Low Stress Animal Handling: Why we do what we do

Dr. Michelle Calvo-Lorenzo Author

09/02/2020 Added

265 Plays

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Dr. Calvo-Lorenzo from Elanco Animal Health discusses low stress animal handling and the benefits of using them.
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[00:00:00.910]Good morning and good afternoon, everyone.
[00:00:02.900]I'm very excited to be here with you all
[00:00:05.400]in the 2020 UNL Open House,
[00:00:07.770]that's in its new virtual setting.
[00:00:10.100]And although we can't all come together,
[00:00:12.210]I think there's a lot of wonderful speakers,
[00:00:14.430]you've got on the panel for today.
[00:00:16.620]And I'm very honored to be part of that group of speakers,
[00:00:20.370]to talk about the very important issues
[00:00:22.190]that we continue to talk about in our beloved beef industry.
[00:00:25.560]So as mentioned in the introduction,
[00:00:27.510]my name is Michelle Calvo-Lorenzo,
[00:00:29.620]and I'm the Chief Animal Welfare Officer,
[00:00:31.380]at Elanco Animal Health.
[00:00:32.700]And I'm especially delighted to talk with you all,
[00:00:35.210]about low stress cattle handling.
[00:00:38.790]So for today, as you can see from this presentation outline,
[00:00:43.750]I'm gonna be talking a lot more about the,
[00:00:45.890]why we do what we do when it comes to cattle handling.
[00:00:49.710]And I'm gonna touch a little bit,
[00:00:51.200]on the what in the house,
[00:00:52.740]but I felt that that's, those concepts are a lot more
[00:00:57.540]easy to understand and apply on the farm,
[00:01:00.460]when you can go to a workshop,
[00:01:02.080]where these handling techniques and strategies
[00:01:04.490]are demonstrated,
[00:01:05.920]or when you can work with a consultant,
[00:01:07.950]or an expert out in the field,
[00:01:09.500]is there so many wonderful cattle handling experts out there
[00:01:13.630]when they can come to your facility,
[00:01:15.300]and work with your cattle, with your facilities,
[00:01:18.290]with your people in your teams,
[00:01:20.000]and also within the environment,
[00:01:21.630]which you all work together to raise cattle.
[00:01:23.790]And so in a virtual setting
[00:01:26.270]that approach in discussing
[00:01:27.690]that what and how isn't the best.
[00:01:29.290]So I wanted to take this opportunity
[00:01:31.350]to really talk more about why?
[00:01:33.460]Why what we do works?
[00:01:35.550]Why what we do gives us the impacts we hope to have?
[00:01:38.620]The positive ones or why sometimes we get
[00:01:40.900]the negative impacts that we don't want,
[00:01:44.250]and ultimately too why this all matters?
[00:01:47.330]Why we talk about cattle handling
[00:01:48.970]whether it's the first time you're hearing about it today,
[00:01:51.450]or it's the hundredth or the billionth of time,
[00:01:53.640]you've heard about it today.
[00:01:54.890]Why as an industry, we have to continue to talk about
[00:01:57.350]all of these different important topics to enhance,
[00:01:59.870]how we raise cattle every single day,
[00:02:02.330]not just for the benefit of the cattle,
[00:02:04.340]but for the benefit of ourselves
[00:02:06.080]and the people that work on our operations every single day.
[00:02:11.300]So to get started, let's talk more about low stress handling
[00:02:14.670]and what it is, exactly.
[00:02:18.950]So when we talk about low stress handling,
[00:02:21.410]we're talking about handling principles,
[00:02:24.350]that are really based on the core understanding
[00:02:28.320]of not just cattle behaviors,
[00:02:30.550]but how cattle as biological organisms
[00:02:33.230]actually see the world around them.
[00:02:36.060]And so what we know is that cattle are prey species, right?
[00:02:40.080]We can be perceived as predators, right?
[00:02:42.500]And they themselves are the prey species.
[00:02:45.110]And over time, as we've domesticated cattle,
[00:02:48.470]we've seen that their behaviors have evolved,
[00:02:51.120]to help them survive, right?
[00:02:52.880]Protect them, it's what they do to protect themselves
[00:02:55.450]from predation.
[00:02:57.020]And so, there's a lot of literature
[00:02:59.940]and a lot of great knowledge in this space,
[00:03:02.190]where we understand these different behaviors,
[00:03:04.480]which we call predator avoidance behaviors in cattle,
[00:03:08.030]and many of these behaviors are hardwired
[00:03:10.640]or what one would call instincts for cattle.
[00:03:14.230]And what's also something that folks may not always realize
[00:03:17.300]is that some of these behaviors, yes,
[00:03:19.040]they're fixed meaning that they will always,
[00:03:22.510]perform them like instinct such as turning
[00:03:26.910]and facing you when you are within
[00:03:30.040]the presence of cattle, right?
[00:03:31.670]They'll turn and face you,
[00:03:33.160]but there's other behaviors that you can actually change
[00:03:36.120]over time and change with different experiences,
[00:03:40.370]such as keeping that safe distance between themselves,
[00:03:43.850]as cattle from you or other handlers.
[00:03:46.350]And that distance can actually be very dynamic
[00:03:49.360]and in a good way, it can be minimized.
[00:03:51.860]And in other ways it can be really maximized
[00:03:54.340]and lead to more temperamental animals.
[00:03:56.510]So I'll talk a lot more about that safe distance,
[00:03:59.630]in a few minutes,
[00:04:00.530]but just want you all in the audience to understand
[00:04:03.710]that a lot of these behaviors, again, come from a large,
[00:04:07.150]large realm of literature and research,
[00:04:10.840]and that, again, these behaviors are hardwired
[00:04:13.390]and instinct for many standpoints,
[00:04:15.990]but some of them can be developed,
[00:04:18.010]some of them can be learned
[00:04:19.520]and some of them can be improved if we do things right.
[00:04:24.960]So how does it work?
[00:04:26.200]This idea of low stress handling,
[00:04:27.780]I'm sure many of us have heard this term many, many times.
[00:04:31.410]How does it itself work?
[00:04:33.999]Well, this low stress handling concept is really
[00:04:37.420]what one could call a stimulus response relationship
[00:04:40.893]whereby you the handler are the stimulus,
[00:04:43.620]you're triggering a response in the cattle, right?
[00:04:46.410]And your animals, and they then respond.
[00:04:49.340]And that's kind of that relationship, very simple,
[00:04:51.990]black and white simply put.
[00:04:54.060]And so the handler stimulates,
[00:04:56.240]and a response from the animal.
[00:04:57.640]But when we think about low stress handling,
[00:05:00.040]there's a lot of misperceptions in terms of,
[00:05:02.600]how you stimulate that animal.
[00:05:04.560]And really the idea behind low stress handling is that,
[00:05:07.190]when you as a handler want to stimulate a response,
[00:05:11.670]you stimulate a little bit of anxiety in your cattle, okay?
[00:05:15.620]And note key here, as you see in bolded letters,
[00:05:20.020]the key here is not to stimulate fear,
[00:05:22.490]not to stimulate flight and not to stimulate any panic
[00:05:26.090]or stress in the animal,
[00:05:27.280]this is why we call it low stress, right?
[00:05:29.830]So the idea here is to,
[00:05:32.470]stimulate a little bit of anxiety in the animals,
[00:05:36.410]and as a hardwired behavior,
[00:05:38.120]those animals will respond to that
[00:05:39.840]because they're prey species, right?
[00:05:41.930]So this anxiety, when you stimulate it appropriately,
[00:05:46.310]it works not stimulating fear, Okay?
[00:05:50.170]Stimulating a little bit of anxiety works.
[00:05:52.530]And we minimize getting to that point,
[00:05:55.050]of stimulating fear by eliminating noise,
[00:05:58.490]eliminating any aggressive or strong paces
[00:06:02.830]or approaches towards cattle or animals,
[00:06:05.710]by minimizing sudden movements,
[00:06:07.800]and also eliminating any distractions,
[00:06:10.990]that cause cattle to bark,
[00:06:12.770]cause cattle to become more stressed or agitated,
[00:06:16.050]or more panicked and fearful.
[00:06:17.740]So we wanna minimize all of those things
[00:06:19.930]we know that cause fear,
[00:06:21.690]so that when we're interacting with cattle
[00:06:23.610]and we do it appropriately,
[00:06:25.060]we stimulate a little bit of anxiety to get their attention
[00:06:27.930]and get them to respond.
[00:06:29.380]And then we reward them when they do what we need them to do
[00:06:33.300]so that we don't hit that level of fear
[00:06:35.870]or panic in the animal.
[00:06:38.920]And you as a handler will see that,
[00:06:40.260]the more you work with your cattle,
[00:06:42.170]and many of you probably know this way better than I do,
[00:06:44.630]but the more you work with your cattle,
[00:06:46.970]the calmer they become,
[00:06:48.660]and more of these learning behaviors develop,
[00:06:52.220]that help continue to promote
[00:06:54.260]a positive human animal interaction.
[00:06:56.430]And these animals learn to trust you,
[00:06:58.420]they learn to understand what the routine is
[00:07:00.280]and how to continue working with a person
[00:07:03.280]in a low stress manner.
