Livestock Expert Looks At How Handling Has Evolved

Best practices in animal livestock handling have evolved through the years.  Dr. Temple Grandin, renowned animal behavior expert and Colorado State University Professor, talks about the number one thing producers must do when handling their animals.

“First of all, people need to calm down, because when cattle get all scared and excited, it takes 20 minutes to calm down," Grandin said.  "The next step is that you need to learn some of the basic behavioral principles, like how the flight zone works, the point of balance works, and working on the edge of the flight zone. Then, when they move where you want them to go, back off. Also, removing distractions from facilities. You bring cattle in, and they stop halfway up the chute, then they might see a reflection on a vehicle's bumper. Well, then move that vehicle. Or a little piece of string, something like that, will stop them. Take those distractions out of facilities. Those are just two very, very simple things.”

Calm Down, Stop Yelling

She said the way producers move around their animals is also important.

“I showed a little movement pattern when you walk back by the cattle in the opposite direction to get them to go forward," Grandin added.  "That can help in getting them to move forward in chutes. Those are just real simple things people can start to do. And no yelling. Calm down. Stop the yelling.”

When it comes to some of the biggest changes in animal handling over the years:

“People have gotten a lot better. A lot less prod use is calming everything down," she said.  "They're sending their people out for training. There are a lot of workshops that are being put on, on low-stress handling. There have been a lot of improvements in the last 20 years of handling. That's the thing that's improved. That's the bright spot.”

More Work Needs To Be Done

However, despite the gains, Grandin said there are still some things to work on.

"People’s awareness is one of them. Also, I think you need to measure things. So, I'm very concerned about this lameness that slowly got worse," she said.  "It has a very strong genetic component. The heart failure problems that I discussed in my talk used to just be high-altitude sickness at 10 or 12,000 feet. Now it's happening at much lower altitudes. There have been a number of researchers who have shown that it has a genetic basis. Anecdotally, the feedyards that do beef on dairy, which is an Angus by Holstein cross, have traced late-stage deaths, which are congestive heart failure deaths.”

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