Handling cattle: Who taught you ?

[Dixieangus]

As to who taught me, roping steers at the arena about 2 miles down the road......Tool of choice- depends on location

chute- hot shot, way less stressful
loading- very long stick or such

 

[slick4591]

My granddad taught me more of what not to do. I just kinda reversed it and figured it out on my own.

 

[AndyStander]

I always keep in the back of my mind that cattle flow like water. This isnt always the case but if you are calm and don't get mad if something goes wrong it usually works out.

 

[Susie David]

Don't keep a mean cow on the place and definately use the grain bucket...to darn old to chase cows anymore. Staying calm and moving steadily makes for a easy job of moving our cows, but then our gals have been with us for a few years and know what we expect of them. Read up on low stress cattle handling techniques we have been using then for years just didn't have a name for them back then.
Have a old fishing pole that I use when I need to sort out the herd...have a hot shot but the batteries have dead for years some of the older gals remember the yellow stick and quick step when they see it.
Dave Mc

 

[baleflipper]

if a brahma lies down an sulls up squirt it with a water hose,they will flap their ears a bit and get up. most sale barns in south texas have a water hose in the sale ring .

 

[Nesikep]

does flapping their ears help them in getting up? ;P

 

[fdwyer]

I once saw a heifer put her head down in the barn and give my brother (who liked to yell and holler) a nudge that sent him sliding 20feet in 18inches of slop. Oh, it was a sight to see.... As soon as I knew he wasn`t dead and after I stopped laughing, I decided to do the opposite of everything he does.

Any old little stick to make my reach look a little longer, patience and an extra person or two, when I can get them.

Frank

 

[Nesikep]

I prefer to work alone.. my cows know me more that anyone else, so they[re more relaxed... I often carry a rope with me and will get them on a halter (it's never too late to halter break them if you have a sturdy post around)

I remember this one who had jumped over a couple fences to get bck with her calf at weaning time.. I got the rope around her neck and snout, tied it to the tractor with a hitch that could be easily undone, and towed her a half mile to the others.. talk about mad cow!

 

[IluvABbeef]

I learned my cattle handling skills from Dad, lots of experience, a bit of reading from some books and a bit more experience and common sense.

I also prefer to work alone, the animals seem to get less anxious and nervous when there's only one person around to work with them. I don't use any tools to work with cattle, just body language, use of the arms to make myself look as big as possible, and of course my eyes to watch and see how and where they're going to move next. A sorting stick is only used in the handling facility, and used only when there's trouble with an animal that won't go in, or to make my reach extend a bit more when herding them down the working corral. Hotshot only when absolutely necessary.

 

[OleScout]

My Dad taught me. His first rule in handling cattle is "You have to be smarter than the cow".
Tools: feed bucket (some of the old cows will try to get in your pocket if you have a bucket) and just a sorting stick about 5" long x 1" Dia. Not to hit with just head and tap to prod.
Like to work them alone. Work them in a circle in the lot and let the ones out the gate that I don't want caught.
Old cows know the drill and the young ones pick it up pretty quick.

 

[James T]

The second part of my question would be " What tools do you use to handle your cattle?" By this I mean I have heard over and over hear about folks that use a 2 by 4 ...........maybe that is the tool of choice but I allways seen men using whips. I know they make prods and i suppose some sort of sticks or paddles I see the fellows at the barn with. What is your " pursueder of choice" I know we all do it differently I suppose. I have a hard time keeping my " puppy" from jumping on customers " be nice" xmas clothes so I suppose I could use some training with some cattle...............thanks in advance for your reply.

Kingfisher, as I was growing up, my Dad had cattle and I just pretty much watched the activity - a lot of guys hootin and hollering, throwing sticks and whatever else they could find, at the cattle to move them towards and into the corral. I watched my Dad pick up a 2x4 and wack a cow across the head. When I got my own cattle, I did the same thing. Then a neighbor, who became a good friend, would come buy, always with cold beer to share, and ask me why I was jumping around screamin at the cattle. So I asked him what I supposed to do to get them going where I want? He taught me about the boss/lead cow and about the peripheral vision they have and how calmness would lower stress. It worked! I later read a lot about what Temple Granlin (sp) wrote and I changed up my cattle handling facilities, changed my own behavior and it wasn't long before I could work my cattle by myself without too much fuss. Getting rid of tempermental cattle helps too. I thought all Brangus were tempermental. Not so.

 

[novatech]

Kingfisher, as I was growing up, my Dad had cattle and I just pretty much watched the activity - a lot of guys hootin and hollering, throwing sticks and whatever else they could find, at the cattle to move them towards and into the corral. I watched my Dad pick up a 2x4 and wack a cow across the head. When I got my own cattle, I did the same thing. Then a neighbor, who became a good friend, would come buy, always with cold beer to share, and ask me why I was jumping around screamin at the cattle. So I asked him what I supposed to do to get them going where I want? He taught me about the boss/lead cow and about the peripheral vision they have and how calmness would lower stress. It worked! I later read a lot about what Temple Granlin (sp) wrote and I changed up my cattle handling facilities, changed my own behavior and it wasn't long before I could work my cattle by myself without too much fuss. Getting rid of tempermental cattle helps too. I thought all Brangus were tempermental. Not so.

