Cattle farm husbandry - cattle behaviour & handling

Cattle, farming, husbandry, behaviour, senses, communication, housing cattle, farm raceways, training cattle to lead, droving on highway

By Dr Clive Dalton

Stock handlers at sale yards are always at risk with strange cattle.
Experience is their protector

Cattle – what are they?

• This is not a silly question as thinking about it is a good approach to realise what we expect from cattle – and how at times we may be totally unreasonable.
  
• Cattle are large ruminants that digest fibrous feed, but cannot graze as close to the ground as sheep.
  
• Cattle sweep grass into their mouths with their long tongues before tearing it off with their bottom teeth against a top hard dental pad before swallowing it for digestion in the rumen.
• They are a herding species with a clearly developed social hierarchy but when disturbed, they don’t gather together like sheep.
  
• Cattle are a “lying-out” species where calves don’t follow their dams all the time like lambs and suckle at frequent intervals.
  
• In the early weeks of life cows leave their calves in crèches and go back to suckle them 2-3 times a day.

More about ruminants

• Ruminants digest fibrous feed in their 3 fore-stomachs (rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum).
  
• The abomasum is the true gastric stomach.
  
• Digestion of fibre produces mainly carbon dioxide and methane which is released by belching.
  
• If this mechanism fails and gas builds up, the cattle can die with bloat. Being a ruminant dictates their entire behaviour.

What do cattle do all day?

Cattle divide their day into periods of:

• Grazing – taking in feed using their prehensile (grasping) tongue and bottom teeth. Feed goes into the rumen via the abomasum (honey comb bag) where heavy objects collect like medicinal boluses and bits of wire.
• High-yielding dairy cows have to spend at least 8-10 hours/day grazing to meet their nutritional needs. Beef cattle have much less pressure and stress to live with.
• Chewing. The feed is chewed, formed into a ball (bolus) with saliva and swallowed. An adult cow produces about 100 Litres of saliva each day. A dairy cow makes 30,000 to 40,000 grazing bites/day.
• Rumination. Here feed is given time to ferment in the large rumen by micro-organisms and the cow does this both standing and lying down.
• Regurgitation. Here the grass bolus in the rumen is belched up again for a second chewing (mastication) of around 300 chews/bolus.
• The feed is re-swallowed back into the omasum which is like the leaves in a book for final grinding. It then passes into the abomasum for gastric digestion.
• Idling. The cow stands still appearing to do nothing but it’s a time of active rumen fermentation.
• Resting – long periods of lying down (ruminating) and short periods of sleep.
• Drinking. This may require quite a lot of time in walking to a water source. a mature cow in milk drinks about 70 Litres of water each day.
  

Cattle senses
Sight

• The position of the cow’s eyes means it has a narrow 25-50° binocular vision while looking ahead, but a very wide almost 360° peripheral vision looking around its sides.
  
• Cattle are very concerned to check the narrow blind spot at their rear by regular head movements and changing their body position when grazing.
• A cow’s eyes are designed to see down rather than up and when alarmed they will raise the head to investigate.
  
• Cattle can recognise different people from their shape and colour of clothing although they have limited colour vision.
  
• They are aware of numbers and regularly associate more than one person with pain or stress of injections or forced handling when extra humans appear.
  

Point of balance

• Cattle have an imaginary “point of balance” just behind the shoulder and you can use this to get them to move.
  
• If you move ahead of this point, the beast will move back, and if you move behind it then it will move forward.
  
• They also have a point of balance in the centre of their head so if you move to the right of it, the beast will move to the left, and vice versa.

Hearing

• Cattle are sensitive to high frequency sounds which people cannot hear, and these can increase arousal, while low tones are more relaxing.
  
• Music is regularly used in milking parlours to provide cows with a familiar background noise to create a sense of normality.
  
• They easily adapt to the full range of music from hard rock to hymns and from low volume to head-splitting.

Smell

• Cattle have a better sense of smell than people.
  
