Acting like a Predator: Pros and Cons

Cattle have evolved to react to predation and their movements are indicative of this evolutionary process. So when you’re handling your animals, keep this fact in mind. You have two courses of action when handling your stock. First, you can use this predation response to your advantage or conversely, you can aggravate this response in a negative way. When you remain on the outer flight zone of an animal, you can engage the desired responses and prevent the animal from becoming highly stressed. If you invade their flight zone or act like too much of a predator by yelling, throwing your arms up and making other threatening gestures, you are likely to make the process of moving cattle more dangerous, less efficient and more stressful to the animals.

I am not writing this article to say that all rough stock should be pampered pets. But the bottom line is that the more stress you alleviate from your animals, the more beneficial it will be to you. Alleviating stress does not have to involve having tame bucking bulls. As a cattle handler you have to remember that there are consequences for how you treat your animals. Stress has many negative effects on cattle that include, but are not limited to, decreased feed intake, reproductive problems, increased risk of injury (both to the cattle and the handler), decreased immune responses that can lead to health problems and more. Part of managing your operation should focus on the well being of your animals. If you treat them right you will reap the rewards.