Your mention of Temple Granlin reminded me of of Herman Dietering that totally revised my way of handling Brahman for the better.
Here are some of his articles;

http://southwindfarmstx.com/html/articles.html

 

[Crazy Farmgirl]

Had many mentors over the years. Learned alot at a very young age from my very first job on the neighbors dairy farm. When we went out in the pasture to bring the cows up to milk the ladies all knew where to go so basically you plodded along behind and picked up the occasional stray heifer who didn't know the program yet. While the herd was moving along the farmer would explain how cow's see and react the he'd tell me to walk over here or there and see what happens...excellent lessons on how to get them to go where you want! After that I have more often than not learned what NOT to do, been around a bunch who liked to get in amongst the cattle hoopin' and hollerin' and then got all fired up when they didn't cooperate. While funny to watch...not effective!

Today with my own cattle I usually work alone. Depending on my goals I will use a grain bucket or simply go out get the one cow that would follow me off a cliff and lead the herd using her. For sorting and such I use a long longe whip (or two), not to whip them but for making myself look big or extending my reach and in an emergency that loud "CRACK" has come in handy. I cull hard for temperment but still don't turn my back on them.

 

[wrightwayangus]

A flexible plastic made sorting stick. Now just about anything will work, but I think that its great cuz its light. We simply use it as an extension of our hand. Meaning that it is used as an obstruction to the cows line of sight. A cow will generally stop if you just move in that area, but we believe in only keeping good gentle keepers. Now every once and a while she will still go by you, but walk back and pick her back up. Just our way of doing it, but come by the ranch and we can get you set up with a gentle bull and a sorting stick.

 

[Nesikep]

While I was getting the cows up into the corral for weaning time a couple weeks back 90% of them knew what to do and galloped up into the corral with no fuss, however, the bull, 2 cows and 2 calves didn't cooperate and turned around at the gate... and to make matters worse, they were looking for how to get up to the corral too, but they forgot where the gate was... I had to chase them for a while on the motorbike, and when I got one of them really hot, tired and thirsty, she remembered where the gate was and they all went... I did wipe the bike out on a cowpie though but didn't get any on me... they know that when I call them, even if I'm on the bike they should follow, but when I get upset the bike isn't puttering along anymore and they get scared of it.. which works fine for me

as for sorting out the calves from the cows, it was easy as pie

 

[bunchgrass]

IMHO - it's also pretty important to be able to "read" your animals. Looking big to some high headed critter doesn't mean squat and can get you run over while that same action will work against animals that don't think you're trying to kill'em right then and there. Sorting stick for reach and seeing trouble before they do seems to be the best action. But I'm new here so maybe I'm messed up : )

 

[Rosielou]

Learned from, and still learning, from my grandfather. 50+ years working with cattle, he knows his stuff pretty well. Usually we use a thick stick, maybe about 4 foot, couple inches wide or we use about a 5ft pipe, bout half an inch across. Sometimes he uses a whip, but never cracks it. He usually taps them with it. Sometimes we use a hotshot on the bull calves that are being stubborn, but we've probably used the one we have now about a maximum of 20 times and we've had it 5+ years. Sometimes he grunts a little at them, but never really yells.

Usually I don't use anything, but if I'm working with cows that are a little bit more spookier, I use the pipe I mentioned. Sometimes I use a small PCP pipe about 3 1/2- 4 foot long. But now since we've almost sold out we usually don't have to use anything, maybe the whip, but never really cracking it. Most of the time I raise my hands, wave a little and sometimes snap my fingers to get their attention, or I cluck at them like I do my horses, or smooch at them like a dog to get the attention of the heifers and calves. Usually the older cows require a bit of waving.

I also learned what NOT to do from the local salebarn. They hotshot them until they have their tongues out and foaming at the mouth and bellering. There's one guy who operates the gates who I usually want to just knock upside the head with the paddle he uses. He uses one of the paddles with the BB's in the end and just whacks the cows in the face as hard as he can manage and I swear he closes the gate too soon so it gets the cows hindquarters or their heads. He's an older man, but he's just so ignorant with what he does. Today he repeatedly hotshotted a cow until she reared to jump over the railing, and I just shook my head. It's really angering how much they hotshot them in this heat, 100+. Just awful.

 

[Jinglebobbie]

My grandpa taught me that the quiter you can move the cattle the better off you'll be. We have electric prods but seldom use them. I think Grandpa was right about alot of things. If you get a bad one, send it packing.

 

[Nesikep]

rosielou, it's the same at our sale barn... I mean they do want them to walk around the ring for the buyers to see, and I can understand it if you're trying to sort one out of the pack you might need to use different tactics, but when I see my halterbroke heifers getting chased like hell in the ring, and then the hydraulic doors hitting them on the rump every time they leave the ring, it gets my blood boiling as well. They don't use hotshots though. I'm just really glad I don't have to take my calves back after they've been through the sale barn... I don't think they'd ever handle the same again.