• The smell of blood (from both cattle and sheep) can cause great panic and has been seen when cattle passed paddocks treated with blood and bone fertiliser.
  
• For some unknown reason, this panic reaction was not consistent and has not yet been explained.

Touch

• Cattle have a very sensitive skin and can flick flies off from localised areas.
  
• Cows respond well to touch and use it as an important form of communication among each other.
  
• Mutual grooming is important in cattle, especially in mature animals, and dams lick and groom their calves right up to weaning. T
• ouch is important for handlers to warn cows where the humans are – e.g. when milking.

Sleep

• Adult cattle sleep very little and in very short spells.
  
• The sleeping pose is all four legs tucked under and head turned to face the rear.
  
• Cattle must be well settled and comfortable before they’ll sleep.
  
• If animals are disturbed at night, they will sleep more during the day.
  
• Sleep and rest have big implications for the design of cubicles, loafing areas and feed pads. If stock cannot rest when they desire, they become very tired, get sore feet and production and health are affected.

Memory

• Cattle remember single events for a considerable time – certainly for weeks and often even for months.
• Humans ignore this at their peril.
  
• One really bad experience with a single human will put cattle off all people for a considerable time.
  
• They can often remember an individual human, mainly from visual outline and dress such as the vet in green overalls.
• Smokers who gave regular monthly injections in a programme made cows very agitated when any other smoker arrived at milking time.
  
• It can take a long time to restore a positive human/animal bond. Herd managers report that it can take a whole year to change the behaviour of cows who have been badly managed.
  

Cattle Communication

• Cattle use a range of body signals to communicate with each other and their eyes have a key role.
  
• They use “eyes down” to show submission, and “eyes up” to show confidence. Cows on heat use mounting behaviour to signal to other cows and the bull.
  
• The cow’s tail is important too – when held tight down to show a relaxed mood, half up to show alertness and held high to show panic.
  
• A stressed cow or bull will usually defaecate profusely too with tail up.

Bulls

They use at least 5 signals with their heads:

• Normal relaxed position.
• Friendly approach before grooming by other cow.
• Threat approach – watching you with one eye and snorting.
• Submissive avoidance – pretending not to look.
• Withdrawal from conflict and head toss with snort.
• Cattle raise the tail in play or panic and the tail also slightly raised in heat and mild panic.
  

Housing cattle
Some farmers are now covering their feed pads so the animals are effectively housed in open air structures that provide shade and shelter. The table below gives some space requirements.

Farm raceways and lameness

• The farm raceway on dairy farms has been identified as a major cause of lameness.
• Unstressed cows walk with their heads straight out in front watching where they are going.
• A cow’s back feet generally hit the same spots where their front feet have landed so they can adjust their weight and feet if they step on sharp stones.
• When cows are pushed by impatient staff, motorbikes or biting dogs, they have to move with heads up and don’t see where they are going. Lameness, pain and suffering will result along with lost production.
• The surface of the race must be free from sharp stones and have sufficient camber to allow good drainage of surface water. A good test is to see if you can walk along it in bare feet. If you can, then it’s OK for the cows!
• The race should be wide enough to suit herd size. The table below gives some recommended widths:
  

Herd size and width of race.

Training cattle to lead

• This is a very hard and dangerous exercise with large mature animals such as cows and bulls, and it’s best done when they are calves.
• Put a halter on the calf and tie it up for short periods (e.g. 30 minutes) twice a day, and feed the calf where it is tied.
• Groom and handle it when tied up.
• Then move the feed away some distance and lead the calf to the feed.
• Then start to lead it around without feed – giving it a gentle push from behind as well as some light pressure on the lead. Get someone to help do the pushing.
• Teaching mature stock to lead is not easy as they are so strong.
• Use the tie up technique (30 minute spells) for 2-3 periods each day for a week, grooming and massaging at the same time. Offer some feed too while grooming.
• Then try leading over short distances with help from an assistant pushing the animal from behind when it baulks. Don’t let it get away on you or get its head down, or it will remember its success and do it again. Wear safety boots with plenty of grip.
• To get animals used to halters and restraint, some stockpersons tie two animals of similar weights together with two collars joined by a 500mm chain including a swivel, so they get used to their heads being directed.
• Try this trick with animals of different weight so the large one teaches the lighter one to lead.
  
