have also read that in Africa they train up wild steers! I guess I have a womans perspective and soft heatedness to want all my animals to be as comfortable and "happy", I guess I mean that I want their lives to be lived most in accordance with their natures as possible. While all our cattle are named, they are not pets, we raise them for their meat. We might be getting a family milk cow in the near future too.
It's been a few years since the article was written. How did your project go? Any advice you can give me or resources to check out, I'd be delighted with the information.
Virginia
my e-mail address
virginia [dot] dawnswir [at] anarchycreek [dot] com
I live on central VA in the Blue Ridge Mtns
Clickers and Cows
I am leasing a 2 year old Guernsey X Jersey cow and have just begun clicker training with her. Cows have such good memories that they are super easy to train with clickers. I have had to use other techniques in the past due to respect issues but now tha tthe dangerous stuff is resolved and I have earned Angel's respect she has no problem working for me. At least not yet...
Hi
>>>I have been told that oxen should not be trained using food, because >>>they will learn to expect it and not work, if it isn't offered.
I won't claim to be an expert, I would just like to comment this. The quote above has been used by others about horses, dogs and almost every critter else, up to and including not paying children for doing chores.
Don't worry about it. As one do with dogs (and as Jenny says) use a variety of reinforcers, and keep the clicker and the treats out of sight as much as possible.
I look forward to hearing how you are doing...perhaps even seeing some videos (hint, hint) ;o)
Christina
Christina, Yes, that
Christina,
Yes, that food comment is a common one. I have plenty of tiem to figure this out, fortunately.
When I can figure out how to post a video, I will. I am new to blogging, just graduated from dialup to DSL. We are pretty rural and DSL just became available.
THanks for your support.
Nancy