Is Acting Like a Predator Low Stress Cattle Handling?
Progressive ranchers and feedlot operators work hard to reduce stress on cattle during handling. They may wonder how mimicking the initial stalking movements of a predator can be a low stress way to gather cattle on large pastures. The methods are described in my article “Low Stress Methods for Moving and Herding Cattle on Pastures” that appears on my webpage at http://www.grandin.com (GREAT article!). What people don’t realize is that the animal common low stress cattle handling principles such as entering the flight zone to make an animal move and using the point of balance to control the animal’s direction of movement are all based on instinctual behavior patterns that the animals use to escape from predators.
