by Megan Lawrence
CNHI
Parson, Kansas —
With consumers becoming more interested in how livestock are handled and raised, producers need to find solutions to satisfy their customers as well as remain profitable. Low-stress management is an option which meets the consumer and the producer needs.
“There are two reasons why cattle producers need to implement low stress management in their cattle herds,” Curt Pate, clinician for Stockmanship and Stewardship, a program under the Beef Quality Assurance, said at the recent Leavenworth County Beef Improvement meeting held at the J & N Ranch near Leavenworth, Kansas. “The first reason low-stress management needs to be considered is the consumers are demanding it. Ninety seven percent of consumers are concerned if the meat they buy was humanely treated. The second reason is profit for the producer. Not only is this method able to increase consumer confidence in beef production, but in turn it will also increase profit for the producer while decreasing veterinarian costs. It will also decrease the number of dark-cutters at the processing plant.”
According to Pate, in order for cattle to reduce their stress during handling, producers need to train their cattle what will be expected from them when they leave their current facilities.
“Cattle need to practice going in and out of corrals and the chute,” Pate said. “They need to get used to being worked with on a daily basis in order for them to be able to adjust when they leave. Cattle are either in survival mode or growth mode and can never be in both modes at the same time.”
Producers need to remember when cattle are in survival mode everything else shuts down and in order for the vaccinations and medicines to work the cattle need to remain calm, according to him.
“Producers need to learn to be stockmen and retrain how they handle cattle,” Pate added. “Producers have three forms of communications which can be used when working with cattle: loud, sharp noise—which scare cattle, low noise— which does not bother the cattle and touch—in certain situations the producer needs to be able to touch the cattle while working with them without being kicked.”
When using this method the producer needs to know when to apply pressure and when to release pressure.
“One thing producers need to keep in mind, if the animal feels more pressure being applied to the front of them, than there needs to be the same amount of pressure being applied to the back of the animal,” Pate explained. “The more an animal understands what we want the easier they will work.”
Pate recommended producers look at their pastures as a big round-pen and start working with their cattle on how to handle pressure. When training cattle, he suggests, to start with replacement heifers and in four to five years the producer will have a herd that will work for them.
“Low-stress management is teaching your animal if they respond to the pressure than I (the producer) will let you (the animal) take the pressure off by yourself or I will take if off,” Pate said. “This method allows the animal to think through the process before reacting.”
If cattle expect pressure they will be able to handle it much better, according to Pate.
Low-stress management is training cattle to understand when the producer steps into the flight or pressure zone (meaning they will step in the middle of the animals to change their minds) to get the animal to go where the producer wants them to go. However, when the producer uses the balance point (when the producer walks to the cattle from the side further back) they move away from the producer.
“Cattle need to learn to walk by the producer without being afraid, so the handler can be behind the animal and not worry about the animal becoming tense,” Pate said. “Producers need to also keep in mind, cattle like being in a group, so when trying to move a group of cattle have all of the them together before applying pressure. When trying to make the calf move make them think it is their idea to move in a certain direction this will make it easier to move the calf.”
Producers should not jump in front of cattle to slow them down, according to Pate, but rather walk with the cattle to slow them down.
“Being able to slow your cattle down and stopping them allows the producer to direct the calf where it needs to go,” Pate added. “When working with the cattle in a chute, have the chute set up where the calf can either go back where it came from or at least go to be with other cattle.”
Low-stress management is not about not applying pressure, according to Pate, but knowing when to apply pressure at the right time.
The most important part of low-stress management, according to Pate, is the producers need to be able to take a step back and remove the pressure if something is not working and reevaluate the situation before trying a different approach.
“Many times when working with cattle, the producer is going to be wrong before he or she is right and the stockman needs to remember this when working with cattle and to take a step back and try again,” Pate concluded.