[00:07:06.230]So I just wanna take the next couple slides,
[00:07:09.680]to just talk a few essentials about low stress handling,
[00:07:13.250]kind of your key takeaways, I guess,
[00:07:16.410]in terms of low stress handling now that we know what it is
[00:07:20.560]and why and how it works.
[00:07:23.410]But some of these essentials I found in articles
[00:07:26.090]that I thought were outstanding.
[00:07:27.300]So I wanted to make sure I share these with you all,
[00:07:30.350]as kind of key takeaways.
[00:07:33.130]First off, one of the primary things
[00:07:35.700]that many experts talk about,
[00:07:37.550]is making the first experience,
[00:07:39.360]whenever you interact with your cattle, a positive one,
[00:07:42.680]because we know that positive low stress experiences,
[00:07:45.870]impact cattle behavior.
[00:07:47.670]And as I mentioned earlier,
[00:07:49.480]it helps them develop those learned calm behaviors.
[00:07:52.950]And the more you do it, the easier it is to work with,
[00:07:56.050]those animals over time.
[00:07:59.280]And it's also clear that we know,
[00:08:02.120]especially throughout the literature,
[00:08:04.170]that experience and how those animals experience
[00:08:08.000]those interactions with you and interactions through
[00:08:10.370]moving new facilities and things like that,
[00:08:13.800]that it really rounds out how
[00:08:15.840]and why cattle act the way that they do, okay?
[00:08:19.680]So making that first experience a positive one
[00:08:21.730]is really, really important.
[00:08:24.210]The next essential I'd like to just briefly touch on is
[00:08:27.810]acclamation, helping cattle become accustomed,
[00:08:32.270]to handling and how you're gonna work with the cattle
[00:08:36.680]and hopefully a low stress manner.
[00:08:39.250]And so with this essential, the goal here
[00:08:42.870]is to acclimate cattle, especially after a transition,
[00:08:45.730]or if they're new or just born on the operation,
[00:08:48.220]you wanna take time to work with these cattle,
[00:08:51.730]in a consistent manner.
[00:08:53.910]This is known to reduce stress,
[00:08:55.640]essentially you're training the animals,
[00:08:58.940]to be able to understand how they're gonna interact with you
[00:09:04.080]and how they need to understand,
[00:09:07.280]what it is you want them to do,
[00:09:08.650]which way to move?
[00:09:09.970]Which direction to move towards?
[00:09:11.680]How to get through a facility.
[00:09:13.870]All of those things are really important
[00:09:16.010]that you do those early on,
[00:09:18.350]especially with excitable or temperamental cattle,
[00:09:21.900]because the more you work with these animals
[00:09:23.920]and take the time to do this prior to an event,
[00:09:26.700]or prior to a very important time,
[00:09:30.440]like when you've got a process the cattle,
[00:09:32.170]or vaccinate the cattle, or get them ready to ship,
[00:09:35.020]whatever the case is,
[00:09:36.750]you don't wanna to wait until that moment,
[00:09:38.580]to acclimate the cattle.
[00:09:40.430]They don't know what to expect and facilities
[00:09:43.680]and surroundings will be new, which may elevate stress.
[00:09:46.080]So taking the time to work with cattle daily,
[00:09:48.910]is really important.
[00:09:50.190]And another key thing is, when you do work with them
[00:09:53.220]and they understand the process, and they understand
[00:09:55.740]that you coming into their home environment,
[00:09:58.540]isn't going to cause that fear and stress and that
[00:10:01.350]they're gonna survive at the end of that interaction.
[00:10:05.360]When they know that,
[00:10:06.630]they can be relaxed in these surroundings.
[00:10:08.880]And when they're relaxed, it's much easier for you,
[00:10:11.280]the caretaker to pick up any signs of illness or sickness
[00:10:15.750]or any indicators that are worrisome
[00:10:18.230]that you may have to address.
[00:10:19.520]So relaxed animals are really really important,
[00:10:22.890]from that evaluation standpoint as well.
[00:10:25.300]And you can get there by having the animals feel comfortable
[00:10:29.330]and not panicked or fearful
[00:10:31.060]every time you interact with them.
[00:10:33.120]And another key goal of acclimating or training cattle,
[00:10:37.020]with respect to low stress handling is consistency,
[00:10:41.020]consistency in how you interact and communicate,
[00:10:43.610]with those animals is really really important,
[00:10:46.580]in achieving this essential here.
[00:10:49.840]It helps build trust between you and those animals,
[00:10:52.670]which ultimately leads to more positive handling.
[00:10:58.250]Another essential is to, as I've mentioned before,
[00:11:01.170]minimize anything that we know is fearful
[00:11:03.730]or stressful for animals and two things
[00:11:05.650]that we've got listed here are noise and distractions.
[00:11:07.750]So again, I'm gonna touch a little bit on that,
[00:11:10.700]throughout the presentation,
[00:11:11.920]but eliminating any loud noises or distractions
[00:11:15.000]and using again, calm approaches with animals,
[00:11:17.680]is really, really important so that everything else,
[00:11:20.690]that you're doing with those animals,
[00:11:22.330]is productive and effective.
[00:11:26.500]This next essential here talks about
[00:11:28.250]applying pressure properly.
[00:11:30.030]And I'll talk just a little bit about
[00:11:32.230]the pressure and release system,
[00:11:34.910]that is recommended by numerous experts
[00:11:38.990]throughout the industry.
[00:11:40.210]When we look at understanding cattle behaviors
[00:11:43.030]and principles on how to work with those behaviors
[00:11:46.070]to have cattle respond appropriately.
[00:11:48.960]So again as I've mentioned,
[00:11:50.610]the goal and how we interact
[00:11:52.690]or apply pressure to cattle, right?
[00:11:54.630]That stimulus, as I mentioned before,
[00:11:56.360]in that relationship of low stress handling,
[00:12:00.070]is to stimulate a little bit of anxiety in our animals,
[00:12:02.640]not fear and not flight responses, right?
[00:12:05.900]So we can apply pressure properly
[00:12:09.600]by simulating a little bit of that anxiety
[00:12:12.080]We can also control animal movement and lead them,
[00:12:15.650]by again applying pressure appropriately,
[00:12:17.900]and I'll talk with some images a little bit later
[00:12:21.010]on what that looks like,
[00:12:22.330]but talking about the flights on the point of balance
[00:12:25.680]and blind spots, those are a lot of different strategies
[00:12:29.300]and concepts that we typically use in low stress handling.
[00:12:32.140]You may have heard those terms before,
[00:12:34.860]but those are actually again well used
[00:12:38.600]and effective when we work with those things appropriately,
[00:12:42.570]and again applying pressure properly.
[00:12:45.100]And last but not least,
[00:12:46.200]how we present ourselves as handlers,
[00:12:48.560]whether it's our position and our posture and our movement,
[00:12:52.310]all of that ultimately results in,
[00:12:54.870]what cattle do in our presence.
[00:12:56.540]So cattle movements really are on us,
[00:12:59.400]they're our responsibility, right?
[00:13:01.200]They're domesticated animals and the rely on us,
[00:13:03.680]their human caretakers for all of their needs.
[00:13:06.470]And so therefore, as handlers,
[00:13:08.570]we've got to make sure to take that responsibility,
[00:13:10.990]one step further and make sure,
[00:13:12.600]that every time we interact with cattle it's appropriate
[00:13:15.550]and it's not even just where our bodies are positioned,
[00:13:18.350]but it's our posture, it's how we demand leadership,
[00:13:22.290]with these herds in our posture and our movement
[00:13:25.880]and how we interact with these cattle as well.
[00:13:31.172]And the last essential I just wanted to share here,
[00:13:33.110]is keeping control and making sure that again,
[00:13:36.240]when you communicate with your animals,
[00:13:38.460]you have clear, consistent ways of communicating to them
[00:13:42.670]and establishing leadership.
[00:13:44.550]When that's there and it's clear to animals, you know,
[00:13:51.280]you are here and yes, you may be perceived as a predator,
[00:13:55.110]but you are only going to take these animals,
[00:13:57.420]from point A to point B
[00:13:58.560]and they're gonna survive that whole process,
[00:14:00.340]and they learn that that's what happens
[00:14:01.910]every time you interact with them,
[00:14:03.920]it'll allow them to relax.
[00:14:05.830]So it's important to be very clear and consistent
[00:14:07.990]in how you communicate with your animals
[00:14:10.660]and not confuse them with bad techniques or mixed messages.
[00:14:14.270]So getting back to applying pressure,
[00:14:16.450]it's important to know when, where,
[00:14:18.567]and how to apply pressure, and also why, right?
[00:14:21.760]Because that's all part of this relationship,
[00:14:26.770]that we have in these human-animal interactions.
[00:14:29.570]So, knowing that you will typically use
[00:14:31.840]the least amount first and then escalate as needed,
[00:14:34.670]in an appropriate way.
[00:14:35.970]And then as I'll talk about later,
[00:14:37.590]release that pressure when that desired response is obtained
[00:14:40.580]as a reward to cattle.
[00:14:41.860]And that's how they'll know that they're gonna survive,
[00:14:44.120]and that you truly are not a threat to them,
[00:14:46.780]as a typical predator would be in and out in nature.
