This also teaches them to hold their head up after they are broken. It is easier to work with calves after they have been weaned and before they get too big. I grew up showing cattle and know that people have different methods. These are the methods that have worked for us throughout the years. We have broken and sold many calves to kids in the past four years, and before that we had to break them for our own showing.
Some calves are easier to work with than others, and some break a lot easier than others.
Halter breaking is the first of many practices that must be done to prepare cattle for show. The key to training a calf for halter breaking is to gain its trust. Once a calf trusts you, it is much easier to handle. We start by putting a halter on a calf and letting it drag it for a few days. This way, the calf learns when it steps on the rope, its chin gets pulled, and it learns what the halter is.