2. Lets start at the beginning
• Hi my name is Emma Kay, and I am currently completing
Certificate 11 in agriculture as part of my HSC and traineeship.
• During my first year of TAFE I have to complete many topics
including fencing, assistance in calving, identifying and treating
weeds and caring for livestock.
• My favorite topic was Handling Livestock.
• My presentation will show you the keys to success in handling
livestock.
3. Cattle breeds
• Firstly we were introduced to the cattle breeds.
• The breeds in Australia fit into the following categories:
1. Bos Taurus - these breeds originated in Europe.
2. Bos Indicus - these breeds originated in Asia.
Bos Taurus Bos Indicus
4. Dairy breeds
• World wide there are 11 dairy breeds. We have 7 in Australia.
Ayrshire
Illawarra Guernsey
Holstein
Aussie Red Brown Swiss
Jersey
5. Identify stock by age
groups
Calf Cow
Bovine
Female bovine who has had a calf
New born female or male
Cattle
Yearling Springer
Bull
Calf 12 months over Male bovine Pregnant bovine in the period from 3
weeks to calving
6. Mustering Organisation
A number of factors need to be taken into account when planning to muster
(i.e. bring together into a mob) stock, to ensure success.
• Number of stock in paddock.
• Condition of stock.
• Type of stock.
• Paddock types.
• Time of day.
• Weather.
Looking at type of stock - cows and calves need to be handled with great
care, if they are separated they get stressed and are hard to deal with so it
is important to give them time to find each other and regroup.
7. Understanding cattle
• Cattle have almost 360 degree panoramic
vision. So its hard to approach them without
them knowing.
• Cattle usually face the handler when
approached.
• However they have a narrow binocular field
but can discriminate most colours.
• This means they tend to baulk at shadows
or bright spots and aren't keen to move
towards dark areas.
8. Hints for the stock person
• Watch what is going on around you.
• Have a plan.
• Show enthusiasm and pride in your work.
• Harmonise with fellow workers.
• Work as a team.
• Make sure you know the paddocks on the property.
• Report to team leader anything that seems unusual.
• If you don’t understand directions, ask again until it is clear.
9. Entering the paddock
• Be observant.
• Make sure you see the cattle before they see you.
• Don’t make unnecessary noise.
• When the cattle see you give them time to see where you are.
• Then move into position and be ready to move if they move.
• Always show stock water when putting them into a new paddock.
• When handling stock anticipate because prevention is better than
cure.
10. Learning from the experts
• Have you heard of “Cattle Whisperers”
• They do exist
• Let me tell you about Bud Williams and his
techniques
11. Cattle Whispering – Magic?
• Bud Williams – the Cattle Whisperer is
a well known cattle handling expert
from Alberta, Canada
• What Bud does has been called
magic.
• But its not really magic - its
interpreting animal behaviour and
understanding the cause of behaviours
& underlying motivations for them.
• Lets have a look at how it works Image: http://www.cartoonstock.com/
12. Basic Instinct
Animals have 3 basic instinctive behavioural patterns to help them
avoid predators.
They are:
1. The flight zone and the tendency to face people and other
perceived threats.
2. The point of balance at the shoulder and its effect on
movement direction.
3. The tendency to bunch together when they are threatened.
Source: www.grandin.com/B.Williams
13. 1. FACE your FEAR
Turning and facing a
potential threat enables the
animal to keep track of
where the predator is.
14. Flight Zone
• Flight distance is an important concept in livestock handling. It
can be described as a circle of safety around an animal.
If handler stands
here animal will
If handler stands retreat
here animal will not
retreat
15. Knowing When & How
• When a person penetrates the flight zone, the animal moves away. A good stock
handler knows when to penetrate this zone and when to retreat so that the cattle
move quietly in the desired direction.
• Cattle move most effectively if they can see the handler at all times. Attempting to
drive animals by standing directly behind them is often not efficient because they
turn and look at the handler. A beast is best driven when the handler is situated at
a 45–60° angle from a line perpendicular to an animal's shoulder. This same
principle applies to driving mobs of cattle.
