Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 August 1869 — How to Break Steers. [ARTICLE]

How to Break Steers.

Some time since I saw the question .diked through th Farmer, if there was not some better way of breaking steers than yoking them, and whipping and pounding them until they were broken in ambition, constitution, and" everything that goes to make a good work ox. Now, I propose to give a method that I have practiced for thirty-five years. In the tit st place, make a yard forty feet square, with a straight fence, and so high that the wildest steer will hot think of gettingout. Now, put two or four steers into the yard ; then take some corn, and a cord, and pet them until they are not afraid of you. Then take your whip, a stalk five or six feet long, with a lash three or fo’iir feet long, and start one of the steers. He will go next to the fence; when he comes to the corner, put out your whip and cry, “ Whoa!’’ He must stop, for his head is against the fence. Now, pet him a little; then drop your lash lightly on his left ear, and say, “ Haw!” which he lias to do if he goes along. Keep on in this way, and in a short time you can “ Haw’’ him around under the whip. Now, “Gee” him around in the same way, till you can “ haw ” and “ gee ” at will. Then, step off a few feet, and call one by name, and with a motion of your whip bring him to yon.. Then, step a little further oft', and continue to do so until you can fetch hnn to you anywhere in the yard. While at work with one, if he gets excited, leave him and take another. Then take your yoke ; take out the near bow, and tie a rope fifteen or twenty feet long in the near bow-hole; put the yoke on him, and keep hold of the rope, so that he sha)^ not hurt himself or the others. If he is afraid of it, let him work with it till he gets over it. Then put it on another, and let them draw each other around. Let them all have a • turn at it. Then, yoke them together; fetch them to you to yoke; yoke and unyoke, and yoke on either side; drive them in the yard until you can back, gee and haw them at will—which you can do, if you keep cool, and work mildly, with light blows, till he known what you leant. Then, if you have an old yoke of oxen, bring they into the yard; hitch them together, and drive them around the yard a few times; then open your gate, and take them out. They may bound; a little at first, but will soon miifd you as well out of as in the yard. - Try it, farmers, and my word for it, if you want a yoke of gentle, quick, lively cattle (if you are mild, and follow the df- 1 rections), you are sure to have them.— W. C. BoR, in Kantat Farmer.