Take Steps to Reduce Stress In Cattle
Good Stockmanship is Key
Chronic stress on farm animals can have deleterious effects on their health, productivity and welfare. Acute stress at milking is most obviously apparent in a reduced milk yield resulting from an inhibition of oxytocin secretion leading to increased residual milk. Cattle are susceptible to a variety of psychological stressors, which must be understood if we are to reduce stress on the animals. Rough or aversive handling leads cattle to become frightened of people and to be stressed in their presence. Improving handling and animal care requires that we understand more about how cattle react to people, the types of handling they find aversive and the reasons that animal handlers use rough handling. Given the importance of good stockmanship for animal welfare, it is necessary to find the most effective ways of improving stockmanship and reducing cattle's fear of people. Specific recommendations follow:
1. Extra Contact
with People
Cattle can be fearful of people if they do not have sufficient exposure
to people when young. Although this is generally more of a problem in
beef production than in dairy production, large scale farms may result
in less contact between people and dairy heifers. Increased gentle handling
of younger cattle has been shown repeatedly to reduce the fearfulness
of cattle towards people.
2. Identifying
Which Types of Handling Are Aversive
The first step in improving the relationship between animals and the
stockperson is to identify the particular behaviors that cattle find
aversive. Examples of rough handling practices that increase fearfulness
and restlessness in cattle include shouting, slapping, punching, hitting
with the hand or stick, tail twisting and use of an electric prod.
3. Avoiding "Learned
Fear" of the Stockperson
At times, even the best stockperson will have to handle animals in an
aversive way. Often this is done for the animal's own welfare, such
as when giving injections or treating illness. However, one risk is
that the animal will become frightened of that person. Learned fear
of people can have serious effects on an animal's welfare so ways to
prevent development of this fear are needed. It may be possible to mask
the identity of the person in fairly simple ways. There is now clear
evidence that cattle can tell different people apart. What cues might
the animals be using? Cattle have a reasonable degree of visual acuity
and are capable of color vision and visual cues. Visual cues, especially
those associated with clothing seem to be particularly important in
recognition of people by cattle. Studies have shown that under some
circumstances a loss of recognition can occur following simple changes
in the appearance of people, such as a change of clothes. It may be
possible to take advantage of this association to reduce the occurrence
of learned fears of particular individuals, for example, by wearing
special colored clothes when essential but aversive treatments are applied
to animals. However, cattle can use other visual cues to recognize people.
While it may be possible to hide a person's identity under some circumstances,
we should not underestimate the ability of cows to use quite subtle
features to recognize people.
4. Altering Stockpersons'
Attitudes
Clearly identifying which behaviors cattle find aversive and which they
find positive or rewarding is essential when making recommendations
about improving ways of handling animals. However, the way people handle
animals is likely to be a reflection of long held beliefs about how
animals need to be handled and attitudes towards animals in general.
Thus, recommendations alone may not be sufficient to change the behavior
of the people. Efforts to alter these beliefs, through educational programs
showing the negative effects of poor handling on the fearfulness and
productivity of cattle, along with examples of good and poor handling
techniques may be an effective means of changing the way people interact
with the animals.
5. Identifying Why People Mishandle Animals In addition to attitudes and general opinions on animals, situational factors can have a marked influence on the way animals are handled. Consequently, to improve the ways animals are handled, it helps to know what circumstances lead to animals being handled roughly. Situations that can lead to adverse and overly-aggressive handling of animals include frustration and impatience with animals, difficulty in moving cattle, time pressures, equipment not working properly, low job satisfaction, and family problems. If specific issues are identified, herd managers can take steps to improve work facilities and job situations which can lead to an increase in overall job satisfaction and hence job quality.
Source: NMC 44th Annual Meeting Proceedings, 2004, pg 149-159 (Rushen and de Passille)
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