Speaker advises being calm while handling cattle

That was the message delivered by Dr. Temple Grandin, a designer of livestock handling facilities and an associate professor of animal science at Colorado State University, during the 20th annual National American Pre-Veterinary Medical Association symposium at Chadron State College in early March.

She also spoke to a group of mostly ranchers Saturday night at the Dawes County Fairgrounds.

Grandin, who has written more than 300 articles printed in scientific journals and livestock periodicals, said cattle are very sensitive to light changes and anything that might be flapping in the breeze.

“Rapid movement is bad and yelling, screaming and whistling are out,” she said. “Blue heelers are fine as long as they stay in the back of the pickup.”

Grandin said “anything that jiggles” is apt to spoke cattle. Even a puddle in the road, a shiny bumper or shadows can make driving cattle difficult. She said cattle dislike being driven into the rising or setting sun.

While designing handling facilities, Grandin said curved runways and chutes with solid sides work best, and an animal needs to see light ahead as it moves down the runway.

“An animal needs to see that it has a place to go. It won’t go into a dark hole,” she observed.

She said an eight-foot piece of plastic pipe with a flag on the end of it works well while working cattle in a corral. In addition, she said walking, riding a horse or driving a four-wheeler through cattle in a pasture are good practices so they become used to various situations. In recent years as cattle are being fed more and more by large bales, they have less contact with humans and are can become more flighty, she said.

“Never punish fearful behavior,” said Grandin. “Cattle will gain better and their meat will be more tender if they aren’t under stress. Cattle don’t forget a bad experience.”

She added that once cattle are riled up, it takes 20 minutes for them to calm down. She advised culling problem cows.

In addition, she said dairy bulls and stallions should not be locked in pens away from other animals. She said putting a young stallion in a pasture with geldings will make him much easier to handle later in life.

Although she is a native of Massachusetts, Grandin has designed facilities that are used to handle livestock throughout the United States and Canada as well as in Europe, Mexico and Australia. Many packing plants also have adopted a center track restrainer system that she designed.