I’ve had a great week of Stockmanship and Stewardship contemplation. Wife Tammy is in Oklahoma with Daughter Mesa,, working with the some of the best bucking bulls in the world at D and H Cattle Company. Working with them is very different than working with beef animals, and I have learned that you must work them right for that industry or you will take some of the potential for performance out of them. I feel Mesa and HD Page really understand this, and are using the right kind of stockmanship and care (husbandry) to get the best performance out of the bulls. From what I see and have learned you must keep the fire in the young bulls, actually keep them wild so when you buck them they have the extra try to give it all they have.

This requires real good working facilities, horses that are handy, and having skilled people that can keep from getting killed when working these snuffy buggers. They use real heavy duty tubs to get them to a squeeze chute, and I don’t think a Bud box would always be safe.

The neat thing about it is after the young bulls make it and are proven buckers they change them and they get real good to work and most of them get gentle and they can rub and scratch them and they learn to load nice, then buck hard, then leave the arena and go back to working good. I really admire people that are good with bucking bulls, and I am glad I have been able to watch and learn this part of the stockmanship world.

There is a operation here in Ryegate that sells blood from sheep, goats, cattle and horses.
They have lots of ewe lambs that they work every 30 days. They have a big crew, and many of them are from Peru and Mexico. They work lots of sheep every day, but the focus for most of the help is to get the job done, and stockmanship is not the priority, but getting the job done.
There are a few that really work good from what is see, but most just use as much force as they can to get them where they need to be. They are doing there job, and everyone seems to be satisfied with it. I never have seen anyone doing anything cruel or abusive.

They are a little short of help so I offered to help move sheep from one feedlot to another about 3 miles away. They do it on 4 wheelers, but I did it horseback and really enjoyed it and got along pretty good. The first move I rode a good horse and had my cowdog Taco, and Umberto helped me get them out of the pen and started. Young sheep don’t know how to drive and end up wanting to circle if you don’t move them kinda right. If you position yourself right you can keep this from happening and I got along real good. They trailed real nice and I made it a lot quicker than they thought. I got to headquarters right at dinner time and they were all headed to town to get lunch. I made a little mistake and was “late” and the sheep al got into the chopped hay pile. I got lots of help and they used lots of pressure to get them off the hay and on the way again. I didn’t have much farther to go and finished up by putting the sheep in the pen just right by myself. Real nice day.

The next day I rode a new horse I’ve been riding that get pretty scared and wants to leave the scene. I unloaded at the destination and trotted him the 3 miles to the sheep. I went through a bunch off sheep out on a pivot to get him used to sheep, and got of and led him to introduce him to them. It was slick and I didn’t really feel like getting in a stampede because of a bunch of sheep. That worked out real good and I got him where I could ride him to the sheep. Then I went in with a bunch that had been bled the day before and rode him around in them and moved them a little to help him get so he could take the pressure.

Umberto showed up and we went to get the sheep I was going to move. It was right in the middle of all the machinery and goings on, and my horse was real scared and I was having plenty to do just to keep him on his feet and not heading to the next county. They got the sheep out of the pen. The guard dogs saw my dog and here they came at a dead run. That didn’t help Tacos day or my horses. They were both pretty scared. We got them out and on the road and away I went with maybe 800 ewe lambs in front of me, with one cowdog right under my horses tail and 6 guard dogs right behind him. I didn’t ride on a loose rein, but I was able to get where I need to get the sheep lined out and moving. There is a bridge to cross and by the time I got to it the dogs had everything worked out, my horse was getting pretty sheepy, and I had the sheep traveling on the side of the road. I was able to move them from the ditch to the road and they were going right to it. Umberto showed up just in time for he and another fellow to keep them from going around the guard rail. They crossed real nice. Umberto was real happy with how the sheep were moving and seemed to appreciate how I was working with them. He is one of the crew that really cares about the handling of the sheep. His job is not to bleed the sheep but to feed and take care of them and make sure they are healthy, so he uses a different kind of pressure than some of the others.