• The flight distance varies with the tameness of the animal. The distance may be
up to 200–300m for feral cattle, but for feedlot cattle it may be only 1–5m. Very
tame cattle are difficult to move because they no longer have a flight zone.
• If a handler shouts and excites cattle, this can enlarge the animals' flight zone.
17. • The point of balance behaviour pattern aids a grazing animal in
escaping
from a predator that is
chasing it.
• An impala chased by a lion will run In the opposite direction
when a lion passes it shoulder. This manoeuvre helps the
antelope to escape.
18. WALK DON’T RUN
• This same principle is also used to quietly move cattle both on
pastures and through cattle races.
• The main difference is that the cattle are moved at a WALK
instead of at a RUN.
• The animal will move FORWARD when a handler inside its
flight zone passes the shoulder going in the OPPOSITE
direction of desired movement.
19. Point of Balance cont..
• Looking from a side view, this means behind the shoulder.
20. Point of Balance cont..
• From the front, you can deflect cattle sideways by moving either
side of an imaginary line drawn through the middle of the
animal's length.
21. 3. Safety in Numbers
The third behaviour pattern is the tendency of
cattle to bunch together when there is a threat.
• A handler using either the windshield wiper
pattern or straight zig zag pattern can induce
cattle to quietly bunch.
• The handler must NEVER circle the cattle.
• The windshield wiper pattern MUST be only a
slight arc. This is much lower stress than
chasing cattle and acting like an attacking
predator.
• By mimicking the initial stalk of a predator the
cattle will come together.
22. Stimulus-response
relationship.
• the "stimulus" is a person who simulates predator "stalking
behaviour", which elicits predatory "avoidance behaviour" in the
cattle.
24. Predatory behaviour
First, the predator
locates the herd. Then it
begins a slow survey of
the herd by walking in a
circular direction around
the herd looking for
weak or old animals.
The behaviour of the
predator circling the
herd causes anxiety in
the animals.
25. Hard wired behaviour
• The cattle become uneasy over an impending attack by the
predator and begin to loosely bunch together.
• This is an instinctual HARD WIRED behaviour that is wired into
the animal's brain.
• This uneasiness and slight anxiety comes before the fear and
flight elicited by an actual attack.
• When the method is first used it triggers instinctual bunching
behaviour.
26. • The more a person works with the cattle, the
calmer they become and instinctual bunching
behaviour is gradually replaced with calm
learned behaviour.
• The handIer moves at a normal walking
speed (as a stalking predator would) and
there should be no noise such as whistling,
yelling, or whip cracking.
• Handler movements must be steady and
deliberate with no sudden jerky movements
or arm waving.
28. Step 1
Gathering and Loose Bunching:
This is the most critical step.
• The majority of the herd must be loosely bunched before any
attempt is made to move the herd. This is accomplished by
applying very light pressure on the edge of the collective flight
zone to induce the animals to move into a loose bunch.
• The handler should locate the majority of the herd and start
making a series of wide back and forth movements on the edge
of the herd. You should move in the pattern of a giant
windshield wiper.
29. The arc of the zig zag
movement must not
exceed a quarter
circle.
DO NOT CIRCLE
AROUND the cattle.
The movement should
be straight or a very
slight arc.
30. • The handler can induce the rear
animals to begin to move by
giving them a "predatory" stare.
This simulates the initial stalking
behaviour of a predator sizing up
the herd.
• The handler should keep
continuously moving back and
forth.
• If you stop moving and linger too
long in one animals' blind spot it
may turn back and look at you.
The handler should continuously
walk back and forth and move
enough to the side that the lead
animals can see him.
31. Stragglers will catch up
• Cattle that are off to one
side of the pasture will be
attracted as the herd
moves into a loose
bunch.
• Animals hidden in the
bush will be drawn out
because they seek the
safety of the herd.