[00:14:52.010]So, just a couple of secrets,
[00:14:53.660]before we move into cattle behaviors.
[00:14:56.350]But really there's a few secrets that I found
[00:14:59.120]that I think are worth sharing, first is that,
[00:15:01.320]we think about the low stress handling techniques,
[00:15:04.150]again, understanding why cattle act the way they do,
[00:15:07.410]is really really key.
[00:15:09.010]And once you, as a cattle caretaker handler,
[00:15:11.530]know that knowledge or have that knowledge,
[00:15:14.420]you're then going to hopefully find ways to apply
[00:15:17.450]that in a way that helps you ask cattle what to do,
[00:15:20.440]not force them to do what it is that you need them to do.
[00:15:24.310]It's better for them and it's better for you as well.
[00:15:29.840]Another important point or secret is that,
[00:15:32.250]sometimes folks invest and spend a lot of time
[00:15:36.300]on their facilities, and that's wonderful.
[00:15:38.420]And if you've got top notch facilities,
[00:15:41.110]they should help you when working cattle.
[00:15:43.290]But we have to understand that facilities,
[00:15:45.930]sometimes can also be a barrier,
[00:15:47.680]if they're not properly maintained or taken care of
[00:15:51.290]or updated as needed.
[00:15:52.820]So we have to make sure that facilities themselves,
[00:15:55.740]a, are in a barrier,
[00:15:57.430]but also b, if you've got top-notch facilities,
[00:16:00.320]and they're well-designed,
[00:16:01.900]that you can't go in them with poor handling skills
[00:16:04.860]and expect cattle to move through in a low stress manner.
[00:16:08.600]Okay, they won't replace poor handling,
[00:16:11.320]you've got to have it all.
[00:16:12.360]You've got to have the well-designed facilities,
[00:16:14.811]or facilities that really make it,
[00:16:18.480]efficient for workers to do what they need to do,
[00:16:20.940]and don't cause cattle balking, or fear or injury,
[00:16:24.950]or any of those things.
[00:16:26.240]And collectively it's the knowledge and skills
[00:16:28.990]of the handlers plus good facilities,
[00:16:31.310]that really really optimize low stress handling.
[00:16:35.130]And last but not least, I found time and time again,
[00:16:38.410]when looking through articles that the cost,
[00:16:40.870]the true cost of low stress handling,
[00:16:42.570]is the time you put into it, right?
[00:16:44.460]So the time it takes for you to really learn,
[00:16:46.870]about your animals, learn about how they're seeing,
[00:16:50.634]and responding to what's in their environment.
[00:16:54.000]Learning about their behaviors,
[00:16:56.270]and then taking the time to apply
[00:16:59.360]and practice the necessary skills that you learn from,
[00:17:03.630]again workshops or conferences or reading the literature,
[00:17:08.090]working with consultants, and again,
[00:17:10.350]applying those things so that again,
[00:17:12.280]it becomes commonplace in how you handle cattle.
[00:17:15.160]So it really is that simple and that,
[00:17:17.204]it's all about the time you put into it,
[00:17:20.630]and time is money, right?
[00:17:21.950]Time is very valuable.
[00:17:23.230]So it's not to say that,
[00:17:24.380]everyone's got all the time in the world to do this,
[00:17:26.370]but really honing in on spending and investing your time,
[00:17:30.440]to understand your cattle and understand the techniques,
[00:17:33.710]that can work to improve their quality of life,
[00:17:36.850]when they're interacting with you or your team,
[00:17:40.240]is really really valuable and key to,
[00:17:42.330]again low stress handling.
[00:17:45.930]So now I'd like to just talk about low stress handling,
[00:17:48.910]and why it works from the perspective,
[00:17:51.610]of how cattle see the world around them
[00:17:53.650]and how they respond with their behaviors.
[00:17:58.480]So, how do cattle view the world around them?
[00:18:00.940]As I mentioned earlier, we all know
[00:18:02.800]that they're prey species, right?
[00:18:04.540]So that's how they're,
[00:18:05.820]that's the lens in which cattle live every day.
[00:18:09.020]They're living constantly on alert,
[00:18:11.610]and watching everything around them.
[00:18:14.080]Because as prey species,
[00:18:15.620]these are the survival strategies that they've developed
[00:18:18.300]over time to help them survive against predation.
[00:18:22.610]So the first thing that's important to talk about,
[00:18:24.700]when we talk about how do cattle view the world around them,
[00:18:27.310]is literally how do they see the world around them, right?
[00:18:29.910]And that comes with the understanding of panoramic vision,
[00:18:34.883]in our bovine beasts, okay?
[00:18:37.740]So they have panoramic vision,
[00:18:39.960]which just means they have a wide field
[00:18:41.790]of peripheral vision around them.
[00:18:43.420]So they can see a wide range of space and area around them.
[00:18:51.630]And that can go anywhere from about,
[00:18:53.180]300, to 320, 330, degrees around them.
[00:18:57.540]So they can almost nearly see everything around them.
[00:19:00.950]And this is because,
[00:19:02.440]they've got eyes placed on the sides of their head,
[00:19:05.620]as opposed to on the front side of their head.
[00:19:08.360]So we had a picture of myself next to the animal,
[00:19:11.420]on the left of your screen there,
[00:19:12.990]you'd see that my eyes,
[00:19:14.450]are obviously very closely placed, and as a predator,
[00:19:17.800]that's what you typically see,
[00:19:19.450]that the eyes are much closer placed,
[00:19:21.520]and that's because we have a very different way
[00:19:24.160]of perceiving our environment,
[00:19:25.800]so that we as predators can survive and eat lunch, right?
[00:19:29.240]And eat dinner and catch our prey.
[00:19:31.440]And we use our eyes very differently,
[00:19:33.520]as opposed to prey animals like cattle.
[00:19:35.513]They have them on the side of their heads,
[00:19:37.350]to help them maximize what they see,
[00:19:39.700]so they can get away from potential threats.
[00:19:42.970]The other thing that they also have
[00:19:44.940]from a biological standpoint is horizontal shape pupils.
[00:19:48.750]As you see here on this slide,
[00:19:51.910]what, this image of the bovine eye.
[00:19:54.120]And so that horizontal pupil shape helps them again,
[00:19:57.750]enhance how they're able to see more space around them.
[00:20:05.020]In addition to the panoramic vision,
[00:20:06.743]that those two details I discussed,
[00:20:09.010]they also only see two of the three primary colors,
[00:20:12.500]so they can see the yellow greens, the blue purples
[00:20:16.430]or violet's much, much better
[00:20:19.680]and not so much of those red primary colors.
[00:20:24.670]So this means, as a handler, it's good to know that
[00:20:27.490]because they're much more sensitive,
[00:20:29.050]to these different colors.
[00:20:30.600]And that helps us as again handlers,
[00:20:32.770]evaluate whether animals are overly reactive
[00:20:35.880]to certain things in the environment,
[00:20:37.470]or what are the colors that they can see,
[00:20:39.900]that we need to keep in mind as we as we move our cattle.
[00:20:44.450]Another interesting thing that people don't know is,
[00:20:48.460]that cattle only have about 60 degrees of vertical vision,
[00:20:52.360]meaning they can't like us see a wide range,
[00:20:55.620]from top to bottom when they just look forward.
[00:20:58.060]And so, as you see in this picture here,
[00:21:00.030]really 60 degrees is not that much vertical vision.
[00:21:03.040]And one way that I like to show people
[00:21:05.840]what it's like to have limited vertical vision
[00:21:08.610]like cattle do is to take their eyes
[00:21:10.610]and if you look at my image here,
[00:21:12.960]I'll make a fool out of myself,
[00:21:14.090]but if you go ahead and stand up
[00:21:15.950]and walk around with your eyes placed below your hands,
[00:21:18.930]excuse me, place below your eyes
[00:21:21.190]and cover the ground that you're walking on.
[00:21:23.390]And just go ahead and walk around.
[00:21:25.150]That gives you a good sense
[00:21:26.280]of how cattle have limited vertical vision.
[00:21:29.100]So this is why cattle, we need to give them some grace,
[00:21:32.400]give them some time, be a little patient as they,
[00:21:34.910]especially they move through new environments
[00:21:36.810]because they can't see it all at once,
[00:21:39.000]from the vertical standpoint, Okay?
[00:21:41.610]They need to evaluate look up
[00:21:43.070]and down side to side and look and evaluate.
[00:21:45.350]But again, they have limited ability
[00:21:48.210]to see what's what's in front of them,
[00:21:50.430]from that vertical standpoint,
[00:21:52.970]they also have blind spots directly behind their head,
[00:21:55.930]as we see in this diagram here.
[00:21:58.300]So they can nearly see a lot of space around them,
[00:22:00.980]but that area behind their head directly
[00:22:03.890]is where they're limited, right?
[00:22:05.250]So it's important to stay out of the blind spot
[00:22:07.960]so that we don't spook cattle
[00:22:09.620]and get them dangerously excited or frightened.
[00:22:13.530]But also from the standpoint
[00:22:15.150]of trying to move cattle from that area,
[00:22:17.780]it's very inefficient
[00:22:18.900]because if they know you're back there,
[00:22:20.370]what they're going to keep doing
[00:22:21.510]is looking back at and looking for you.
