Much of what we assume we know is a
result of how much we think (or don't think) about what we
experience. All of what we do with livestock is based on what our
past experiences have been. Until we change how we observe and
think about why animals react to us the way we do, we cannot make any
meaningful changes in how we do things.
Some reactions to my last post,
http://cowherdmanagement.blogspot.com/2013/01/if-bison-chased-horses-cattle-chased.html
are perfect examples. Several of them were up in arms. They threw out
examples of individual bison leaving a herd to chase horses and even
one which apparently broke into a pen to gore some horses. It would
not be reasonable to assume the entire human race violent based on
Charles Manson, Hitler and Stalin, so why do we do it with the
animals we handle?
It doesn't matter if we are working
with bison, elk, horse or (insert breed) of cattle, other than a few
individuals, their overall temperament and behavior relies heavily
upon how frequently and what methods are used in handling them. The
problem lies in the fact that when an animal does something we don't
like (such as charging a horse) people tend to look at the behavior
as an independent action rather than as a reaction to what we have
done. In our eyes we may have not done anything to warrant that (re)
action. However we need to take into account how the animal(s) have
been handled in the past that has instilled these behaviors into
them. I've run across people who own ranches (as opposed to ranchers)
who refuse to work cattle with horses because “horses make cattle
wild” or that horses are “too unpredictable and hard to handle.”
The simple fact is, as stockmen and horsemen, we need to not simply
acknowledge that an animal or group of animals is unruly or mean. We
need to observe when they are reacting in negative ways and be
introspective as to our actions immediately prior to the negative
behavior. In order to modify the behavior of our livestock, we must
first observe and recognize their behavior to the point we recognize
the negative behavior before it actually happens.
This philosophy of observing and
analyzing goes far beyond just improving the behavior of our
livestock. All too often the deterioration of our pastures is not
noticed until it is a borderline disaster. We need to continually
observe, and think about our observations.
The pasture I am in now appears to
have healthy grass from a distance. However there are large areas
that upon close observation have large amounts grass at the base
which are gray and matted. This makes me ask myself which would be
more beneficial; taking only a third of the grass as planned, or
taking more grass while breaking up more of the dead plants?
Another observation I have made
concerns water availability and predators. There is a theory that
having more water points makes it harder on predators than having
just a few “ambush” points. What I have observed is that there
are more coyotes in the pastures which have a higher number of water
points. Now that the observation has been made, we need to ask a
question and analyze it. The question is “does fewer water points
help predators by reducing ambush points, or does having more water
points simply support more packs of coyotes?”
For our ranching operations to be as
successful as possible, we need to observe, ask and analyze instead
of simply reacting without analyzing.
For more on my services visit Migratorygrazing.com. If you like humor, be sure to check out my humor
and cookbooks at 2lazy4U
Livestock & Literary Co.
