Page 165 - The Welfare of Cattle

142 the WeLfare of CattLe

Mumford’s words also make it obvious that the animals like the stock person and the stock person
likes the animals. Mumford writes further about the animal’s response to the stockperson.
“His approaching footsteps call forth the affectionate whinny of recognition.” His calm
well-modulated voice inspires confidence and wins affection.”
W.D. Hoard, the founder of the Hoard’s Dairyman magazine wrote, “The rule to be observed
in the stable at all times, toward the cattle, young and old, is that of patience and kindness. A man’s
usefulness to the herd ceases at once when he loses his temper or bestows rough usage.”

DO NOt UNDerStaFF aND OVerWOrK

For a stockperson to have a positive attitude, it is essential that they are not worked to exhaustion
where they get too tired to care about doing things right. Unpublished data in the broiler chicken
and pork industry indicate that after a person has worked for over 6 hours loading either chickens or
pigs onto trucks, they start to get tired and death losses go up. Another problem is understaffing. It is
impossible for a stockperson to have a positive attitude if they are doing a job that two people should
be doing. Specialists in low-stress cattle handling emphasize the importance of people getting to
know the unique behaviors of individual animals. This enables the animals to develop trust with the
stockpersons (Smith-Thomas, 2016). To do this, the stock person must not be overworked. In large
operations, each stock person should be given a group of animals he/she can take ownership of and
care for. In a big feedlot, the pens of cattle could be divided up between the different pen riders.

IMPrOVe the PrOFeSSIONaL StatUS OF StOCK PeOPLe

There is a need to increase the professional status of the people who handle cattle, doing jobs
such as vaccinating the animals or riding the feedlot pens to look for sick cattle. There are many
people who would be really good at handling cattle on either large ranches or feedlots. Low pay is
one reason it is difficult to get good stock people. I had a student tell me that she loved working with
pigs in the farrowing barn, but she was not getting sufficient pay to live in a decent house. She quit
the job because she did not want to live in a trailer. Managers need to place a higher value on people
who either already have, or are willing to develop really good stockmanship skills. Fortunately,
there are now many classes for training stock people, because managers are recognizing the impor-
tance of stockmanship. Progressive managers are enrolling employees in stockmanship training.

aNIMaLS reMeMBer BaD eXPerIeNCeS aND haVe SPeCIFIC MeMOrIeS

Cattle have long memories and they do not forget bad experiences. In one of my early research
projects, I learned that cattle could remember being accidentally banged on the head with the head-
gate of the squeeze chute. Thirty days later, the next time they entered the chute, they were more
likely to balk (Grandin, 1993). A study with sheep clearly showed that they remembered an aversive
experience a year later (Hutson, 1980). When electric prods were used, cattle were more likely to
balk and more force was required to move them through a chute in the future (Goodewardene et al.,
1999). Dairy cows have specific things they are afraid of Lindahl et al. (2013) found that a cow’s
heart rate was higher and they balked more when being moved to the hoof-trimming chute, com-
pared to being moved to the milking parlor. Animal memories are specific because animal memo-
ries are sensory based. For example, if a horse is trained to tolerate blue and white umbrellas, that
does not transfer to orange tarp (Leiner and Fendt, 2011). Umbrellas and tarps look totally different.
Cooke (2014) also found that getting cattle accustomed to being fed from a person on a truck does