[00:22:23.880]And if they're looking back,
[00:22:25.130]that means they're not moving forward
[00:22:27.220]or moving in a direction you'd want them to, right?
[00:22:29.380]So the blind spot is very important to keep in mind.
[00:22:33.400]And the last point I'd like to bring up here
[00:22:35.530]in terms of cattle perception
[00:22:37.060]and their vision is that they have poor depth perception.
[00:22:40.340]And this is because, again, as cattle
[00:22:43.030]as you hopefully can see in this diagram,
[00:22:45.880]they have eyes that are again on the side of their heads,
[00:22:48.610]but because they're prey species,
[00:22:50.580]those eyes can work independently of one another,
[00:22:53.410]which means they have monocular vision.
[00:22:55.620]Whereas us is a pre--, excuse me, predator species.
[00:22:58.900]We have eyes on the front of our head
[00:23:01.360]and our eyes fix on single objects
[00:23:04.320]in order to have that depth perception.
[00:23:07.440]So we can accurately go get our lunch, right?
[00:23:10.330]And we can accurately hunt in the wild, if you will.
[00:23:16.160]Whereas cattle have these eyes
[00:23:17.820]that can actually work independently of one another,
[00:23:20.020]because they don't always fix on a single object.
[00:23:23.210]They have that poor depth perception
[00:23:25.130]and so, as you see, when they approach puddles
[00:23:27.730]or they approach shadows and things like that,
[00:23:31.940]they don't see that very well
[00:23:34.140]and need a little bit of time to evaluate that.
[00:23:36.510]One thing I've always liked to tell students
[00:23:39.260]is if you don't, if you wanna know
[00:23:41.100]what poor depth perception is like go ahead
[00:23:43.160]and take a jug of water and put a cup,
[00:23:45.880]an empty cup on a table,
[00:23:47.280]and then cover one of your eyes
[00:23:49.110]and then try and pour the water into the cup.
[00:23:51.850]And for some people they can,
[00:23:53.440]they can get it, but for most people they can't.
[00:23:55.670]And that's just, again, explaining how eyes as predators.
[00:23:59.510]We need both eyes to fix on a single object
[00:24:02.960]to be able to have that depth perception,
[00:24:04.870]but cattle don't have that functionality for the most part.
[00:24:08.400]So again, this helps us understand
[00:24:10.920]how cattle are seeing their environment,
[00:24:12.750]which helps us understand how we need to help
[00:24:14.890]and work with them as they move
[00:24:16.730]through different environments when we're working with them.
[00:24:21.890]Another thing that's important
[00:24:23.250]for cattle perception is sensitive hearing
[00:24:25.720]cattle obviously are very sensitive
[00:24:28.510]to high frequency noises.
[00:24:30.190]And we have a lot of research in this space that shows them,
[00:24:33.150]that shows us that high frequency noises
[00:24:35.640]really bother them and it really does stress them out.
[00:24:38.680]So they are very, very prone
[00:24:42.140]to becoming more stressed
[00:24:44.680]when they hear those types of noises.
[00:24:46.380]And they're also more sensitive
[00:24:47.910]to those noises than we as humans are.
[00:24:49.870]So that's why the advisories and recommendations
[00:24:52.500]are always about avoiding making any loud noises
[00:24:55.429]when interacting with cattle.
[00:24:58.560]So no whistling, yelling, whip cracking,
[00:25:00.940]banging of metal on metal, air hissing,
[00:25:03.910]all those sorts of things,
[00:25:05.040]and really minimizing all of that noise as much as possible.
[00:25:08.210]So that, again, we don't stimulate fear
[00:25:10.820]and flight in the animals.
[00:25:13.440]And last but not least, how do cattle communicate?
[00:25:16.020]I always like to tease folks
[00:25:17.510]and ask, you know, what cattle do?
[00:25:19.520]Excuse me, what language do you think cattle speak?
[00:25:22.140]If you're closer to Spanish speaking areas,
[00:25:25.350]are they like Mexico, for instance,
[00:25:27.200]are they gonna be good Spanish speakers?
[00:25:29.540]Are they good English speakers?
[00:25:31.060]Or if you grew up where I did
[00:25:32.820]people like to speak a mixture,
[00:25:35.160]what we call Spanglish,
[00:25:36.330]maybe some cattle like Spanglish, right?
[00:25:38.420]Maybe it depends on where they start
[00:25:40.087]and where they end.
[00:25:41.370]Well, really, no, they don't use human languages
[00:25:44.960]to communicate, right?
[00:25:47.500]What they use is their five senses
[00:25:49.310]and we all know much about the different senses
[00:25:52.220]of sight sound, taste, smell, and touch.
[00:25:54.490]And those are all of the senses
[00:25:56.270]that really become heightened.
[00:25:58.260]As cattle are trying to understand
[00:25:59.970]what's in their environment and how to respond to it.
[00:26:02.480]So that is very, very vital also
[00:26:05.090]in understanding how cattle are gonna perceive us
[00:26:08.700]when we enter into their personal space
[00:26:11.000]or their home pens or their areas,
[00:26:14.360]and how to best minimize the stressful effects
[00:26:17.370]that can come from that.
[00:26:18.740]But these are all of the senses,
[00:26:20.130]including all those other details that I mentioned,
[00:26:22.380]how cattle perceived their environment.
[00:26:26.980]So if we think about cattle behaviors in general,
[00:26:29.750]there's a lot of basic principles and for the sake of time,
[00:26:32.410]I'm gonna go through these fairly quickly.
[00:26:34.170]But again, cattle are gregarious, social animals.
[00:26:37.840]They always wanna be together
[00:26:39.670]and they wanna go together in places, right?
[00:26:41.750]So they don't like being isolated,
[00:26:43.310]they don't like being separated from the group
[00:26:47.560]and then relative to you, the handler, right?
[00:26:50.560]The potential predator in the environment,
[00:26:52.750]they wanna see you and they wanna go around you, right?
[00:26:55.850]So these are some basic principles
[00:26:57.840]that really help us understand
[00:26:59.410]all of those different behaviors
[00:27:01.160]that have evolved over time,
[00:27:03.150]as cattle have become domesticated,
[00:27:05.680]and we learn more and more about low stress handling.
[00:27:09.780]So there's just a few principles
[00:27:11.520]that I wanted to cover very briefly, which again,
[00:27:13.970]a lot of these make a lot more sense
[00:27:16.000]if they're new to you,
[00:27:17.280]when you get to actually go
[00:27:18.580]and do some hands on activities
[00:27:21.030]or learn from other experts
[00:27:22.920]and actually work with cattle and see how they respond.
[00:27:25.810]But in a nutshell, the first concept
[00:27:29.077]or basic principle we often hear
[00:27:31.130]about in low stress handling is the flight zone.
[00:27:34.040]And the flight zone is that personal space
[00:27:37.030]around an animal or the collective flight zone
[00:27:39.831]would be the collective personal space
[00:27:42.830]of a group or herd of animals, okay?
[00:27:45.240]Where, if you, as a handler
[00:27:47.050]enter into that personal space,
[00:27:49.080]you trigger a flight response or an escape behavior.
[00:27:52.320]That's why we call it the flight zone, okay?
[00:27:54.770]And so when you go into that space,
[00:27:56.440]you trigger that escape behavior.
[00:27:58.480]And it's important to know
[00:27:59.820]that flight zones can be dynamic,
[00:28:02.580]the flight zones will vary
[00:28:04.450]depending on the temperament of the animals.
[00:28:07.210]So how tame and wild they are,
[00:28:09.040]but also experience and the more they interact
[00:28:11.440]with people in a positive way
[00:28:13.600]can really minimize the flight response,
[00:28:17.930]that may come in a negative manner.
[00:28:19.920]So such as animals jumping gates,
[00:28:22.030]or just running and darting away from you,
[00:28:24.230]the second they see you, right?
[00:28:25.750]So the more that you have those positive experiences
[00:28:28.090]and interactions with cattle,
[00:28:30.090]the more that personal space
[00:28:32.840]can change over time in a positive way.
[00:28:36.410]And there's also folks that talk about the pressure zone,
[00:28:38.950]and it's just kind of that zone of awareness,
[00:28:41.490]that surrounds the flight zone.
[00:28:43.010]And so you'll see that if you are in that pressure zone
[00:28:46.580]or the animals are aware that you're around,
[00:28:49.120]but you're not triggering that flight response
[00:28:51.610]or that escaped behavior, right?
[00:28:53.900]That they're, that they actually
[00:28:54.780]start moving away from you,
[00:28:56.560]you'll see that they'll turn and they'll face you.
[00:28:58.070]And that's a good indicator
[00:28:59.160]that you're in that zone of pressure,
[00:29:01.210]if you will, where they're aware
[00:29:02.740]that you're in their surroundings.
[00:29:06.550]So, this diagram here, I pulled it right out of BQA,
[00:29:11.360]and it's always a really nice illustration
[00:29:13.233]of the flight zone and you'll see
[00:29:16.210]that it's this abstract idea
[00:29:18.650]of that personal space surrounding the animal.
[00:29:21.040]We've also got this concept of point
[00:29:22.880]of balance where we use that
[00:29:24.660]to help steer the animal right, left, forward or back.
