Mason, a 14-month-old bull, was the fruit of a recent bovine-shopping spree. He’d never had a halter on, and when I tied his rope to the side of the holding pen, he bellowed, thrashed, and flew into the air as he fought the rope. This is the first step in bull training (or any cattle training.
Don’t wait to enroll your child in the 2024 Cow Camp. Registration closes on July 13.
With patient help from various teamsters, some decades younger than me, I got my first pair, Topper and Flash, to follow voice commands in the show ring and at home, but away in parades and outside the show ring, I never gave up on the lead rope.
Karen Meyers of WMUR visited Miles Smith Farm to learn how to train a calf. She got the basics and is on her way to becoming a "cow whisperer."
Many of the cattle I get are scruffy-looking things that have never felt a human hand. So, all my cattle go through my "training course." If they pass, I'll sell them as backyard pets. Folks in Florida, Virginia, Ohio, and California buy my tame cows, calves, and steers.
Farming is hard work but can be exciting and picturesque – especially for kids. Family farms are fewer these days, but plenty of grownups still cherish memories of sunny, sweaty summers amid crops and livestock.
