Years ago I had a man and his wife from Kentucky come up to buy a cow. Let me set the scene for you… he hopped out of his old truck and had a pair of bib overalls, no shirt, and his straw hat on. In between him spitting tobacco juice all over, running over the side of his face, he said to me, “You know, back at my dairy, I have had Holsteins and I have had Jerseys. Now if you hit a Holstein with a two-by-four over the head in the morning, she’ll forget it by the time you milk her in the evening. But a Jersey is like my old lady, you hit her with a two-by-four over the head, she won’t forget it the rest of your life.”

When you are training a mini Jersey, you have to let them know who the boss is, without being harsh. You need to be firm but loving.

On that note, feed is always your friend. It’s good for training cows. Give them a little feed to reward them for the behavior you want, whether it’s getting their halter on, coming to you, or standing with their head in the stanchion.

Training a bottle-raised heifer will be much easier than training a dam-raised heifer.  For more on why I prefer  to bottle-raise calves, read this post.

To halter train, tie the cow so she has enough room to lay down or stand up without getting caught. You can give them a little treat or grain. You can do that regularly, you can’t do it too much.

If you have a place that they can’t get hung up on and you can keep an eye on them,  you can leave the rope on them and let them drag it. It teaches them a little control, if they step on their own rope, they have to stop.

Another trick, if you have two heifers or cows, is to snap the two animals together. It’s a type of “push me – pull you training”. They will learn to follow the tension of the rope when the other animal moves. But again, be sure to watch them and be there with them. Just in case something goes wrong.

Remember that each individual cow/heifer is different. Some tame down a lot faster, some are strong willed. Right now, at Dexter Corner, we have one of each. Piglette was easier to halter train. Pancake, on the other hand, has her own mind. For some reason, she doesn’t want to let the humans have control. So train your cow the way that fits for them.