[00:29:28.640]And the idea really is you've got this abstract
[00:29:31.500]or imaginary line that runs laterally through the shoulders.
[00:29:35.000]And by putting pressure from behind
[00:29:36.900]you have that animal move forward,
[00:29:39.000]putting pressure from the front,
[00:29:40.690]you that animal will move back.
[00:29:42.310]And then same thing here,
[00:29:43.670]if you imagine that line running
[00:29:46.350]through the animal from head to tail,
[00:29:48.230]where again, if you put that pressure from one side,
[00:29:51.260]they will veer the other way and in this instance,
[00:29:54.010]if we put this pressure from the left side,
[00:29:57.270]this animal will turn to the right.
[00:29:58.500]So again, these are different concepts
[00:30:01.250]and as I mentioned earlier,
[00:30:02.460]you've also got the blind spot
[00:30:05.040]where you don't wanna be moving cattle
[00:30:06.930]from the standpoint of, again,
[00:30:08.370]if frightening the animal and being a dangerous response,
[00:30:11.240]or just again, being ineffective
[00:30:13.900]and that they are gonna be spending time
[00:30:16.720]looking for you rather than moving away from you.
[00:30:20.420]Okay and so, again these illustrations always
[00:30:22.770]are they can seem a little bit complicated
[00:30:25.990]and intimidating for first time handlers,
[00:30:29.140]but it's important to explain these
[00:30:31.020]and how they work and how,
[00:30:32.670]when you're inside the flight zone
[00:30:34.170]as you see with position A you're stimulating
[00:30:37.440]for that animal to start movement,
[00:30:39.080]but when you're outside of that flight zone
[00:30:41.020]or that personal space of the animal,
[00:30:42.420]again, they're just gonna be aware.
[00:30:44.100]And they're gonna kind of look at you,
[00:30:45.340]but they're not gonna be doing
[00:30:46.690]that escape behavior and move away from you.
[00:30:52.180]So just a couple of principles
[00:30:53.830]I'd like to just cover quickly
[00:30:56.210]that are relative to the flight zone
[00:30:58.060]and the point of balance that, again,
[00:31:00.300]these are better illustrated in the field
[00:31:03.780]with animals and facilities, but it's important
[00:31:06.200]to cover these as concepts to explain why this works.
[00:31:09.960]So the first one is what many experts
[00:31:12.040]call the pressure and release system
[00:31:14.400]and this essentially is where a handler
[00:31:16.952]is gonna penetrate the flight zone.
[00:31:19.510]So they're gonna go ahead
[00:31:20.390]and enter into that personal space of the animal,
[00:31:23.060]but they're also gonna retreat
[00:31:24.600]as soon as that animal responds,
[00:31:26.440]exactly the way that the person was hoping
[00:31:28.940]that they would respond,
[00:31:29.773]which means they move in a certain direction, right?
[00:31:32.570]And this is important because having a pressure
[00:31:35.990]in release system enables to stimulate
[00:31:38.420]a little bit of that anxiety in the animal,
[00:31:40.520]get them to respond, but then take that pressure off,
[00:31:43.730]which is known to be a reward to cattle.
[00:31:46.260]When you take that pressure off,
[00:31:48.250]you're not mimicking what predators do in the wild.
[00:31:51.450]Okay? And what they do in the wild
[00:31:53.610]is they put constant pressure, right?
[00:31:55.639]The predators are gonna come and their target
[00:31:58.330]is to land their meal for the date.
[00:32:00.770]So what they're gonna be doing
[00:32:02.540]is putting constant pressure
[00:32:04.050]and getting into that personal space
[00:32:06.020]of that animal, or as close as possible,
[00:32:09.400]which obviously elicits a lot of stress
[00:32:12.300]and fear in your cattle, but it can also be very dangerous,
[00:32:16.180]not just for cattle, but for you and your team,
[00:32:18.820]especially if you have very wild
[00:32:20.460]and aggressive animals in your herd.
[00:32:23.200]Another concept in mimicking what's done
[00:32:28.160]as a predator is deep penetration.
[00:32:30.820]So not just going constant with pressure
[00:32:33.940]into the flight zone,
[00:32:35.180]but also going deep and getting close
[00:32:37.700]to the animal very, very aggresively and very, very fast.
[00:32:41.190]And that is also a predator type of behavior
[00:32:45.080]and so, again, with cattle,
[00:32:46.530]you wanna approach slowly and cautiously
[00:32:49.300]and just stimulate that anxiety
[00:32:51.370]that gets them to move in the direction
[00:32:54.540]that you desire and as soon as they do that,
[00:32:57.130]you reward them by taking that pressure off.
[00:33:01.470]And the other concept that's important
[00:33:03.110]in understanding how to work with again,
[00:33:04.740]flight zones and point of balance
[00:33:06.300]is alternating how you put the pressure
[00:33:08.830]relative to the point of balance.
[00:33:11.000]And this is really nicely illustrated with these pictures
[00:33:14.870]and I'm gonna do my best here virtually
[00:33:16.570]to explain this, but again,
[00:33:18.220]seeing this in person or via videos on the internet,
[00:33:20.960]really get the point across.
[00:33:22.290]And essentially what we're talking
[00:33:24.690]about here is making sure that animals
[00:33:26.700]continue to move forward and when you have them
[00:33:28.970]in an instance like this, where they're in a single file,
[00:33:32.120]such as here is in this street shoot,
[00:33:35.060]or the straight alley here, this,
[00:33:36.590]even this curved one here,
[00:33:38.610]the idea is to enter into the flight zone
[00:33:41.450]of the animals, okay?
[00:33:43.170]But then go ahead and assuming
[00:33:45.010]that they have space to move forward, right?
[00:33:47.410]We don't wanna push them to move forward
[00:33:49.390]when they have nowhere to go.
[00:33:51.130]So once they have space,
[00:33:53.110]the idea is to enter them to the flight zone
[00:33:55.270]and then cross the points of balance
[00:33:58.050]in a manner that, again, you're putting pressure
[00:34:00.558]from the front, but you're quickly crossing
[00:34:02.890]that point of balance and then putting pressure
[00:34:04.800]from behind and that stimulates
[00:34:06.330]all of the animals to move forward.
[00:34:08.490]So being able to enter that flight zone
[00:34:10.620]and move in the opposite direction
[00:34:13.100]of the desired movement by quickly crossing
[00:34:15.910]each of those points of balances of each of the animals,
[00:34:19.030]and then taking that pressure off
[00:34:21.150]by leaving the flight zone,
[00:34:22.790]same thing here in this diagram, in the curve shoots,
[00:34:25.440]you're gonna have a handler that enters
[00:34:27.160]into the flight zone and then quickly crosses
[00:34:29.350]past each of those point of balances of each of the animals,
[00:34:33.130]and then retreats and gets out of that flight zone,
[00:34:35.770]where again, if animals are able to have the space to move,
[00:34:39.920]and again, we know they're gregarious
[00:34:41.710]and social animals and they wanna stick together.
[00:34:43.360]So they'll follow one another.
[00:34:44.700]So again, it's understanding
[00:34:46.350]all of these different concepts and principles
[00:34:48.850]and how to use them to, again, do things
[00:34:51.160]like making animals continue to move forward
[00:34:53.560]and helping them stay calm.
[00:34:57.530]So putting a lot of these principles together,
[00:34:59.560]again, we can look at again,
[00:35:02.863]how we utilize the flight zone and alternating,
[00:35:05.900]you know, how we put pressure
[00:35:07.040]and take that pressure off
[00:35:08.460]and we know, as I mentioned before,
[00:35:09.890]that's more effective than mimicking predators
[00:35:12.750]that put constant pressure and deep pressure on animals.
[00:35:16.027]And so, as you can see here in these two images,
[00:35:20.220]here's the instance where we have larger areas.
[00:35:22.660]So out on range or out on pasture or large corrals,
[00:35:26.570]where again, you've got a team
[00:35:27.920]or you've gotta lead rider,
[00:35:29.130]that's working here with the collective group
[00:35:32.250]here, you've got the flight zone boundary
[00:35:34.150]for the collective group,
[00:35:35.010]but this lead rider is really working with this lead animal.
[00:35:37.910]And really again, going inside the flight zone,
[00:35:42.330]crossing that point of balance
[00:35:43.630]and then getting out of the flight zone
[00:35:44.900]and having that repetitive pattern
[00:35:46.637]and working with that front animal,
[00:35:48.290]whereas you've got other handlers in the middle
[00:35:50.690]or the rear that are having a similar type
[00:35:54.040]of movement or pattern in again,
[00:35:56.280]alternating the pressure on the flight zone,
[00:35:58.940]as well as some of the point of balances of the animals.
[00:36:01.760]And having this experience again,
[00:36:04.610]helps you move animals forward,
[00:36:06.700]but it can also help you control the flow
[00:36:08.730]of cattle moving forward.
[00:36:10.480]And in this example here on the right,
[00:36:12.570]we've got a group of animals that are moving
[00:36:14.390]from a large space into a corral
[00:36:16.720]and so, again, as the handler here is just standing
[00:36:21.040]here in this corner, they can control
[00:36:22.900]the flow of those animals going into that corral
[00:36:25.200]by stepping forward into the flight zone
[00:36:28.400]and backwards, stepping out of it
[00:36:30.580]in order to help slow down that pace.
