How to Handle Cattle

By Temple Grandin
Published on November 17, 2017
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by Getty Images/Joakimbkk
Learn the instinctual behavior patterns of your cattle to help keep them calm.

All species of grazing animals are born with natural behavior patterns that help them avoid predators. Handlers can make use of these behaviors to gather and move livestock. Calm animals are easier to handle than agitated animals — and studies show that animals that remain calm during handling have increased weight gain, better reproduction, and fewer injuries. Grazing animals naturally employ five basic instinctual behavior patterns to avoid predators. If you understand these behaviors, you’ll be able to gather and drive almost any grazing animal herd.

1. When grazing animals first spot a predator, they’ll turn and face it. The predator is in the pressure zone. The pressure zone is the area in which an animal first becomes aware of a potential threat — whether a predator or an approaching handler — and turns its head or body to face it (see illustration). The animal monitors the location of the threat and decides when to stay and when to move away.

2. At the point where the animals can no longer tolerate the handler’s approach, they’ll turn and move away. The handler has entered the flight zone. As the handler approaches, the handler exits the pressure zone and enters the flight zone.

3. If a handler crosses a grazing animal’s point of balance, located at the shoulder or just behind the eye, the animal will always run in the opposite direction. This innate maneuver can help an animal dodge a fatal attack on its flank.

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