Page 162 - Zoo Animal Learning and Training

146 Tasks for the Veterinary Assistant

rear to move them forward or on the left or right as soon as possible after birth and this may cause the cow
shoulder to move them in the opposite direction. to feel the newborn is being threatened. If they perceive
You should never beat on any of the livestock to get a threat their response was described previously, and
them to move. Using the point of shoulder and a cheer- they will stand guard; if you move, they will take after you
ful shout of “git up” or “move” is often all you need. again. Foals must be worked on with mothers’ present,
Remember the fight or flight response, give the animals otherwise the mares tend to go crazy with fear and worry
time to sort themselves out at gates or going into enclo- and will try to get to the foal even if it must hurt itself to
sures. If pushed too hard they will try to get away which do so. Never remove a newborn lamb from their moth-
either results in them scattering, or turning back upon er’s sight as they often reject them when returned. Piglets
you, with heads lowered to move past, around, or over must be removed from the mother’s sight and hearing
you. before being worked upon. They get very upset when
they hear their piglets squeal and have been known to
climb out of pens to get to their offspring.
Reflection

Now that you have learned a bit about livestock Territory
and horses, is there anything that makes you Horses are not so much territorial as they are hierar-
nervous or scared about working with them? How chical. This is when there is a top animal that leads and
will you combat those feelings so that you may everyone else falls in line. The point to remember is
handle them safely? when introducing a new animal into the herd it is impor-
tant to know that a fight may erupt, and you don’t want
to be caught in the middle of a rumble! This is avoided
Maternal Behavior or reduced by introducing animals with fencing situated

Maternal instinct has a very strong effect on behavior, close enough for the animals to smell and look at each
even the most docile animal will become aggressive if other but not to have physical contact with each other.
their offspring is being “attacked.” Which from a Sex drive in males can be an overpowering urge that
human’s perspective may be just a wish to pet the young- can turn normally very docile animals into very aggres-
ster! Livestock mothers can be quite dangerous if they sive animals if you are the one keeping them from their
feel threatened. Calves, lambs, kids, and foals can be target. Be very cautious and follow all the safety rules
worked on in front of the mothers; however, you must when dealing with these animals, especially with dairy
keep a watchful eye on them as they may come to their bulls and stallions. The sheer size and weight of these
defense if the youngsters vocalize in distress. Cows are animal can cause severe damage to a human.
extremely dangerous when working on or around their
calves (Figure 8.60). Handlers often need to place ear
tags and treat the umbilical cord, this handling is done Learning Exercise
Research the reasons for maternal, territorial, hier-
archical, and sex drive behaviors in livestock and
horses. Why have these developed and how can
we use them to our advantage when working
with these patients?

Restraint Techniques for Horses
and Livestock

Horses are led and “controlled” by a halter. The reason
for the quotes around controlled is that even if the
person is 200 lb on the end of a lead rope attached to a
halter, if that horse wants to get away it is going to get
away! For that reason, there is one rule to keep in mind
when working with a horse. Never trust a horse! This may
FIGURE 8.60 Cow with newborn calf. Source: Wikimedia Commons. sound harsh, but they are prey animals and will try to
Used under CC‐BY‐SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ flee if startled or frightened. If they can’t get away, they
File:New_born_Frisian_red_white_calf.jpg. will fight or run over you to escape. You must be