Handling Reminders For Dairies

By Heidi Carroll,
SDSU Extension Livestock

Sources of handling stress are accumulative in cattle. Stockmen can have a positive impact on the amount of stress cattle experience by planning ahead and being realistic about allowing adequate time to get things done well.

Low-stress handling techniques from the Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) and Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) programs can minimize stress on both cattle and people, improve handling efficiency, and subsequently be beneficial to limit potential losses.

What losses can occur during handling?

Handling alone impacts production, health, and an animal’s state of well-being. Lowered milk production and weight loss are direct indicators of stress cows experience. Pounds of milk and pounds of muscle are money in a farmer’s pocket. Shrink loss of body weight is directly impacted by the amount of time an animal is handled. Simply moving cattle from pasture to corrals or sorting from pen to pen for 30 minutes can decrease weight by 0.5-1%. Here is a reminder of what and where this weight loss is occurring in the animal’s body.

• Excretory shrink (loss of gut fill): Feces and urine lost from natural digestion. When cattle are held off feed before shipping to market, excretory shrink accounts for most of the weight loss (2 to 6%), note this can be a larger percent with market cows. Also keep in mind that when cattle are stressed from handling they will defecate (poop) and urinate more often resulting in a lower scale reading.
• Tissue shrink (loss of actual muscle): Tissue and muscle mass lost after excretory shrink occurs and the animal begins to dehydrate. Long hauls where cattle are without feed for 20 plus hours can begin to impact how well the animal will recover from this shrink. After 24 hours without feed some of the rumen microbes begin to die, which has a direct impact on the digestive efficiency and negative impacts on the immune system may be observed.
• Physiologic responses increase: The body’s natural physiologic responses to stress by increasing metabolic processes to maintain normal homeostasis. As cattle are handled they increase the use of muscles which will result in needing more energy from metabolism and increasing the heart rate and respiratory rate. The amount that these rates increase will depend on the environmental conditions (hot, humid weather) and how much pressure people put on the cattle to get the job done. Stressful handling can also increase sweating during warmer weather. Handlers should also be considerate of fall temperature changes during the day; animals that are sweaty when temperatures begin to fall in the evening could be at higher risk to get sick.

Shrink percentages can quickly increase if people push cattle too fast or use aggressive handling techniques (yelling, over-pressuring flight zones, excessive electric prod or sorting stick use). Dairies handle cows multiple times a day, thus every time cattle are handled inappropriately increases the potential for shrink via weight loss resulting in lost milk production and increasing the potential for an unsafe working environment for employees.

Low-Stress Handling Techniques

When dairy cows are moved from their pens to the parlor, several low-stress handling techniques can be implemented.

•  Patience is a virtue…a virtue that takes practice! Checking your attitude before handling cattle directly impacts how you behave and communicate with the cattle. A positive attitude and patience are the foundation to daily low-stress handling.
• Walk in positions where cows can see you; avoid staying in the blind spot (directly behind the cow). See Figure 1 below.
•  Apply pressure on an animal by stepping toward it entering its flight zone, and releasing pressure by taking a step back when a cow moves, or when getting a cow up from a lying position. Move in a zig-zag motion back and forth across the alley or pen to encourage forward motion.
• Use calm voices only when needed to encourage cows to move along; speaking to a cow when you must enter her blind spot alerts her that you are there and minimizes the startle response. Avoid loud noises, whistling, or continuous clapping.
•  Cows walk slower than people (cows walk 2 mph; humans walk 3-4 mph), so handlers should adjust their pace to maintain cows at a quick walk. Extra caution should be used when cows approach corners or are walking on slippery surfaces. Handlers should step back and take pressure off cows as they are moving around corners to minimize cows bumping hips or slipping when they speed up to move away from the handlers pressure.

Figure 1. Animal flight zone diagram. Courtesy of Jamie Sullivan.