Use a catch rope instead of leaving cows haltered 24/7

[wyomama]

So, one of my pet peeves is leaving halters on cows all the time. It's just not safe! I use a catch rope. I almost always have one looped over my shoulder, or hanging on a nail somewhere. If you can get close enough to your cow to grab her halter, you can get close enough to toss a catch rope on. I rarely scritch or love on my heifers without the catch rope either in my hand or draped over their necks, so they associate it with very positive things.  

9 to 12' rope with a generous loop tied in one end.



I switched ropes so the pictures would have better contrast. Drop the loop over the cow's neck. If you drop it over to hang on the opposite side, it's super easy to turn them loose, so that's how I do it.



Grab the loop and hold onto it. 



Push part of the long end of the rope, close to the cow's neck through the loop to make a noose.



Slip the noose up over the cow's nose, and snug things up. 



And Voila!  - now lead her where you want to go.  When you get there, slide the loop off the end of her nose, and you'll be left just holding your catch rope.    As long as there is a little pressure on the lead end, it won't fall off, and you have some control over her nose, unlike with a collar. 

[daisyhill]

Cool! Thanks for the pictures. I use a rope around the horns a lot for a quick lead. For my polled girls, I have those rope halters which are easy to flip on, but the catch rope looks even easier.

[christybell]

Great idea! Especially for my DD as she can have a hard time with the end of the rope halter over her heifers neck while she makes sure she's actually putting the nose piece over the nose Lucky for her, the heifer is as mellow as they get and just stands there waiting!

[Meadow Creek Mama]

I love it! I've kept halters on them full time so far and have wanted to get them off! I'm going to try it.

[sheepherder]

Nothing unsafe about this style halter. Our girls wear them all the time, easy to grab and lead them. www.enasco.com/product/C14077N

[mommachick]

Feb 22, 2017 21:57:45 GMT -5 sheepherder said:

Nothing unsafe about this style halter. Our girls wear them all the time, easy to grab and lead them. www.enasco.com/product/C14077N

Do they have a breakaway feature to them? I've never had cows, but I have 1 of our horses that has to keep a halter on 24/7. The headstall is made of leather so that when she gets caught, the halter will snap before ger neck does. It has saved us a few times.

[justonecow]

Thanks for sharing this (especially the pics), something very helpful for us to be sure.

[susaq]

The only time I sent a cow out to pasture for the day with a rope halter on, she came back without the halter on.  I use catch ropes a lot. They are so easy to use. Used them on my horses also. Love the pictures!

[Tamara]

I have the benefit of easy to catch cows so generally I only have to leave halters on for a week or so while they are in training... I also tend to herd or lead with a bucket of feed rather than haltering where possible just because I'm lazy haha. Tallulah is so well trained that I only need to drape a rope over her neck and she follows me. Training to walk on a collar would have the same result, I'd really recommend it.

[lew92]

Very nice tutorial. Thanks, wyomama!

[simplynaturalfarm]

Those halters are some of the worst unless cinched so tight they leave marks. I've left them on , had them skip off narrow noses cows who then stepped into the nose with a foot and got stuck and needed to be cut out. But I have never had success with the figure eight halters staying on well. If they don't fall off, they start to embed themelvs in the cows nose. I admit though my cows have unique heads.

[grassfood]

Thank you! We have a nylon halter/rope, but I never thought of making one like this out of a regular rope. Such a good idea.

[Debbie Lincoln]

I am in the group who cringe when I see halters left on animals as I have two good friends who both lost animals when a nylon halter got caught. I have a leather collar on Sophie and she leads with my hand tugging on it. If it gets caught in something, it will break.
And I have used the catch rope on the surly heifers. Usually a treat will get them close enough to me to drop the noose

[goatsncows]

Great tutorial, thanks!

I do leave a halter on currently even though I know from having horses its not safe to leave it on, I don't have another feasible option atm as I use it to tie up my cow for milking (don't have a stanchion).

