The animal learns that moderate and slowly increased pressure gives him time to consider his options.
Quality and timing of pressure The fi nal concept I would like to highlight in the
gentling process is the quality and timing of pressure and release that is necessary to gain their respect and cooperation. I call this prey-like pressure, because it seeks to
mimic the kind of pressure prey animals put on each other. At its core, it is slow in building to the point neces-
sary to bring about the desired movement, and quick to be released once the animal has made that choice. This is how learning occurs in low-stress handling.
The animal learns that moderate and slowly increased pressure gives him time to consider his options. His choice then becomes associated with the release of pressure. Ideally, this process is applied at the edges of the fl ight zone. While low-stress handling is conventionally used
for calm movement away from the handler, gentling requires a balance of this driving with drawing the animal to you. Again, this is achieved by fi rst moving the cattle
away from you in a confi ned area and then removing all pressure and seeking to approach them, slowly and indirectly. If they choose to run, the handler merely pushes
them on and tries again. Working in his favor is that cattle would rather rest, but will not if still afraid. This shifting back and forth between driving and drawing serves to reduce fear and encourage contact. Fundamentally, what is being built here is a re- lationship of confi dence. As the animal’s fl ight zone
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begins to shrink, it does so in the context of the han- dler’s ability to move the animal away. This ability to move the animal away is necessary so that as the animal becomes gentle, he doesn’t become disrespect- ful and dangerous. As cattle lose their fear and are being gentled,
they must acquire a cue to move away or the handler will, at some point, be at risk of injury. For example, without a strong cue to move away, it often becomes extremely diffi cult to move an animal against its de- sire to remain with the herd. Overall, low-stress gentling is acquired through
the choices made by the animal. There is no “learned helplessness” as is often the result of forcing the ani- mal against its will. I call this low-stress application to gentling “natu-
ral persuasion” because it tries, as far as possible, to work with the nature of cattle rather than against it. In many ways it may seem counterintuitive to drive cattle away before attempting to draw them in, but this is actually based on the herd practice of ranking and sociability. Over the past decade, I have found this gentling
approach to be an effective and effi cient tool in the effort to reduce psychologically-caused stress in the relationship between humans and cattle. I have found that with an hour or so a day of
this kind of work, you can transform the attitude of weanlings within a 2 week period; from that of be- ing highly evasive to being eager for human contact. This change lasts for a lifetime and benefi ts the cattle and the producer in countless ways.
April 2015 The Cattleman 93
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