Rural Heritage June/July 2026

doing that. My only half-joking suggestion is to have a friend watch you and click a clicker every time the rope comes up tight. Get used to that clicking sound or stop tugging on the rope. Halters in Public An additional reason to use halters is to have an emergency brake as the animals are being trained but also keeping in mind that the halter is only used as a last resort. Teamster Andrew Van Ord jokingly describes it this way: “You'll see people hanging on the rope and I guess it's part of my childhood trauma … once they got a little bit reliable, we didn't have (the rope) in our hands anymore. We tied a loop in it and hung it on the bow or hung (it) on the britchen. You didn't want to let dad catch you letting that rope come up taut. It was one thing to have it in your hand, but it should always have slack in it unless they are trying to run away.” Continuing this line of thinking, several living history farms, either by policy or practice, keep halters on their animals whenever they are interacting with the public. If that’s going to be the way an animal is worked, starting the training with a halter makes good sense.

Training Jersey heifer calves in halters at a 2025 Tillers class.

Five-week-old Devon calves with collars and the lead wrapped on the yoke.

Rural Heritage

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