This is something I have wondered at least since childhood. Why do some bulls have metal rings in their noses? You go to a farm or a cattle ranch, and you see this phenomemon.
Interesting story, someone actually answered this question when I was still in grade school. But I was daydreaming, so I missed it. (I didn’t daydream often in school, but this time I was.) I just know it signifies something, but I have no idea what.
Thank you all who reply:)
The rings allow you to lead the bull around. You pass a rope through the ring, and use it as a leash.
The nose is sensitive enough that the bull will, for the most part, go where you lead. Try putting a regular collar or harness around the neck of a one-ton bull and pulling it. If the bull decides it doesn’t want to go where you’re leading, you’re out of luck. Also, the nose is sensitive enough that pulling on the ring can help keep the bull in line if it gets a bit feisty.
Cecil touched on this. It makes it easy to lead them around.
I once saw a guy in México City leading a bear around in a similar fashion.
We have a temporary nose ring ‘clip’ we use when running cows through the chutes. It’s a sensitive area and instruction given there is obeyed better than anywhere else. If you need to examine teeth to age them, lead them, whatever, it’s the best instruction point.
An old farmer told me that you could clip a short length of chain to the ring and a bull who lowered his head to charge would step on the chain and pull up short. After a while you could take the chain off and it would still have the same effect. It’s probably not true, but I enjoy the story. It’s kind of interesting to think of the things you don’t do because you got hurt once while doing them, and whether there’s a real reason to avoid them.
They’re the married bulls. 
An uncle who farmed and raised cattle told me it was also the last line of defence if you were charged by the bull. If you could grab the ring and twist it, the bull was putty in your hands. At the time, it didn’t occur to me to ask what would happen when you let go of the ring, as you’d have to do eventually.
You hold onto the ring, pull the bull over to a fence or gate, get yourself on the other side or the barrier while still holding the ring, and then let go.
I’m wondering just how one grabs a ring that’s affixed to a charging bull.
quickly.
people think that Square Dancing started as American variations and mixture of European dance styles. that is not true, it really is slow speed ritualized bull dodging maneuvers.
Like with many types of animal control it is fairly basic - first you need elementary understanding of animal’s drives which is really not difficult… using force via nose ring is a last-ditch and usually effective effort.
I believe I recall from somewhere or other (sorry, no cite right now) that a bar of wood or metal was used instead of a rope. Leading a bull with a rope, even one attached to a nose ring, does not prevent him from coming toward you and committing mayhem. A bar allows one to hold the bull at a safe distance while leading it.
Seems like that would work exactly once. When the bull steps on the rope/chain the piercing gets yanked out, bull gets a bloody nose and cries like a little girl for an hour. Then nobody ever gets near him again to re-do the piercing.
If you need to lead a horse, and don’t have a bridle handy, you put one finger in each nostril and use it’s nose to pull it where you want to go.
No, not really.
Being able to use a bar “hold the bull at a safe distance” is just beyond the strength of most people, compared to the bull’s strength.
What the bar does do that a rope won’t is push against you when the bull comes toward you, so that you notice his movement right away. With a rope, you wouldn’t feel that movement as soon. But this only matters if you are being inattentive; a bad idea when leading a bull!
I can’t say I’ve ever seen it, but then my experience of bulls being led is limited to show bulls like this. It seems that bars have been used, though.
When I was a farmlad, we knew that removing the second horn was always a lot more difficult than removing the first one. Because after you removed the first one, the animal understands what’s going on.
This is why you never tie a bull up by his nose ring only, always have a halter on him as well. If the bull gets agitated for whatever reason, he’s likely to rip the ring out. Which means not only is he now loose, but also in pain and probably looking for someone to take it out on.
It’s a bad idea to trust any bull, and you should always have an escape route or a safety refuge if you’re working with one. According to statistics, vets working with cattle are injured 1.3 times per year. I don’t know what counts as an injury, I certainly get kicked and squashed a lot, and I’ve had a few scalpel cuts (squatting behind a bull calf with a scalpel in one hand and grabbing his testicles with the other is quite a vulnerable position). My only close call with a bull was actually whilst ringing him. That day I learned the important lesson never to trust that an animal is tied up properly unless you have tied the knot yourself.
But would it really be a matter of strength? It seems to me that, if you’re using a bar, any attempt by the bull to lessen the distance between you and him would result in the ring being painfully pushed against his septum, and the harder he pushes the more it would hurt.
Exactly. You’re not using the bar in a pushing contest, your hands/arms against the bull’s total strength. You’re using it to manipulate that ring in his very sensitive nose.
