Calves calmly walk past Burkholder as part of their exercise program. Cattle become accustomed to a person on foot, and Burkholder gets the opportunity to look at each calf for health problems.
Burkholder exercises calves fi rst thing in the morn-
ing. She opens the gate of their pen and asks them to leave the home pen and then travel down the alleyway to the main corral. The furthest pen is about a half- mile trip, one-way. “While in the corral, I do different things with the
cattle, depending on how fl ighty or comfortable the animals are,” she says. “I try to let the animals dictate what they need, so each pen can be different.” In the corral, Burkholder — who is on foot — asks
the animals to walk past her using the appropriate body position in relation to the calf. “We have a straight alleyway in the main corral, and
I ask them to walk past me. Approaching and retreating from them gives the calves the opportunity to go past.” This teaches the calves not to be afraid of someone
on foot in the pen and gives Burkholder an excellent opportunity to look at each calf for any health concerns. In the meantime, Burkholder’s feed crew delivers a
receiving ration to the feed bunk of the calves’ home pen. When the cattle return, breakfast is waiting. “It really helps those babies to leave the pen and
look for momma. They realize she’s not there and go back into the pen to fi nd everything that they need
64 The Cattleman September 2013
is right there. I think that is a pretty powerful tool,” Burkholder explains. “Those animals are walking the fence line. You
want them to have purposeful movement, go to the feed bunk or water trough and then relax and lay down. We also put mineral licks in the pens. Most of my cow-calf guys do that at the ranch, so the cattle are used to it. They’ve seen it before. They know what to do. It’s a comfort thing.” Burkholder says within just a few days, she sees
a big difference in newly arrived calves. Her years of experience with the process prove it helps fresh cattle settle in their new environment. “I’ve done this a lot over the years. When the cattle
are new, they have all this energy to leave the pen, all this energy to go away from the home pen,” she explains. “When you put them back, there is not as much energy to leave. As you go through the acclima- tion process, it switches.” As quickly as Day 2, calves start to learn the pro-
cess, she explains. After just the second trip to the main corral and back, most calves head directly to the bunk and begin to eat. “There is less energy to leave and more energy to
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