Tag Archives: low stress cattle handling

Timing

This seems the perfect time to discuss my thoughts on timing.

If you have read some of my previous thoughts on pressure being what causes animals to do the things they do, and the amount of feel we apply this pressure with, then the timing of the pressure is the next logical thing to talk about.

If the timing of the pressure is correct and the proper type of pressure for the situation is used, it will work. However, the correct pressure at the wrong time may have little to no effect, or even a negative effect.

Timing may be just the opposite of feel in the aspect of learning. Timing is easy to teach or demonstrate, but very hard to learn. The more things going on, and the faster the pace,the harder it is to have good timing.

Timing has to do with the mind of the handler and the animal. The brain can only think of one main thought at a time. This is why it is so dangerous to drive while texting or trying to read a map. Your timing of driving your car is thrown off, and you will apply the pressure to the brake, steering wheel, or gas pedal at the wrong time. When a person has perfected the motor skills of driving and does not have to have complete concentration on thinking of what to do operate the car, the driver can carry on a conversation with another person in the car. I don’t know about all states but in some if you are driving a semi truck and are talking on a cell phone without having your hands free it carries a heavy fine. Timing is very important, mainly thinking ahead when driving, especially when it is hard to stop.

Livestock seem to be very single minded. The first step to proper timing is to get the animals mind in a state to take pressure. If the pressure startles the animal, depending on the animals temperament, it could cause the animal to react more than is necessary or in a negative way. Startle a sleeping horse from behind and you may get kicked or slam the door on a pickup truck with a pen of flighty cattle, and while you are limping around or building fence, it will give you time to think about improving the way you time your approach.

The way you go about changing the mind of the animal to your pressure is key to how well the animal will accept and respond to the pressure. Once the animals attention is on you, the timing of how much pressure and the kind of pressure you use is also very important to not only get the animal to do what you would like it to do, but also keeping it doing it. You must become more important than every other stimulus in the environment, but not scare the animal because of too much pressure. If we go back to the driving scenario, it’s like someone who is real jerky on the gas pedal, goes real fast, then slams on the brakes to stop fast. The smooth driver times the pressure and release of pressure with the flow of traffic and terrain of the road. The smooth stockman does the same.

Most animal abuse is caused by improper timing of pressure. When excessive pressure is applied and an animal can’t or has no place to get away, this is abuse. Improper timing can create a response in animals which creates the need for excessive pressure where it would not have been needed if the animal had been trained properly.

So here is the order I think one should take when moving livestock …

Try to approach from an angle and speed that lets the animal discover your pressure before you penetrate the flight zone. When you get a response, it is important to immediately change your pressure, to reward the animal or reassure it that you have feel, and to get it thinking out of the pressure. The timing of this is so important. The closer you make the change in pressure to them thinking about it, rather than physically doing it, the better the timing.

Once you find the pressure zone that creates movement then you can change the angle of the pressure to create direction. You may be wrong in your estimations and this is when you time your change of pressure to get the direction you want. By your timing of pressure and also the real ease of pressure, the animal is learning to take your pressure and work for you, while you are learning the best way to work with the animal to keep it on the thinking side of its brain so it gets easier to work.

No matter if is a herd of livestock or one animal, I treat it the same way. With one animal I get movement that fits the situation, then try to point the nose where I would like it to go. With a herd it is important to get proper movement, then establish direction with the lead animals with out stopping the movement of the herd.

When I help people starting and riding young horses the thing I always found myself saying to them was, “You’re late.” This is the challenge with learning timing. With animals if you don’t apply the pressure or release it at the proper time, they can’t reason it out. They are in the moment.

When you are learning. you don’t want to make a mistake, so you try to decide or think of the best option. By the time you think of all the things to do, then make the decision to implement it, you are late. So you try another set of options, then you are really late.