• Some stud breeders have used a donkey to teach show cattle to lead. The donkey and cattle beast are tied together with a short chain and swivel for a few weeks. But you must keep a regular check on them and many animal welfarists would not be too happy – especially donkey breeders.
• If you do have to train a mature beast, you’ll needs lots of strong helpers and plenty of time. Dragging it on a halter behind a tractor is not effective and is very dangerous for all concerned.
  

Droving cattle on the highway

• With today’s traffic and motorists’ attitudes to livestock on the highway, this is a high risk business that should be avoided wherever possible.
• Under the NZ Transport Act 1962 and the Local Government Act 2002, local authorities are increasingly brining in Stock Droving and Crossing bylaws that will greatly restrict the movement of stock on a highway and certainly phase out stock crossings in favour of underpasses for dairy herds.
• This is being driven by road safety issues but urban dwellers don’t like getting dung on their cars as they have heard about salmonella and campylobacter present in animal faeces.
  
• To avoid any legal problems in case of accidents or confrontations with motorists, you must be able to show that you have taken all due care and not deliberately placed motorists in danger. Be aware of this, as you may have to prove it in court, so make sure you provide large safety margins.
• If you are forced to move cattle on the road, first check with the local authorities (district and regional councils) because their regulations vary in regard to the need for permits.
• You may need to give 10 days notice of your droving plans and also submit a “traffic management plan” and get a permit. This may take some time to sort out and may cost money.
• Local government bodies are concerned about damage to the highway and the verges, and large fines can be faced for breaching bylaws.
• Droving within townships and on certain roads is prohibited and established stock routes must be used when designated.
• If you have to cross a railway, you must inform the railway authority.
• Stock movements are not allowed on the road during the hours of darkness or when visibility is less than 100m.
• Don’t attempt to drive stock too far. For dry dairy cows, 10 - 12 km/day on level going is far enough. If there are hills then you may have to walk them less. Don’t plan to drive young stock any more than 12km/day.
• Remember that when stock first get on the road they will take off at a trot and this can be the most dangerous time until they steady down.
• When they settle down, let them proceed at a steady amble or walk to avoid excess feet wear on the abrasive road surface.
• Stock need rest, feed and water at the end of each day’s journey. This will have to be arranged in advance.
• Have plenty of support with people well ahead and well behind with large notices and flashing orange lights to warn traffic. Make sure staff wear reflective safety jerkins and crash hats if they are on bikes or ATVs.
• Be especially careful with the working dogs that move quickly and often get run over as they dart around below windscreen view. Make them a reflective jacket!
• Expect motorists to have little knowledge of how to drive through a mob of stock so you will have to be very clear in your directions to help them.
• Do not be tempted to damage a motorist’s vehicle in any way through frustration as experience shows that you’ll generally lose the court case!
• Have vehicle support for any animals that go lame and a first aid kit handy for both animals and humans.
  

Cattle transport – general points

• Most concern is over the transport of pregnant and milking cows and especially during a sea voyage. See the Transport of Livestock Code and the Dairy Cow code of welfare for full details.
• The following cattle should be penned separately: young calves, a cow with calf at foot, adult stock bulls, cattle of differing size, cattle with horns from polled stock, and cows at advanced pregnancy.
  

OSH requirements

• Your cattle yards are “a place of work” and the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) legislation applies to everything that goes on in them.
  
• The law says that the owner, lessee, sub-lessee, occupier and anyone in the vicinity must not be harmed by any hazard in the work place.
  
• So under OSH regulations you are required to go around the yards (and the farm) and first, IDENTIFY all the hazards, then secondly to ELIMINATE them. If you cannot eliminate them then you are required to take the third option and ISOLATE them.
  