[00:36:33.660]Whereas if you're moving forwards and backwards,
[00:36:35.980]you're actually gonna have the opposite effect
[00:36:38.080]and in some instances you may cause animals
[00:36:41.170]when you're in their flight zone
[00:36:42.320]and then moving in the left or right pattern.
[00:36:45.240]In this instance, you may actually have animals
[00:36:47.370]turn around and go back to where they came from,
[00:36:49.740]which is not what the desired outcome is.
[00:36:52.040]So just understanding again,
[00:36:54.190]all of these different techniques
[00:36:55.650]on how to work with the flight zone,
[00:36:57.320]how to cross the point of balance
[00:36:59.400]in your respective environments is,
[00:37:01.520]oh, there's a lot of different ways to do it,
[00:37:04.190]which is great, there's, it's good to have options,
[00:37:06.960]and it's good to understand how and why these all work
[00:37:09.780]and what makes best sense for you,
[00:37:11.610]your team and your cattle.
[00:37:16.017]And then the last set of images here
[00:37:17.960]that I wanted to show again and putting it all together
[00:37:20.450]in these principles is understanding
[00:37:22.340]that having even wide back and forth movement
[00:37:25.150]on the edge of the herd, again in large areas
[00:37:28.740]like pastures and range and, and out in larger spaces
[00:37:33.240]can really help not only gather your cattle
[00:37:36.030]and narrow the herd, kind of like
[00:37:37.510]what we're seeing in this instance,
[00:37:38.890]but it can also help drive forward movement
[00:37:41.200]by having these different types of movements
[00:37:45.490]on the edge of the herd and not having to focus
[00:37:48.670]on stragglers or independent animals
[00:37:50.570]or those isolated animals,
[00:37:52.340]and really working with the collective flight zone
[00:37:54.780]and point of balance of these animals,
[00:37:56.237]and this, again, not only helps narrow and group the herd,
[00:38:00.060]so you can move them forward,
[00:38:01.320]but it helps initiate movement as well as control movement.
[00:38:06.250]So one more point on this in terms
[00:38:09.090]of low stress handling is driving aides,
[00:38:10.840]because we often hear that driving aides
[00:38:13.910]can be very useful and they are.
[00:38:16.250]Driving aides are always useful,
[00:38:17.540]but I think it's important to remind ourselves
[00:38:19.560]that the primary tool that's used to move
[00:38:22.640]and work with cattle.
[00:38:25.420]That primary tool is you, the handler you and your team.
[00:38:29.250]Okay? As we see in these diagrams,
[00:38:31.470]you are that primary tool and again,
[00:38:34.260]it's not just you position yourself,
[00:38:36.510]but the posture and how you move across the flight zone
[00:38:40.530]and in the space around cattle,
[00:38:42.520]it's really important that you recognize,
[00:38:44.040]you and your teams recognize you're that primary tool.
[00:38:46.420]And then yes, there are secondary tools available
[00:38:49.830]if are needed, right?
[00:38:51.010]Like your paddles and your flags,
[00:38:52.870]and even the electric prod when used appropriately
[00:38:55.640]those driving aides or those secondary tools
[00:38:58.170]can be lifesaving or actually stress.
[00:39:01.200]They can actually help reduce stress
[00:39:03.210]by eliminating a dangerous event
[00:39:06.110]or situation from happening.
[00:39:08.880]So it's important to know that they're there,
[00:39:10.840]but using them not as the primary tool,
[00:39:15.060]to move or handle animals and most importantly,
[00:39:17.960]that if they are used that they're not used aggressively
[00:39:20.960]or on sensitive body parts as very,
[00:39:23.570]very clearly outlined in our BQA standards.
[00:39:29.790]And one thing I think is important to highlight
[00:39:31.970]when it comes to again, low stress handling
[00:39:33.900]is that facility design matters.
[00:39:35.890]And this is why facilities are designed
[00:39:37.790]in the many different ways that they are.
[00:39:39.790]But we have to take into account that facilities
[00:39:43.320]are gonna have, you know, sun positions
[00:39:45.100]that are gonna affect how light is distributed
[00:39:47.140]throughout those facilities.
[00:39:48.190]We have to look and understand it,
[00:39:49.980]how those facilities stand the test of time
[00:39:51.950]throughout a day, right?
[00:39:53.040]And throughout different seasons,
[00:39:55.080]but also again, animal behaviors,
[00:39:57.540]understanding how cattle will perceive their environment
[00:39:59.590]throughout these facilities and that enables us,
[00:40:01.970]it gives us the power as handlers
[00:40:04.310]to really use those facilities effectively,
[00:40:06.690]or go ahead and make minor or major modifications
[00:40:10.070]to make them more effective.
[00:40:11.760]So we know that again,
[00:40:13.760]because cattle have poor depth perception.
[00:40:17.100]When you see images like this,
[00:40:18.470]where there's big shadows or dark barns,
[00:40:21.190]where you're moving cattle from a standpoint of light
[00:40:23.770]into a barn that's dark that that's not,
[00:40:26.460]they're gonna balk,
[00:40:27.410]and they're gonna have a lot of struggle,
[00:40:29.150]a lot of struggle, and a lot of difficulty
[00:40:30.980]going into these facilities.
[00:40:32.190]So we gotta make sure to make
[00:40:33.370]the right adjustments to fix that.
[00:40:35.830]We know we've got lots of different flooring options
[00:40:38.620]that help make floors a lot easier for cattle
[00:40:42.990]to move on re--, you know, minimize slipping, falls,
[00:40:46.490]trips, because those are very, very primal fears,
[00:40:49.380]just like with people, cattle, feel them too.
[00:40:52.040]And so any way that we can improve the traction
[00:40:56.040]as well as the comfort, if cattle do slip and fall,
[00:40:59.400]like we see with this tire mat,
[00:41:01.070]all of those things that we can do to enhance the flooring.
[00:41:03.210]So they're more secure in their footing
[00:41:05.370]is very important for cattle,
[00:41:06.677]and this is why we see a lot of that
[00:41:08.710]in different facility designs.
[00:41:11.170]Other things that we know make cattle balk are so simple,
[00:41:14.070]we just, we just have to become accustomed
[00:41:16.590]to removing those distractions,
[00:41:18.180]like the garbage on the floor, jackets and caps,
[00:41:20.640]hanging on Gates and fences just gotta be
[00:41:22.970]conscientious of those things and always take the time
[00:41:25.660]before moving cattle through facilities or areas.
[00:41:28.380]And even after we work out to clean the areas
[00:41:31.610]and get rid of all of those things because
[00:41:33.170]they're easy distractions and one could clear up
[00:41:35.370]and reduce stress in cattle.
[00:41:38.190]And last but not least looking at,
[00:41:39.650]how we're able to minimize distractions
[00:41:41.990]can also come from that option of having solid sides
[00:41:45.910]or open sides in our ramps or in our snakes
[00:41:51.570]or the alleys or single files.
[00:41:54.370]And again, everyone gets the question,
[00:41:56.840]is it one or the other? And I often just say,
[00:41:59.500]let's look at how cattle respond
[00:42:02.090]given what are the distractions in those particular areas.
[00:42:05.630]And sometimes putting solid sightings work,
[00:42:08.690]sometimes they don't, sometimes putting solid sides
[00:42:12.360]on both sides of an alley, for instance,
[00:42:14.950]make the alley a lot darker.
[00:42:16.440]And that doesn't always help darkness again,
[00:42:19.680]doesn't always help.
[00:42:20.520]So it's a matter of making minor modifications,
[00:42:23.560]testing things out to see what works
[00:42:25.710]and what helps your cattle still see you the handler
[00:42:29.830]so that they can get that clear
[00:42:31.520]and consistent communication from you
[00:42:33.340]and knowing where to go and how you want them to work.
[00:42:37.570]So lots of different aspects,
[00:42:39.100]we could have a whole talk on just facility design,
[00:42:41.920]but just wanted to get the point across here
[00:42:43.760]that there's a lot of different components.
[00:42:46.040]And it's important to think about those
[00:42:47.970]in combination with how we handle cattle
[00:42:52.230]through these facilities.
[00:42:55.130]So, really quickly wanna talk about some of the impacts
[00:42:57.760]that we see in the literature
[00:42:59.560]that are negative versus the positive ones
[00:43:01.390]when it comes to low stress handling
[00:43:03.740]So when we think about improper handling,
[00:43:06.480]we know that there are ethical concerns
[00:43:08.350]in that aggressive, rough handling can be considered
[00:43:13.760]abusive behavior, and there should be no tolerance of that.
[00:43:16.330]In this industry, this industry works
[00:43:18.390]very very hard to raise cattle with high standards of care.
[00:43:22.300]And we worked very hard to continue the training of that.
[00:43:25.500]So, that's the first point is the ethical concern
[00:43:28.370]of improper handling and it can lead
[00:43:29.870]to this abusive behavior, which is not tolerable.
[00:43:31.990]And we know consumers don't agree
[00:43:34.030]with abusive behavior, obviously.
[00:43:35.920]So that's the first important point of improper handling.
