How Yelling at Livestock Helps Solve Problems

If you clicked on this article thinking, “FINALLY! Someone who isn’t going to tell me to manage my temper and learn low-stress livestock handling!” well, I’m about to disappoint you.

Yelling never helps and actually makes things worse. Whether it’s your animals, your spouse, or your kids, creatures who are yelled at become more agitated and harder to deal with. Yelling triggers  the fight-or-flight response, overriding the brain’s ability to reason or solve problems for both the yeller and the yellee. And, as Joseph Stookey notes in the Beef Cattle Research Council post that inspired today’s article, fear triggers cortisol releases in cattle which can lower conception rates.

So, do you have to become an expert at low-stress livestock handling? I’d say no. Knowing some of the techniques is helpful. I’ve found the zig-zag is helpful for driving animals, as are knowing that you can slow or stop them by walking side-by-side with them and that if an animal startles or gets agitated it means you better back up so they feel safer.

Silence is Golden

But the most important technique is one that Stookey says is the easiest to implement – stay quiet.

 “No talking, no yelling, no chatting,” he says. “Those things we do at the front of the head gate make it a harder job at the back end,” Some of his previous work demonstrated that cattle showed more stress when exposed to “people” noise than when simply exposed to gates clanging and banging. “Save the visiting until it’s over.”

You create the tone for everyone working with you, and you have a right and the responsibility to tell well intentioned helpers that yelling, whooping, and hollering aren’t how things are done at your place.

See Things From the Other Person’s/Animal’s Point of View

Spencer Yeo, who runs a cow-calf operation in Nova Scotia has learned to observe how his cattle react to things they encounter and to what he’s doing to adjust as they move along.

“Every time you work cattle, in whatever configuration you might have at present, just watch the cattle,” he says. “All cattle aren’t the same, but see if there’s a pattern…Watch where the hang ups are and see what you can do to remedy that,” he says.

Stookey adds,

It is important to watch and understand what the cattle are seeing from their perspective. “Sometimes they can’t see the gate, sometimes they aren’t looking at the gate or notice the path of the gate,” he explains. He adds that producers can benefit from reviewing their set up or taking a critical look at potential problem areas. “But ultimately, it’s people, it’s us, that make it work or make it fail,” he explains.

Adjust Your Facilities

All that observation might help you notice what’s not working with your existing handling facilities and possible changes you can make to improve them. I recently posted an article collection that included some ideas for improving handling facilities.

Stookey, Spencer Yeo, and Craig Lehr, a farmer/rancher near Medicine Hat, Alberta shared their experiences.

Yeo used funding assistance to build a Budbox-type system.

“This was my chance to level up, so I studied my facilities, and watched a lot of YouTube videos on different people working cattle and what worked for them and what didn’t work,” he says. He bought only what he thought he might need but also what would be efficient. “You don’t want to buy a whole bunch of stuff only to find you don’t need all of it.”

He notes that now he can easily run the cattle through the chute himself and there are also benefits for preg-checking or other incidental veterinary visits. “I find the vet is keener to come to your place if you have nice, safe working conditions,” he explains. He says the right facilities make the job less demanding. “You’re not exhausted at the end of the day. If everything flows smoothly and you’re working from the outside of the chute, it takes less of a physical toll on you, which is a big plus,” Yeo says.

If you’re interested in building your own Budbox, this OP article can help you get started designing it and knowing how it works.

Build a “Bud Box” to Make Livestock Handling a Breeze

Stookey says sometimes the simplest facilities are the best. In this video, he shows how easy it can be for one person to sort calves from cows.

Patience is necessary, however, for things to function best. “Some people are good at it and some people aren’t,” he says. “A little subtle move will stop a calf but allow a cow by. If you over-amplify your movements, you might stop everything,” Stookey says, adding that too much pressure on the back end can also have too many cattle coming at once.

Craig Lehr says they continue to improve their handling facilities every year.

Some years, the improvements have been large-scale, like rebuilding or redesigning pens, while other years the improvement may be as simple as fixing a gate to make it easier to latch. “Sometimes changes like relocating a gate, adding another pen, or changing flow pattern can make a big difference,” Lehr explains. He adds that making notes on his phone has helped him to note little fixes that will streamline the job.

Slower is Easier and Just as Fast

You keep on hearing this from all the low-stress livestock handling proponents because it’s true.

Stookey says that sometimes a perceived barrier to farmers adopting lower stress practices is that they may think it takes longer, but in reality, it’s the exact opposite. For example, if a chute has space for ten cows, but six or eight fit comfortably, it may be more efficient to fill it with fewer head that flow through more quickly. “When you pack them in, it adds stress for cattle and stress for people in the back pen too,” he says.

Lehr finds they have better success at reducing stress when they keep groups small, whether it’s for sorting or processing. “Low-stress handling involves a lot of walking, but it pays off,” he says.

Patience is key when it comes to handling cattle. “I think it puts you in a better state,” Stookey says and adds that even if things don’t go according to plans, stop, recollect, and take it easy again. Lehr agrees. “A large part of how things will go is within the attitude of the people handling the cattle.”

For some more tips from ranchers on facilities modifications that made a big difference, head over to the full article at the BCRC website. You’ll also find an opportunity to subscribe to their blog. I highly recommend subscribing as BCRC puts out some really helpful information.

Preventing the Urge to Yell