Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old, he will not depart from it. You may be familiar with this proverb that instructs how to raise children.
Kids can be a little wild at times, but they can always have Mom or Dad’s voice echoing in their ears when they are doing something they shouldn’t. Parents do the best job they can while the kids are at home. We just hope we raised them well enough that they know how to behave once they leave the nest.
Heifers are a lot like kids. We can teach our kids by example, where heifers behave as they have been treated and trained. If your management and treatment of heifers produce fear and/or stress, a heifer will develop habits that you may not be able to break them of, even with the gentlest handling.
The principles
An animal’s behavior is governed by three principles: instincts, past treatment by handlers and what is happening in the moment.
Instincts are behaviors that an animal is born with. Their instincts and physiology give them advantages that have historically helped them protect themselves. Their eyes are set on the side of their head, which gives them a 310-degree field of vision so that they can see if something is sneaking up on them. However, while they have a wide field of vision, they have difficulty focusing on an object. Their ears allow them to hear noise at both a higher and lower frequency than humans. While they may have issues pinpointing a sound, they can easily determine a general direction that will allow them to escape an approaching predator. A cow that is normally very calm may become aggressive just after she has given birth.
These natural instincts, combined with their physiology, produces behaviors that we can predict. The general rules for how an animal will react to human handling are: They want to see you. They want to go around you. They want to stay with the herd. They want to go back where they came from.
You may question the fact our livestock cannot think, but they do learn. Not only can they learn, but they remember experiences both good and bad. If you have cattle that are reluctant to come into the parlor, or are always restless in the parlor, there is a chance that they have had a least a few bad experiences in there.
I don’t want to jump into a research report, but there is sufficient literature to support the idea that animals make choices to avoid situations where they have had bad experiences. It has even been suggested that they can recognize specific people that have treated them badly versus those that have been gentle. They remember locations where they have had bad experiences and, if allowed, will choose an area where they feel safe.
Provide positive experiences
Your cattle’s ability to learn emphasizes the importance of ensuring they have good experiences from the start. Cattle begin acquiring memories from birth, and you should implement management strategies from the time they are calves to encourage the behaviors you hope to see the entire time they are on your farm.
New experiences are stressful to livestock. It is important to make their first experience a good one. So, what can you do help your cattle have those good experiences?
Always talk calmly around them. Avoid being loud and shouting. Especially avoid generating metallic noises like hitting a gate, and when you are feeding calves, take a second and give them a pet.
Whenever you move calves into a new pen, even if you are transferring them into an existing group, do it right after the pen has been cleaned or bedded and time it so they have immediate access to feed.
If you have headlocks, a chute or a breeding rail, give them access to the restraint system without performing any procedures. Don’t restrain them the first time through. Consider giving them some grain at the same time.
Similarly, walk your heifers through the parlor a couple times. Walk them through before you start the system up. Walk them through another time as the first group and walk them through again as the last group but before you clean up. This lets them experience the new smells and noise.
The goal of these suggestions is to provide some ideas on how to reduce the stress of these first experiences. There are cattle that are genetically predisposed to being a knucklehead. Docility is a genetic trait, so if you have a line of cows that are just crazy no matter what you do, they may be a line that needs to be culled out of the herd as you have opportunity.
I understand that every day can’t be a good day. I encourage you to find ways to make a heifer’s first experience in a new place a good one.