With real gentle cattle you can get by with thinking in the pressure zone, but the more sensitive the animal is the less time you can be in the wrong spot if you are in the pressure zone. You should step back out of pressure, quickly regroup, and then step into pressure with the new plan. If you make smooth positive movements, not quick jerky moves, the animal will respond better.

This is why I say timing is easy to teach, but hard to learn. You can be told all the right things but the only way to get experience is from mistakes made, then learned from.

The more advanced you get at handling livestock the better you can use timing to get better results. You time the change of pressure with the physical balance of the cow or the shape of the herd. When trying to load a steer in a trailer or up a lead to a chute, if you position yourself properly to apply just enough pressure to get him to see the opening, as he looks at the opening you increase the pressure at the proper time and amount. To early and he won’t be lined up to go up the chute. To late and he may choose another option. This is when proper timing really is helpful in animal handling.

Here’s a simple example of timing:

A few years back I was watching the rodeo in Missoula, MT. After the rodeo I was on the track visiting with a real good steer wrestling horse trainer that I was college roommate with. He was on his bulldogging horse and the fireworks started to go off. His horse just stood there and we watched the fireworks. That’s pretty good to get a steer wrestling horse to just stand there when fireworks are going off. The fireworks had been going on for a few minutes and a barrel racer came running across near us saying to Steve (Blixt), “My horse is tied to the trailer.” He never even hesitated but said, “You’re late.” Her timing was way off.

I really feel timing is the one thing that you always need to keep working on. All the physical things you do are only helpful when you time them right. The way to get better timing is to do things and then analyze the result to check your timing. If you never think about and remember what worked your feel and timing will be off. By analyzing performance we create balance, and that will be next weeks topic of discussion.

~ Curt Pate

Feel

Lets talk about feel.  I have been asked many times if feel can be taught.  I don’t know, but I see people with quite a bit of feel, so it’s learned by some.

As I stated before, to me feel is applying proper pressure in the proper amount.  That seems like such a simple explanation for such an important concept.  Simple can be very complicated unless you keep simple, and that is the reason these things are difficult to teach.  Those that learn feel keep it simple, those that don’t make it complicated or can’t control emotion.

Pressure is what creates a reaction in an animal.  The type of pressure, the amount of pressure, the proximity of the pressure, the awareness of the animal,and how familiar the animal is with the type of pressure effects the reaction of the animal to the pressure.

Pressure creates a stimulus to the brain of the animal from its vision, hearing, or actual physical contact of the body.  I also have experienced times when the animal can seem to read the intent of another animal or human, and this is a pressure that should be examined as well.

Here’s my simple cowboy way of looking at how the brain works.  It has two sides.
One side is the thinking side of the brain, or if we are talking in terms of livestock we should call it the “gain” part of the brain.  The other side is the reaction side of the brain, and we will label it the “shrink” side.  When cattle are on the gain they are healthy and much more likely to be profitable.  Livestock on the shrink are unsettled, unhealthy, unhappy and usually unprofitable (looks like it should be the “un-side” of the brain).

Animals on the gain think about the kind and amount of feed and water they need and have the space and time to consume it.  If other animals are present that make it “think” it is safe and creates social comfort, this will help keep the animal on the gain side of the brain as well.

Animals on the shrink have unfamiliar or excessive pressure put on them which causes the brain to go to the reaction side.  If this pressure lasts it can put the animal in another state of the brain which is survival.  This is the worst place for an animal to be and it is my goal to always keep any animal from reaching this state of mind.

The environment outside of the body creates the environment inside the body.  The main defense grazing animals have is to move away from danger or what we call flight.  The amount of fear the pressure creates is what can put the animal into survival mode.  If the brain switches to survival mode the animal needs all its energy for flight.  “They load ‘er light, bind ‘er tight, and head ’em for the swamps,” as my old friend Steve Mitchell used to say.

