Grandin says calm is the key to working cattle better KEARNEY - One of the foremost experts on animal behavior and livestock systems design believes in simple tools and a little horse sense — or rather cow sense — when handling cattle. Temple Grandin’s tools include chutes that allow cattle to travel along curves instead of sharp angles, calm voices, corrals with all the “flapping things” removed and an 8-foot-plastic pole with a flag on the end. “The most important thing to quiet down is people’s mouths,” said Grandin, an associate professor of animal science at Colorado State University, who also is a consultant, lecturer and author. The story of how Grandin turned her difficulties with autism into an incomparable ability to understand animal behavior has been told on network TV shows and in national magazines. At the Nebraska Grazing Conference in Kearney this week, she described how changing livestock facilities and handlers’ behavior can reduce fear and stress in cattle. Calm cattle are easier to handle, Grandin said, and studies show they have better rates of gain. No one can match Grandin’s ability to “think in pictures” the way cattle do. But she said handlers can get into the chutes to see what the cattle are seeing. Handling issues too often are ignored because they can’t be measured like other aspects of beef production. When she started consulting at processing plants in the late 1990s, employees couldn’t tell her how many animals had fallen that day or how fast the cattle came out of the chute. “Some of this is in the mindset of the help,” Grandin said. “I hate to say this, but some people shouldn’t be working cattle.” A Grandin-designed facility is recognized by its curving design. “If you bend it (a corner) too sharply, it won’t work. Cattle have to see a place to go.” she said, and then they will go naturally through curves. “They don’t like dark places.” “I cannot overemphasize how important non-slip flooring is in the entire facility.” Grandin said that requires correct materials and spacing floor cleats to fit cattle feet. Herd managers need to know that some breeds are suited to hill country and others are “flatlanders.” Grandin also suggested getting rid of cattle that are bad-habit ringleaders or “nut cases” that always will be behavior problems. She cautioned against focusing too much on getting passive cattle because they may reach a point where they lose foraging and mothering abilities. “If you go crazy over selecting for one trait, you will wreck the animal ...,” she said. “You don’t want to turn all cattle into ones that are deadheads or blobs.” One-trait selection has literally crippled the pork industry. Grandin said selective breeding for “lean, lean, lean” in swine resulted in leg and other problems, and was “a great, big, fat mistake.” The goal of her lectures, books and articles is to teach livestock handlers methods more subtle than yelling, screaming, rattling fences or striking or prodding cattle. Her lessons include explaining “flight zones” that vary in size based on cattle genetics, amount of contact with people and the quality of contact. Grandin said moving slightly inside a flight zone will get cattle to move. Intruding well inside the zone can generate fear, especially for grazing cattle that will see the person as a potential predator. To trigger natural bunching in pastures, a handler should walk back and forth at the edge of the flight zone in a windshield wiper pattern. Stragglers should be ignored, she said, because they’ll be attracted to the group. Once cattle are in a pen or chute, it’s important not to overcrowd them. “They’re not toothpaste,” Grandin said. One reason it’s difficult to teach calm, quiet handling methods is that new facilities and equipment are more exciting. “I’ve found in 30 years of doing these talks that people are much more interested in technology,” Grandin said, but new corrals won’t work if handlers won’t learn their part. “Why are the management things so much harder to do than the equipment?” She’s particularly concerned about squeeze chutes. Grandin said they should have skid-proof floors, a balance of pressure on both sides and an optimal pressure that makes a cow feel “held, but not squeezed.” “An animal should not move in direct response to the pressure,” Grandin explained, and mooing means the chute is too tight. Many hydraulic chutes have options to stretch cattle necks or have been altered to enhance hydraulic pressure to a level Grandin said is dangerous for cattle and humans. “If you handle them (cattle) right, you won’t need all that stuff ... All this garbage on the front of the head gate is a substitute for bad handling or a slippery floor.” She has no patience for people who say the chute doesn’t operate fast enough at the manufacturer-set pressure. That’s because their cattle are running into the chute instead of walking, Grandin said. “Well, why do you want to catch cattle in mid-flight?” |