Agricultural News
Do Everything You Can to Create Calm Cattle
Tue, 29 Jan 2013 13:23:33 CST
Do everything you can to create calm cattle. That's the message from animal scientist Renaldo Cooke from Oregon State University. He says disposition affects everything from a calf's carcass quality to a cow's reproduction.
"The bottom line is every time you have a really aggressive cow that becomes stressed due to human handling, the chance that that cow becomes pregnant goes down significantly. The same thing with replacement heifers; if you have aggressive heifers and you don't handle them properly, the chances of the heifer to become pubertal by 12 months of age and pregnant by 15 months of age goes down significantly."
In the feedlot, Iowa research shows that aggressive cattle earn $57 less on a grid than their docile counterparts. They also have a higher death loss.
So what's a producer to do?
"The first thing I like to do with the replacement heifers that we have at the research station is get them used to humans as much as possible. So, after weaning, when we select for replacement heifers, when you go to feed those heifers, make sure you get out of the truck or the tractor or off the horse and just walk among them for five minutes. Get them used to you so that the next time you bring them to the cattle pens, they won't be so excited about the whole situation because they've seen you before."
Cooke also suggests limiting the use of dogs and hot shots. He says adopting low-stress handling techniques is not just about economics.
"Selecting animals for temperament is not only important to optimize production efficiency in cow-calf operations, but also it will create a safer environment for work. But only selecting for temperament is just not enough. You have to be able to handle those animals properly because if you have an animal that's naturally calm and you don't handle them properly--and what I mean by properly is a low-stress scenario-so by doing that the producer is not only gaining on the production side, on the reproduction side, but also maintaining safety on those working conditions," Cooke said.
Increasing pregnancy rates, better calves, and work safety should be enough reasons to take a look at your animal handling practices, Cooke says.
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