The brain sends signals through the body with cortisone and adrenaline to increase blood and oxygen flow to the heart, lungs, and legs to increase the ability to run away from danger. Any thing that takes energy and is not needed is put on stand by or shut down.  The immune system takes a bunch of energy (remember how you feel before you get a cold).  There is no need to fight off pink-eye or BVD at the moment, if a grizzly bear, or a human that acts like one is trying to get you. This is the danger of excessive pressure too often for too long.

The environment inside the cow also has predators and they are waiting for an opportune time to attack. These are pathogens and bacteria and other things I don’t know the names of.  I look at the immune system like a county sheriff.  If he has good deputies and they are all on the job, the county has very little crime.  If they have a disaster from mother nature, big predators like fire, tornado, earthquakes or flood, they shut down the crime immune system and help people in the survival mode.  This is when the pathogens of society attack.

Hopefully this will get you to thinking how important it is to keep an animal on the gain.  This is why it is not only important to get the cattle to do what you need from a handling stand point, but also from an economic and ethical point of view as well.  The amount of feel you use with your type of pressure affects immediate and future gain.

Every experience the animal has with pressure effects how its brain reacts to pressure.  If the animal learns to take pressure he is on the thinking or gain side and will get better to handle over time.  Pressure without feel is excessive and creates shrink or survival mode. Over time this will create animals that are hard to handle and, if driven to survival mode, can become very dangerous.

No matter how good you are at handling livestock, the next person that gets to handle it may not be as handy. The situation and area it is being handled in may require an animal that is trained to take pressure and think its way through the situation.  If it has been taught to handle with feel, it will be much easier to get it done safely while keeping the animal on the gain.

If we all learn to handle our livestock with FEEL it will solve many problems.  That’s what Stockmanship and Stewardship is all about.

So, whatever method you use to get livestock from point to point, make sure you use feel and keep ’em on the gain.

~ Curt Pate

Thoughts and Sights from New Mexico Indian Livestock Days

At the New Mexico Indian Livestock days I presented a stockmanship and stewardship presentation.  We had several pairs with the calves being all different ages and sizes.

This was one of my favorite and in my opinion the best format for a live demonstration.  We actually were able to simulate most of the handling situations that would happen with a cow-calf during an entire year on a western range outfit.

969114_10100186827713051_2014293616_nIn this picture I caught the calf with a long throw that he did not even see coming. I then walked with him on my horse to keep from putting to much pressure on him with the rope.  When I him laid him down nice and easy, he struggled and I applied pressure with my hands and right leg.  As soon as he quit struggling I took most of the pressure off, but not all.  He very quickly learned to relax, and was then ready to be tagged, vaccinated, or whatever else you needed to do.

I feel this is a great first interaction between human and the calf.  The calf will always remember that if he relaxes the pressure will come off.  This will prepare him to be calm in the chute his first time, if he is handled properly.

The next three photos are demonstrating getting control of an older animal, laying it down softly, and having it relaxed enough to accept what you need to do, without having its heart pounding and lungs burning. Click on the photos for a full description of what’s happening.

If you can rope the animal without running it, get it to give to the rope (this is why I rope with a slick horn, to smoothly give a little slack as soon as the animal thinks about not resisting), it will learn to stand.  I then rode a circle around the calf to wrap up his hind legs, laid him down softly and then by keeping his hind feet off the ground, could get off and hold him down.   At this point you secure the calf, and perform whatever procedure that’s needed.  Always remember to practice Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) protocols.

If you can do this type of handling slow and easy it is safe and very effective and can be low stress, however it takes practice and commitment, like all good stockmanship skills.

Hopefully we will have more photos or even some video from our mock branding, sorting, and weaning of these desert cattle.

It was a great day for me.  Horses for Heroes and the Cowboy Up program provided horses and crew.  What an inspiration!

I don’t know if the folks watching learned anything, but I sure learned so much about native traditions, their love of Mother Earth and the horse.

If you ever get a chance, go to New Mexico and learn about the traditions of the Indian.

~ Curt Pate