[00:43:39.630]But when we look at the other negative impacts
[00:43:42.300]throughout the literature,
[00:43:43.133]we see that improper handling or rough handling
[00:43:45.980]gives animals and handlers,
[00:43:48.000]both that increased risk of danger, injury, and death.
[00:43:51.340]We can see damage to facilities
[00:43:53.130]and equipment that is very costly to repair, right?
[00:43:57.280]We see that if this is a repeated way
[00:44:00.860]of working with cattle, that they then develop
[00:44:02.920]bad habits and bad, dangerous behaviors over time,
[00:44:06.240]which then eventually someone else
[00:44:07.870]down the supply chain is gonna have
[00:44:09.720]to deal with that too and we shouldn't,
[00:44:11.130]we should not be spreading or sharing these
[00:44:13.730]bad habits and dangerous behaviors
[00:44:16.290]in our cattle throughout the supply chain.
[00:44:18.810]We also see that there's an increase
[00:44:20.760]in the difficulty in how cattle will be handled down,
[00:44:24.240]every time people interact with them,
[00:44:26.160]but also the time spent interacting with cattle
[00:44:28.540]and the labor needed, ultimately,
[00:44:30.140]which adds to more money and time
[00:44:32.910]and also, even from the carcass standpoint,
[00:44:35.380]you see that there's an increased rate
[00:44:37.100]in bruising and injury, carcass damage,
[00:44:39.790]as well as trim loss.
[00:44:43.010]Improper handling in the literature
[00:44:44.510]has also shown that we see increases in body temperature,
[00:44:48.630]increases in heart rate, increases in distress response.
[00:44:52.310]In this case, we're talking about
[00:44:53.473]your glucocorticoid hormones or your stress hormones.
[00:44:57.080]And we see a decrease in immune function.
[00:44:59.840]So animals have a harder time fighting disease.
[00:45:03.080]So ultimately collectively all of that
[00:45:05.080]really translates into decreased productivity,
[00:45:07.900]which is you all know better than I do that costs money.
[00:45:12.140]We also see that when cattle are in the squeeze shoot
[00:45:14.990]and they're agitated and excited
[00:45:16.820]from all of the aggressive handling
[00:45:18.940]that led them up to that squeeze shoot,
[00:45:20.950]we see decreased weight gains.
[00:45:22.450]We see tougher meat and an increase in dark cutters.
[00:45:26.830]We've even seen research that shows
[00:45:29.560]that when you look at that noise, as I mentioned earlier,
[00:45:32.050]cattle don't tolerate noise very well,
[00:45:34.210]that when the, when they compared the yelling
[00:45:36.960]and whistling of handlers to that of the sound
[00:45:39.130]of gates slamming, we saw that the yelling
[00:45:41.430]and whistling had a higher,
[00:45:43.790]more negative effect on the heart rate
[00:45:45.840]and the agitation or movement of cattle
[00:45:48.200]when compared to that of gate slamming.
[00:45:50.000]So yelling and whistling really does
[00:45:51.430]have a profound effect on cattle stress.
[00:45:56.380]Let's now talk about the positive impacts
[00:45:58.530]because I don't wanna be a negative Nancy
[00:46:00.350]and talk about the negative things,
[00:46:01.600]but let's now focus on the positive things
[00:46:04.010]that we see come out of low stress handling.
[00:46:06.570]We know that when it comes to low stress handling,
[00:46:08.880]this can positively impact your profitability
[00:46:11.530]and your production with your animals.
[00:46:13.500]So in this example, here, calves that were handled
[00:46:16.720]with low stress techniques had improved weaning weights,
[00:46:19.390]and more specifically, they, these researchers saw
[00:46:23.650]post weaning weight gains that changed.
[00:46:26.720]So the change in the weight gains
[00:46:28.920]where animals that were handled with low stress techniques
[00:46:32.820]actually gained 13 pounds more than the control animals.
[00:46:37.240]One week post weaning, and they gained 20 pounds
[00:46:40.240]more than the control animals that didn't have
[00:46:42.560]low stress techniques applied to them
[00:46:44.520]one month post weaning.
[00:46:47.430]We know that reducing handling stress
[00:46:49.190]reduces sickness and enables cattle
[00:46:51.410]to get back on feed more quickly.
[00:46:53.000]Again, we're thinking about the impact
[00:46:54.690]that low stress handling can have on the immune response.
[00:46:58.520]And also we've seen that quiet handling,
[00:47:01.070]so not just low stress,
[00:47:02.250]but just a lot of quiet handling
[00:47:04.160]and feedlots has shown reductions in bruising.
[00:47:06.950]So feed lots that use quiet handling
[00:47:08.827]and combination with low stress techniques.
[00:47:11.210]So on eight point 8.35% bruising rates in their animals,
[00:47:15.700]whereas feedlots that used rough handling,
[00:47:18.190]which included a lot of that yelling
[00:47:19.890]and noising and gates slamming had a 15.5% bruising rate,
[00:47:26.830]low stress handling is really important
[00:47:29.570]from everything we're talking about,
[00:47:31.120]but acclamation again, that training
[00:47:33.930]and making sure that cattle are becoming
[00:47:36.150]accustomed to low stress handling also
[00:47:39.210]has good profitability and production impacts.
[00:47:42.370]So again, it's important for low stress handlers,
[00:47:46.200]excuse me, for handlers using low stress techniques
[00:47:48.500]to establish what it is that's gonna happen
[00:47:51.750]when they're interacting with their animals.
[00:47:53.720]And we've seen that the research shows
[00:47:55.490]that when folks do that, they maintain
[00:47:57.380]high reproductive rates in their herd.
[00:47:59.160]And so essentially when they were able,
[00:48:01.130]when researchers were able to help acclimate
[00:48:03.020]their cattle to the low stress handling,
[00:48:05.340]they saw improved conception rates,
[00:48:07.420]decreased temperament scores, reduce cortisol levels,
[00:48:11.110]or reduce stress in their animals.
[00:48:13.910]They also saw decreased timing to puberty.
[00:48:16.840]And we also see that when you can do this
[00:48:18.960]in animals as young or as early as possible,
[00:48:22.180]that you really do see those effects,
[00:48:24.740]if they're consistent and how you interact with animals,
[00:48:27.020]that you see them really carrying on over time.
[00:48:29.360]So in this instance, low stress handling
[00:48:31.590]and walking of young calves through a handling system,
[00:48:34.700]yielded animals that were much calmer as adults.
[00:48:39.820]So again low stress handling really does benefit cattle
[00:48:43.200]and their handlers and handlers ultimately,
[00:48:47.010]they're not only gonna just be able to interact
[00:48:49.340]with their cattle and enjoy it,
[00:48:50.970]but they're gonna learn how to read cattle
[00:48:52.320]better and better.
[00:48:53.153]And cattle will not think of us as those predators
[00:48:55.460]that are a threat to their survival.
[00:48:58.960]We know this saves time, and I love what Bud Williams,
[00:49:01.500]has always stated in that the way to work cattle, excuse me,
[00:49:04.297]"The way to work animals fast is to work them effectively."
[00:49:07.570]So working them effectively doesn't mean fast,
[00:49:09.820]it doesn't mean slow, it just means doing it right,
[00:49:12.450]and understanding how cattle are reading you
[00:49:14.270]and being consistent in communicating with them
[00:49:16.240]because they will move effectively
[00:49:18.010]when they are less stressed and more relaxed.
[00:49:21.150]And a lot of these points, again,
[00:49:22.850]I've shown you what's in the literature.
[00:49:24.190]So, you know, it's supported by science,
[00:49:25.740]but a lot of your industry leaders
[00:49:28.300]that are out there that are fantastic experts
[00:49:30.710]in explaining and demonstrating these things.
[00:49:32.680]It's, they're really supportive
[00:49:33.980]of all of these low stress handling techniques.
[00:49:38.680]And one more interesting area
[00:49:40.070]that's really developing now is this
[00:49:42.860]relationship between the handler's beliefs
[00:49:46.150]and their attitudes and their behaviors
[00:49:48.030]and how that ultimately impacts the stress levels
[00:49:50.390]or the overall wellbeing of their animals.
[00:49:52.290]And we're seeing that when handlers have positive
[00:49:55.720]and positive attitudes and behaviors,
[00:49:58.550]that positively impacts their way of interacting with
[00:50:02.270]cattle and we see decreased handling stress
[00:50:04.870]and fear and the welfare state of the animal,
[00:50:07.310]and even in their productivity and you also see calmer,
[00:50:10.080]more productive cattle.
[00:50:11.800]So really positive cattle handling experiences
[00:50:15.370]and skills start with us, the people,
[00:50:17.910]the handlers, and our teams, and how we set up
[00:50:21.180]the expectations and culture of how we interact with cattle.
[00:50:25.130]So this includes obviously having the responsibility
[00:50:28.750]and taking the time to understand, again,
[00:50:30.810]behaviors and low stress handling methods,
[00:50:33.940]continuing to educate ourselves
[00:50:35.840]and making sure that the training that we do
[00:50:38.340]or that we ask our employees to do is effective and useful.
[00:50:42.070]But it also requires that we reevaluate that
[00:50:44.990]over time and that we learn from others,
[00:50:48.080]and we seek out new opportunities
[00:50:49.870]or new learning strategy or new strategies on that.
