Steady As She


T


HE ABILITY TO MOVE CATTLE IN A CALM WAY HAS RIGHTLY been held out as a desirable stress-reducing im- provement in the management of cattle.


Largely overlooked, however, has been a serious


focus on the psychological changes in cattle that result from controlling their movement in a calm but fi rm way. This is something I have been concerned with for


more than a decade. I have experimented with the various techniques and attitudes that bring about a change in the desire of cattle to evade a handler to one of wanting to be in his presence. In this article, I will outline some of the attitudes and techniques I have


90 The Cattleman April 2015


found to be helpful and discuss why they are both ef- fi cient and effective. Calm movement is the clear goal of low-stress han-


dling as it is practiced today. When applied repeatedly to a group of cattle, there


is a desensitizing effect to the presence of humans and a resulting degree of stress reduction. However, the cattle still remain fundamentally sus-


picious and evasive toward handler contact. Clearly, another step is needed to take cattle to a greater degree of stress reduction, especially for cow-calf producers who must work closely with a herd over its lifetime.


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