To Stress Or Not to Stress When Handling Cattle

 

Cattle stress is not exactly a hot topic unless of course you deal with cows on a regular basis. With the amount of beef and dairy products that are consumed in this country it is easy to understand that dealing with cattle is a big job for some people. It seems that there is always time for improvement in pretty much anything and handling cattle is no different. While there is no "cow-whisperer" at this point, looking to Bud Williams, a leading expert on handling cattle, will help to handle a cow with less stress.

Stress and time management or the lack thereof, seems to go hand in hand. When things are done in a rush it will make the time generally more stressful. This is true of many times in everyday life and true when handling cattle also. Stress makes it harder to get things done with cattle. It is a fact that calves will get stressed and therefore slow down their regular weight gain. If the movement of cattle involves excitement and wild running then mothers can lose their calves, and that is very upsetting for them.

When cattle run wildly it is also bad for business in other ways. Besides the cows becoming stressed and the aftermath of that, some will be injured. It is also more likely handlers will be injured with activity such as this. There is also going to be a much greater amount of wear and tear of equipment when cattle get wild and worked up. That means money and man hours being used to fix  and replace these things.

While the idea of taking more time to move cattle seems counterproductive to some folks, because time is money after all, it is a large part of why Bud Williams’s methods work so well. He takes the natural tendencies of cows and uses that to better handle them. It is simply more time allowed with calm, slow movement. None of the old scare tactics are employed such as hollering, loud whistling, and fast movements such as arm waving. Keeping things slow and calm will not make the cows feel that there is an impending predator attack.

These ideas work the best with cattle that are generally nervous at the mere sight of people. If cows are used to seeing people all the time then they will not be as easy to move in such a calm and slow manner that Bud espouses. It is those cattle that live out in broad expanse of pastureland and are completely away from civilization that are most responsive. Likely that is because the tamer cows have had the fear of predatory attack mostly bred out of them because it is so rare.