May go and get the leather type that break when caught once everyone is back on pasture. For now, they don't leave the barn much. Too muddy.

[treatlisa]

The other problem that I see with halters left on is that the nose band is sometimes too tight - my personal pet peeve. ( well, one of them.) I find myself zooming in on pictures of cows with halters trying to determine if it IS tight or just LOOKS tight from the picture... If anyone leaves halters on in spite of wyomama's excellent advice - PLEASE check to make sure they have enough room to chew properly without cutting into their nose or chin.

[katie k]

This brings to mind the thread about the choking, drooling cow, which turned out to be a halter put on too tightly by a WOOFER! Nadine came with a nylon horse halter which never fit her too well, and after I found it on the barn floor with evidence of struggle in the bedding, I started taking it off at night. MY husband bought one of the Nasco type shown above, but I always felt it had to be too tight to work properly, and it didn't have a break-away. Although the pasture is in sight of the house and not shrubby, I was still nervous, so I replaced a part of the horse halter with a one inch loop of baling twine, figuring she could snap that if need be. I think having a halter on all the time must be like never getting out of a bra! Thanks for the catch rope instuction- thats what I'll do for the next girl-still looking!

[simplynaturalfarm]

My tildy has a permanent 1/2 inch deep groove from a halter left on her before I got her. When we picked her up, it had grown INTO her nose and her sinus cavity. We figured we could cull her if it affected her ability to eat or produce. Every time I pet her, I think of that halter. I left a halter on my first girl (the figure 8) and the ring under her chin grew into her chin and rubbed her oozy and raw in about 2 weeks. Being a horse girl, I can't fathom leaving a halter on anything. After watching cows cud a lot, I was able to see there are very few halters that are wide enough to allow decent cudding and also be safe - if they are loose enough to cud, they will often slip off or may get a hoof in while grazing. The exception is adapting an adjustable horse halter that has adjustable chin strap, but I still won't leave a halter on. I would rather bribe with food bucket than have a halter on. I will take a bucket and put a loop around bucket and if a sneaky critter doesn't want to be caught I just slip the rope on their neck after their head goes into the bucket. Then lead them wherever. If I can't catch after working with them, they become beef.

[wyomama]

I don't mean to be unkind, but the simple truth is it takes 2 or 3 seconds to put a halter on. If you are using a rope halter, it doesn't even take that long. IMO leaving a halter on because you use it every day would be like not wearing a seatbelt because it's too much trouble to put it on and take it off. Yeah, maybe nothing will ever happen, but if it does, the cost could be pretty high.

[corrae]

I just loathe halters left on--ANYthing...horse, cow, sheep, goat...etc. If you absolutely want to leave something on, a collar is a safer alternative...but really. Put some effort into training your cow, building a relationship...I bought an adult cow off a dairy. Never been haltered, much less touched (other than milking in the dairy) in her life. She was VERY skittish, totally unfriendly, and there was no way to catch her, or halter her, without running her into a small corner pen. Guess what? I spent time with her. I made sure every time I had to run her in that tiny pen (at least twice daily for milking) she got tailhead scratches, some grain, and a few kind words. Now I'll be the first to admit that Miss Martina is NOT a pocket lovey-dovey sort of cow, BUT--she is catchable, tie-able, and halter broke. And she does not EVER wear a halter for any extended period of time.

[Tamara]

The longest I've ever had an animal wear a halter 24/7 was when I was trying to wean Ginger... she wore a weaning halter for about 3-4 months I think. It was a heavy duty nylon cattle halter with a heavy piece of rubber on the front. Didn't ever cut into her face but it did rub the fur off the bridge of her nose. I imagine the halters that cut into the flesh must be very tight? I just attempted the use the same weaning halter on Nimue and the next day she turned up with it just hanging around her neck with the piece of rubber mysteriously missing but screws still in place.