i have been showing beef catle for many years at local and national primestock shows. Some of the cattle are homebred in which case i halter them young that way there isnt as much fight in them but most of the cattle are 450-500kg when we halter them and it is dangerous work and i was wondering if someone knows of a safe and fool proof option other than brute force and determination. 

We always try to have a cow that we milk for the house as we are so far from a town. As English people we have to have milk in our afternoon tea at 4pm whilst we think wistfully of our Dear Queen.

Our current cow is a Red Angus / Fleckvieh Simmental cross. A big girl, and not the kind of cow, to look at, that you would associate with tethering and hand milking. She could probably pull a plough.

The best way is to halter them from the first week. Leave the halter on them, the leather ones are best for this. Take them for walks every Sunday afternoon like a dog, lead them around and be firm but kind and in no great hurry. A long job, but it pays off in the end, a cow that is this tame is so much easier to do anything with, plus we are the milkman's worst customer!

Davie,

I'm guessing you already use the trick of putting the halter on and letting them get used to it without handling them. Failing that, tie a decent piece of tractor inner tube to a stantion or wall and then halter the beast to it and leave them for a few hours to get used to the idea. This gives them chance to take out all their frustration without posing any danger to you or anyone else.

Hope this helps, I'm no expert, but the above are proven techniques

following on from top tups advice, Leave them tied to a strong post for a while each day and once they get used to this, stand between the animal and the post so it looks like you are the one holding it. Also you can then lead it round the post but it wont be able to pull away. Obviously you will have to ensure the beast cant injure itself while tied up. 

Some quick tips on training a range of animals to do simple tasks can be found in the online video here:

www.pighealth.com/MEDIA/P/BOOKS/pet.htm

 Question that arises is what would you give a cow as a quick reward?

Pigs will work for raisins and horses for mints,

but what do cows go crazy for?

 Here's anouther video on Halter breaking, it refers mostly to show cattle but is good nonetheless

http://www.24-7agtv.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_seyret&task=videodirectlink&Itemid=0&id=54