The other thing I have been doing since Tammy is gone is listening to the “Bud Summit”. Every year like minded folks get together to share information on Bud Williams teachings. It’s very good listening and learning and it’s got me to thinking about lots of good ideas they discussed.
The people that go have real strong feelings about how they do things and they are very dedicated to Bud Williams methods. From what I hear from my listening no one else works livestock to the standards they believe in, and they are right in what they believe.

I have also been watching the Ray Hunt videos more, and the kind of horsemanship he is talking about fits the folks that believe it is the best.

My point to all of these examples is that we all have different outcomes we’re interested in. I think you need to figure out where your at, and if that is working the best for you. We all have opinions and think what we are doing is right, or we don’t even know there may be a better way to do things.

It all goes back to pressure. Some folks don’t even know there are any other kind of pressure than what they are using. The “buds” seem to think Bud Williams was the only one that worked stock right. I’m not saying they are wrong, and I will keep trying to learn more of it. (I’m a Bud lite by definition). I have seen lots of good hands in my time that weren’t doing everything wrong and I just feel that through all time there have been a few that got it right.

So why do you work stock or people the way you do? Are you using the best pressure for what you are trying to do? Can you do better than you are doing? Is it worth making the change?

Whatever you are doing, as long as your not being abusive, it’s your deal. I’ve got my own deal that I am ok with but not satisfied. It’s none of my business what you do, but if we can share ideas and help each other get better, that’s a positive.

It’s a very personal thing.

Joel Brown commented:

Curt, can you visit some about stress on cattle; caused by our “handling pressure”, we raise 3 thousand replacement heifers and get the cattle prepared to handle, like a horse, gets their thinking side in a natural place without pressure, sure seems to affect their response over time to being content and healthy. Seems to prepare is as important as executing the right move, more feeling the cow then just learning a dance move, hope that makes sense, thank you for your dedication, I’ve enjoyed your and Ron Gills work, have a blessed week, thank you

I received this comment on handling pressure. This is the big question we should be asking as an industry.

While at a large feedyard lately were were visiting about death loss. It was a 100 thousand plus capacity, with 2 1/2 turns a year. With some quick figuring in our heads they had over a 4 million dollar death loss cost. I have no numbers, but performance loss due to sickness or cattle that were not taking the stress of the feedyard environment may well be just as much or more.

I feel this is something we need to focus on, but who will take a hold of it? Does it start with fetal programming from nutrition and environment, stress at birth that hampers immune system development, or lack of vaccine efficacy?

What would it be worth to train these calves to take pressure and work properly when handled as Joel suggested. Who’s going to pay for it if we don’t recognize the value?

I feel it has to start with the cow/calf producer. This is where it all begins, and no matter what direction they go, replacement heifers or finished cattle, this is the most important training for the solid foundation they need. If they have a good foundation, they can always be brought back to it.

We need to always work with these calves so they learn to think their way out of pressure. I does not matter how you teach it really(who’s method), just that these calves learn to think rather than react.

If you go to a finishing yard, and see the incoming cattle, and they have been prepared to be processed, know what a feed bunk is and have the confidence and try to get to the bunk and waterer, those cattle settle in immediately and go on the gain.

To my way of thinking these are professionals cattle. The other side of the coin is cattle that over react to all the pressure. These cattle have been prepared also, but in the opposite way. As soon as they have any contact that involves things unfamiliar to them they over react.

By the time the cattle are finished and you pull them to count or go to load they work pretty good. But remember the millions of dollars lost on the 225 thousand head of cattle we talked about before. I think training cattle for the feedyard is worth it.

We could go through the same thoughts with replacement heifers, or dairy heifers, or probably rabbits.

So Joel, great point. It is so important to prepare ourselves, our children, and the animals in our care, to take the pressures this old world gives us. The challenge is learning how to go about it.

Some folks learn it, some don’t. The information is out there, it’s up to you to find it and implement it.

If I was a feedlot manager, and I had lots of cattle, I would put together a health care and sickness prevention team to get these cattle where they need to be. If they could cut death loss and sickness by 1/8th, (I know you could achieve much more)you could offer a pretty good salary.

It’s up to you as a producer, are you a professional? Don’t make excuses, blame someone else, or not put out the effort. That’s not the way to live and work. Stockmanship is a lifestyle, just a being a professional is.

Thank you , Joel for getting me to thinking.