• A good example is an offal hole which is a hazard that you cannot eliminate but you can isolate with an effective cover and fence.
• The key point is that if anyone has an “accident” which is generally interpreted by farmers as needing medical treatment or time in hospital, then the person in charge of operations at the time could be liable if hazards were found that had not be identified and dealt with.
  
• So you have to be aware of risks to people who visit your yards such as truck operators, veterinarians or AI technicians.
  
• Check with your nearest OSH office of the Labour Department for full information. We have got to take this seriously from now on, as we kill and maim too many people every day on farms and court proceedings can be very costly.
  

Disclaimer This material is provided in good faith for information purposes only, and the author does not accept any liability to any person for actions taken as a result of the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) provided in these pages.

Sheep Farm Husbandry - Sheep behaviour and handling

Sheep behaviour & handling, sheep senses, social order, feeding, handling tricks, catching, moving and immobilising sheep, droving on the highway, welfare issues

By Dr Clive Dalton

Are sheep intelligent?

• Animal behaviourists don’t like this question as it smacks of anthropomorphism – i.e. assigning human feelings and behaviour to animals. The better question is – can sheep learn?
• Sheep can easily learn simple routines like coming when called, finding holes in fences, opening gates, and acting as leaders and they can learn these tricks from each other.
  
• Feed rewards are the way to teach sheep routines and tricks, if you think it’s a wise move. You may live to regret it!
• Lambs quickly learn from their dams – e.g. eating new feed like concentrate meal, grain, hay, silage, cracking open chestnuts with their feet, eating garden flowers, and even kitchen waste. They’ll also learn escape tricks from their mothers and flock mates.
• Their senses are certainly different from humans.
  

Sheep senses
Sight

• Sheep have generally very good vision.
• The position of their eye allows wide peripheral vision as they can span some 145° with each eye.
• Binocular vision is much narrower–40° wide. They have no vision 2-3cm immediately in front of the nose.
• After locating a threat in their peripheral vision, they turn to examine it with binocular vision.
• They have a blind spot at their rear of around 70°, which is wider than the cow, and is useful when catching sheep.
• Sheep tracks are never straight as sheep continually turn to watch behind them.
• They have colour vision but it’s not as well developed as in humans.
• They often react in fear to novel colours that they’re not used to, e.g. yellow rain gear.
• Sheep remember flock mates for very long periods (years) after separation.

Sheep don't like to see light through the woolshed
floor grating in the doorway of the shed

Smell

• Sheep have a good sense of smell and will not eat mouldy or musty feed.
• Smell is a major factor in rams locating ewes in heat.
• Smell is also vital in lamb identification by the dam associated with sight recognition.
• Sheep are very sensitive to predator smells. Feed intake was measured with different predator smells on it and you can see from the results below that coyotes, foxes and cougars put sheep off their food!

Sheep reactions to predator odours

Hearing

• Sheep have acute hearing and they can direct their ears to the direction of the sound.

Memory

• Sheep have good memories.
• They have been shown to recognise other sheep’s faces years later with no meeting in between.
• Tests showed they remembered at least 50 other sheep’s faces, even in profile. They also remembered 10 or more human faces.
• Sheep that have been trained to do simple tasks are able to repeat them 6-12 months later.
  

Sheep remember experiences so gentle handling
is important to avoid bruising and pain.

