Understanding Cattle Means Understanding Their Stress

As if there wasn't already enough to do when in the cattle business, people are accepting more and more how badly it affects cattle when they become stressed. There is a whole list if issues that are stress related in cattle. Making life easier for cows is a way of saving money because these issues always cost some money. The stress will take a toll on the cattle and their health and growth. It can also take a toll on employees that become injured and equipment that gets damaged or wears out faster.

There are a few basic reasons why cows become stressed. Understanding a cows instinctual nature will help with knowing why they act the way they do and how to better deal with it. Being that a cow is an animal the most frightful and stressful thing to them would be a predator. Anything that makes them feel that they are in danger of a predator will get them worked up. If a person tries to herd the cattle by using what they interpret as stalking behavior then the cows will respond with their own avoidance methods or behaviors.

The natural way of a predator would be to walk a full circle around the herd, now if a person does this in a calm and slow manner it will then encourage the cattle to bunch together, which is good for moving them. It is when the cows are stressed beyond just being slightly anxious that there are problems. If the cows do become excited past the point of just uneasiness then they will need time to settle back down before another attempt is made to bunch or move them.

Because a cow will feel that there is a predator around when they are being bunched or moved, it is helpful to let them see who or what is doing the bunching. It is part of their natural instinct to want to see what is making them nervous. If they can see who or what it is, they will continue to move. When they can't see because what's bothering them is in their blind spot they will then turn and sometimes circle around to get a look. This can really slow things down when trying to get them going in a certain direction and can be remedied by moving through their blind spot regularly.

If a handler understands the idea that each time cattle get moved, they are learning something it helps with understanding why treating them a certain way is so crucial. There are tried and true methods that will get cattle used to being moved in certain directions, without undue stress.

 While these methods do usually take more time, the money that is saved has to be considered. When a cow is regularly handled well they will learn that they can live without worrying about being scared or stressed, and that makes life easier on everyone.