Importance of Effectively Handling The Herd

When working cattle at weaning, keep in mind stress greatly affects the health of animals.  Understanding and implementing effective handling helps cattle but also can reduce your stress during these busy times.  Curt Pate is probably best known for his exceptional horsemanship and ability to properly handle cattle.  But in 1998, the lifelong rancher served as the equine technical advisor and consultant for Robert Redford’s “The Horse Whisperer”.

Pate said understanding how to put the proper amount of pressure on cattle will help in the efficiency of working your livestock.

“There’s three kinds of pressures that we use when working with animals, we have a driving pressure, we have a drawing pressure and we have a maintaining pressure.  If we can learn those three things we can work cattle pretty effectively.  So, it’s all about teaching people how to put the proper amount of pressure on animals to get the job done but to not stress them while we’re doing it.”

Pate encourages cattle ranchers to find enjoyment in working with their cattle.  You might even boost your profits along the way.

“The cattle person sometimes, they are, it’s almost like it’s not a fun thing for them to do.  If they would just change that mindset and enjoy their work with animals like a dog lover or a horse lover, it can increase your income because you’re doing what you like to do.”

For more information on proper cattle handling techniques, visit Curt on his Website.

If you have a story idea for the Washington Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail gvaagen@cherrycreekradio.com