[00:50:52.720]We can learn from one another
[00:50:53.880]to make sure we're always enhancing
[00:50:55.390]how we interact with cattle.
[00:50:56.750]And don't forget that rewards, appreciation,
[00:50:59.670]recognition that goes a long way
[00:51:02.270]in working with your teams to continue
[00:51:04.670]that positive interaction with cattle
[00:51:06.950]and asking for feedback, whether it's asking experts
[00:51:10.440]to come and see how you all handle cattle
[00:51:12.157]and how we can make it better asking your employees
[00:51:14.420]to give you feedback on the facilities,
[00:51:16.710]on the environment, on what is needed
[00:51:19.157]and what the limitations are to keep enhancing,
[00:51:22.154]how cattle handling experiences get better over time
[00:51:26.680]for both the handlers and for the cattle.
[00:51:32.090]So really quickly, I wanna wrap up here
[00:51:34.810]and why low stress, why low stress handling matters.
[00:51:38.240]And ultimately, again, the beef industry,
[00:51:40.620]we take a lot of pride and worked very hard
[00:51:42.670]to raise cattle with high standards of care,
[00:51:44.540]because we know that improved health status,
[00:51:47.900]improved comfort productivity,
[00:51:50.030]the ability for animals to just express
[00:51:52.610]their natural behaviors.
[00:51:54.120]Those are all things that lead to high standards
[00:51:55.970]of welfare and ethically,
[00:51:57.240]we know that doing this and having animals
[00:51:59.333]that have a high quality of life
[00:52:01.150]is ethically the right thing to do.
[00:52:03.940]So when we think about cattle handling,
[00:52:05.920]please understand that continuously falls
[00:52:08.230]under this category of animal welfare,
[00:52:10.870]but also people welfare and it's important
[00:52:12.820]that we always take that standpoint
[00:52:14.470]of not just doing what's right,
[00:52:16.220]and what keeps everybody happy and comfortable,
[00:52:19.280]both animals and people, but also safe, right?
[00:52:21.550]So this is really, really a very broad category,
[00:52:24.780]that's very important for us to keep in mind.
[00:52:26.870]So we've gotta keep this handling process safe,
[00:52:29.360]effective, and humane, but also recognize
[00:52:31.670]that consumers continue to have growing concerns
[00:52:34.250]about this topic and there's numerous surveys
[00:52:36.390]out there that indicate that.
[00:52:37.970]Be happy to share that with anyone for the sake of time.
[00:52:40.900]I wasn't able to put that in the slide deck,
[00:52:42.880]but there's a lot of data out there
[00:52:44.010]and I'd be happy to share that if anybody
[00:52:45.600]would like to see that data, but consumers are,
[00:52:47.700]have continue to have growing concerns
[00:52:49.700]about the quality of life on farms
[00:52:51.930]and how decently and humanely livestock cattle
[00:52:56.600]are being treated during their time on the farm.
[00:52:58.920]And when they're transported to other locations
[00:53:03.420]and ultimately this collect,
[00:53:04.960]this will all come back to this big umbrella
[00:53:07.340]of stockmanship, right?
[00:53:08.440]And I really like how the stockmanship journal
[00:53:10.430]put it that low stress livestock handling
[00:53:12.960]is only a part of stockmanship,
[00:53:14.640]albeit it's the indispensable part.
[00:53:16.930]And so, as you can see here in this pie craft
[00:53:19.700]here on the bottom right,
[00:53:21.660]they do a beautiful job of highlighting all
[00:53:24.320]of the different that collectively
[00:53:26.640]can make up good stockmanship or stockmanship in general.
[00:53:29.840]And you see that it's about the facilities.
[00:53:31.760]It's about how you train your dogs.
[00:53:33.940]It's about how your natural horsemanship
[00:53:36.182]about how you rope your animals
[00:53:38.790]and other areas potentially.
[00:53:40.670]But also livestock handling
[00:53:43.263]is a very significant portion here.
[00:53:45.220]And that's why it's a bigger chunk of the pie.
[00:53:47.520]And that's why they consider it very indispensable
[00:53:50.460]and very essential, because you may not
[00:53:53.130]have to have facilities or dogs or use horses
[00:53:57.510]to really imp-- work with your cattle
[00:53:59.760]on a low stress manner.
[00:54:01.020]But you need to know how to work in a low stress manner,
[00:54:04.100]whether you have these components
[00:54:05.700]or not in order to truly get in,
[00:54:09.240]get ahead in this area of good stockmanship,
[00:54:11.620]it's really essential portion of how we work
[00:54:15.520]with cattle every day.
[00:54:17.490]And there's many different ways that we work with cattle.
[00:54:19.680]So it's very important to understand
[00:54:21.240]that that's a very crucial part of stockmanship
[00:54:23.440]and that's why it's just a piece of the puzzle,
[00:54:25.750]but it's a very important, indispensable
[00:54:28.100]and essential part of the puzzle.
[00:54:31.060]So I just wanna wrap up here with my final thoughts
[00:54:33.720]and reminding the audience that cattle are not mind readers.
[00:54:36.830]They need to be taught and conditioned,
[00:54:38.430]especially if they're temperamental,
[00:54:40.940]if they're excited, excitable animals,
[00:54:43.040]but also if they're not handled often, right?
[00:54:45.720]They work best when they are ready
[00:54:47.800]and handlers have to get them to that quote unquote,
[00:54:50.620]ready state.
[00:54:52.130]Raising cattles with high standards
[00:54:54.890]of welfare is very important,
[00:54:57.540]first and foremost, for the quality of life
[00:54:59.290]for the cattle, right?
[00:55:00.123]And I showed you a lot of science behind that
[00:55:03.230]as the beef industry,
[00:55:04.270]we ultimately wanna do what's right by cattle
[00:55:07.890]for numerous reasons.
[00:55:09.220]But raising cattle with high standards of welfare
[00:55:11.800]is centered on the animals,
[00:55:13.170]but we also have to center on ourselves as people
[00:55:15.830]and make sure that this is also a safe
[00:55:18.130]and a humane process for the people
[00:55:20.530]and using low stress techniques, takes people into account.
[00:55:23.360]So gotta raise cattle with high standards of welfare,
[00:55:26.510]not just for the cattle, but for the people
[00:55:28.230]and also for the beef industries, culture and image.
[00:55:30.660]Because as I mentioned before,
[00:55:31.990]consumers are really questioning and the trust level,
[00:55:35.340]isn't where we want it to be.
[00:55:36.447]And so we've gotta continue to help build their culture
[00:55:38.890]and image by always doing what's right
[00:55:40.590]and always doing what the science shows us
[00:55:43.600]can guide us to do it better.
[00:55:45.330]And again, I go back to not just knowing
[00:55:47.680]the how and the what, of how we were cattle, but the why,
[00:55:50.770]and knowing the why really helps us get ahead,
[00:55:54.760]with raising cattle, using high standards of welfare.
[00:55:59.540]And then last thoughts here again,
[00:56:01.050]low stress handling can impact your profitability
[00:56:03.540]and production, so we know, again,
[00:56:05.450]that low stress handling the true cost there
[00:56:07.450]is just spending the time and investing the effort
[00:56:10.110]to learn about your cattle
[00:56:11.490]and practicing the skills needed in low stress handling.
[00:56:14.610]But as I showed you where, there's plenty of science
[00:56:17.460]that the improvements are clear, the weight gains,
[00:56:20.330]the conception rates, immune function, carcass quality,
[00:56:22.810]milk production and the list goes on and on.
[00:56:24.510]So lots of wonderful impacts,
[00:56:26.640]positive impacts that can come from low stress handling.
[00:56:28.940]And last but not least,
[00:56:30.400]let's not forget that others will have to handle
[00:56:32.590]cattle after they leave your care.
[00:56:35.240]And if we don't interact with their cattle
[00:56:37.530]each time in a consistent manner that is of low stress,
[00:56:41.124]these animals are gonna develop bad behaviors, bad habits,
[00:56:44.830]and dangerous instincts that can be learned
[00:56:48.390]and worsened over time, if they're not handled correctly.
[00:56:51.400]And eventually that's not just a problem
[00:56:53.380]for you and your team,
[00:56:54.350]but that's gonna be a problem
[00:56:55.680]and a dangerous scenario for others down the supply chain.
[00:56:59.260]So let's all make sure that cattle
[00:57:01.440]are always off to a good start when they're in our care.
[00:57:04.000]And last but not least, it's always makes sure
[00:57:05.680]cattle have positive experiences.
[00:57:08.300]Because again, that really enhances
[00:57:10.710]how they continue to act interact with humans
[00:57:14.110]as they progress from where they're at with you
[00:57:17.030]to their endpoint at the slaughter facility.
[00:57:20.610]And that really just gets back to enhancing
[00:57:22.650]that quality of life, not just for your cattle,
[00:57:24.510]but for you yourselves.
[00:57:27.500]So with that, I appreciate your time and attention
[00:57:30.190]and thank you all for, for everything
[00:57:32.200]that you do to feed the world.
[00:57:34.160]Really appreciate the time here with the conference
[00:57:37.260]and look forward to having further discussion.
[00:57:39.270]Thank you.

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Low Stress Animal Handling: Why we do what we do

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