Livestock Management RANCHING
that temperament is a very heritable trait.” Ranchers will attest to this, especially if they’ve
kept daughters (or sons) from cows or bulls with bad temperament. The offspring generally inherit poor disposition from the obnoxious parent. “We know that not only the stress of environment
is affecting these cattle, but there is also a genetic as- pect. In our data so far, it seems that the window for potentially changing or infl uencing cattle temperament is early in life and not later,” says Bohnert. It’s much easier to “gentle” them as calves or wean-
lings than when they are mature and already set in their ways or have learned bad habits. Cattle experi- encing humans for the fi rst time as yearlings or older present a tougher challenge in trying to gentle them. The Oregon study showed that early handling, par-
ticularly low-stress handling — so the animals don’t have a bad experience — really works. “The question then, is can a producer afford to do this, bringing heif- ers in multiple times just for training purposes without actually working them?” Usually the time and labor constraints make this
diffi cult. The heifers’ fi rst experience going through the chute is when they have to be vaccinated, tagged,
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branded or some other procedure. This sets the stage for heifers, especially the wilder ones, to be reluctant to enter the corral or chute the next time, and to be more diffi cult to handle in the future. “In our research setting we showed that you can
work with heifers (using practice runs through the chute without doing anything painful) and infl uence their future reactions. But from a practical standpoint, not many producers will do this. So what we recommend is that when a person goes out to check on heifers or feed them, don’t just dump the hay and leave. Get off the 4-wheeler or out of the truck or tractor and walk around for a few minutes and let them get used to hu- man interaction,” he says. It pays to get them accustomed to seeing people on
foot. This can be as simple as walking back along the group of heifers after feeding them. The fl ighty, scared ones may take a few sessions before they settle down. They may need a little more “space” at fi rst, but will eventually become more at ease with seeing someone up close — without running off. They need a few non- confrontational and painless interactions. Next month, read about measuring temperament and the effect of temperament on weaning rates.
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62 The Cattleman November 2013
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