Behavior—and its implications in everyday handling of animals—also relates to moving cattle. It is important to examine the behavior of the animals and how they respond to us.

First and foremost, it is important to understand how cattle perceive us. Cattle are prey animals and therefore have higher fight or flight reactions. Also, because they are prey animals and have eyes set to the side of their head instead of forward facing, their perception of the world is a lot different than ours. It is also why we can encounter problems when it comes to handling cattle.

I have spoken to breeders from around the country and am surprised by the amount of variation in how producers view the importance of handling their stock. On one hand, there are producers that want their cattle hot all the time. There is a belief that if rodeo bulls are more excited when they are handled, they will be hotter in the arena and perform better. There are producers in the Thoroughbred racehorse industry that also follow this line of thinking when they’re handling their horses. Conversely, there are breeders that feel that handling their cattle with calmness is beneficial to their programs.

I personally believe the more a producer can do to alleviate the stress of his/her animals the more they will profit from it. Here are three different examples in the rodeo industry that illustrate my reasoning for that statement.