• Do not chase stragglers.
32. Step 2
Initiating Movement:
When the majority of
the herd has come
together into a loose
bunch, increase
pressure on the
collective flight zone to
initiate movement in
the desired direction.
33. The “good” and the “bad”
• The handler continues the back and forth movements but presses closer to
the herd to induce movement. This will cause the herd to move forward and
begin to string out.
• Handlers need to differentiate between "good" and 'bad" movement of the
cattle. When cattle have "good" movement, they can easily be driven in the
desired direction. They will look like a group of animals walking to water or
making some other voluntary group movement on a large pasture.
• In a large group of animals, "good" movement starts with one animal and
additional animals will gradually follow.
• "Good" movement entices the other animals to follow, and bad movements
prevents other animals from following in an orderly manner.
34. Anxiety not fear
• It is important to remember before attempting to use these
methods that it is anxiety that makes this technique work and
NOT fear.
VS
35. When it all goes pear
shape
• when anxiety turns to fear – flight takes over
and we all know stampedes are not a pretty sight
Image: www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/
36. Weeding out the bad
• There are two types of "bad" movement;
running, cutting back, and other panic induced movements,
animals stop moving as an orderly stream in the desired direction
• Good movement can be disrupted when the animals are
attempting to locate the handler's position. This is a natural
anti-predator behaviour of prey species. They want to know
where the predator is and what its intentions are.
37. Animals will turn and look at
a person or a dog that is
either in their blind spot
behind their rear or is out
side their flight zone.
Handlers should not
remain more than
momentarily in any individual
animal's blind spot.
Walking through the blind
spot will not cause a
38. SQUEEZE /RELAX
To make the group move pressure has to be applied to both
the collective flight zone and individual animals within the
moving herd. When an animal or a group responds to the
handler's pressure on the flight zone, the handlers must
IMMEDIATELY stop forward movement or change direction
of movement to relieve pressure. This rewards the animal for
moving in the desired direction and the animal is more likely
to continue that movement. When the desired movement
slows down, the handler must apply pressure again.
39. Building Relationships
Every time you
are working your
animals you are
training them. You
can train them to
be easy to handle
and have good
movement or you
can train them to
be difficult and
have bad
movement.
Its your call.
40. Step 3
Controlling Movement
Direction:
• Animals must all be walking
in the same direction before
any attempt is made to
change the direction of
movement.
• When good movement is
initiated, the handler can
control the direction of
movement by moving to the
left to make the cattle turn
right and visa versa.
41. To continue
movement in the
desired direction,
the handler
continues to zig-
zag back and forth
behind the
animals.
42. Summary
• Triggering the animal's natural bunching behaviour gets the herd
together so that they can be moved.
• After the herd is bunched, the handler must use the principle of
pressure and release to keep the herd moving in a controlled
manner.
• When the herd starts to move in the desired direction, the handler
should retreat and reduce pressure.
• When the herd slows down, pressure must be reapplied. To keep
the herd moving in a controlled manner the handler continues to
alternatively apply and release pressure.
43. Instinct becomes learned
• When these methods are first used they work because they trigger
the animal's hard wired behaviour patterns that it uses to avoid
predators. At first, a slight anxiety is produced, but if the handler is
always calm, he/she can teach the cattle that they do not have to be
anxious. At this point learning will take over and the handler will no
longer have to rely solely on the animal's natural instincts.
• When cattle are moved on pasture, they can be taught that pressure
on their collective flight zone will be relieved when they go where the
handler wants them to go. A calm quiet handler can also teach his
or her herd that they will never be pressured to the point of being
frightened.
44. Take home message
• Every time you handle your cows you are training them.
• You can train them to be wild and stressed
OR
• you can train them to be calm and quiet.
• Start them young - train your calves so they can be handled
many different ways, such as on foot or with vehicles such as
four wheelers.
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way
its animals are treated” Mahatma Gandhi