Social order

• Sheep are the classical social “flocking” animal.
• They use the flock as a defence against predators – running away a short distance to form a flock and then turning round to face the predator. On closer approach by the threat, they scatter and regroup.
• Social ranking is not as obvious in sheep as in other species. Normally you’ll see very few confrontations among ewes unless they have young lambs to fight over.
• Sheep work out a social order by head butting, nudging, poking with horns, shoulder pushing, blocking and mounting. This is seen most clearly in horned rams (American wild mountain sheep) that back off then charge, meeting head to head with a large bang. Horned and polled rams should not be mixed as the horned rams will break the others’ necks.
• Submissive behaviours in sheep includes lowering of the head and neck and moving away with a headshake.
• In wild sheep a dominant ram leads a small flock followed by females, juveniles and lambs. He establishes this as a harem of about a dozen ewes.
• Rams can form harems in farmed flocks in large hill country paddocks where they can easily get separated from main flock. Regular mustering is needed to prevent this.
• In wild sheep, a lamb will stay with its dam till the next lamb is born. Both sexes will stay in their family groups till the adolescent males take off.
• In farmed flocks you don’t see much evidence of social order, as regular mustering and movement prevent much of it.
• In groups of rams, especially Merinos in hot climates with no shade, they stand in a tight pack creating shade for each other.
• Merino sheep pack very tightly when being mustered and once in a tight circular mob, you have to get a leader to spin off somewhere and act as leader to get the mob to unwind and move forward.
• This leader sheep is not of high social rank – it’s the first one who thinks they can escape. Pressure from barking dogs just makes the pack tighter, and if you are in the middle of this crush, you can feel the physical pressure that can lead to a smother.
• Merinos need room to move and hate hassle. They have different behaviour to other farmed breeds.
• Lambs are noted for their play behaviour – “follow the leader” and “king of the castle”. It’s said to be an indication of intelligence level and using this behaviour, sheep would rank highly.
  

Sheep are the classical 'follower species' -
waiting for one to make a move

Feeding behaviour

• Sheep are ruminants and they start nibbling pasture from about a week old. They are fully efficient ruminants by about a month old.
• Sheep can graze more closely than cattle as they have a split upper lip.
• They graze for about 8-9 hours/day, which can extend to 13 hours when feed is short.
• Grazing bouts (when feed is plentiful) are about 20 –90 minutes long, and they can have as many as 9 of them in 24 hours.
• After a grazing bout they have spells of 45-90 minutes of rumination and rest.
• In open range, sheep have preferred areas and stick to these. This is seen in the UK “hefting” system in unfenced mountain grazings. A major concern in the UK Foot and Mouth disaster was how to replace these sheep after slaughter as they would have to learn this behaviour all again.
• Mixed grazing by cattle and sheep is ideal to maintain a good close pasture, and sheep adapt to this without any behavioural problems.
• The condition of a sheep’s teeth is critical, and can have a big effect on behaviour.
• Sheep learn from their mothers about which feed is suitable and safe to eat. South Island sheep will eat grain and hay as they learn from their mothers in spring. North Island sheep will generally not eat grain or hay as they are never offered it.
• It often takes 2-3 weeks for sheep to learn as mature animals, and some may never accept supplementary feed and starve. Sheep also learn to eat different feeds from other adults or their peers.
• Sheep store surplus energy as fat inside the body cavity (e.g. kidney fat and around the intestines) and under the skin. They use this during late pregnancy and lactation for lamb growth and milk production.
• About 3-4 weeks before mating, ewes are given extra feed to encourage extra eggs to be shed from the ovary, ending in more lambs produced. This is called “flushing”.
• Sheep kept indoors show stress by eating the wood of their pens and they will also eat their wool or the wool of the sheep in the next pen.
• This wool eating is seen in sheep that have been buried in deep snow for long periods (up to three weeks).
• Sheep need water – about 4 L/day/adult sheep and 1 L/day for a lamb. But they can adapt to severe drought conditions and extract enough moisture to survive from herbage or dew on pasture. The Australian outback Merino shows this important behavioural trait best.
  

Sheep handling tricks

• To keep sheep moving, make sure there’s a clear way ahead.
• Sheep don’t like visual dead ends – maybe they suspect it could lead to their dead end!
• Let them think they’re about to escape back to their territorial area – the paddock they came from.
• If you have a dead end in a woolshed, put a mirror on the wall so they see a sheep to join up with for security.
• If you have to put sheep along a handling race, pen a decoy sheep at the far end to help the flow towards it.
• Make races narrow enough to prevent sheep turning round. This is not easy, as you have to handle sheep ranging in size from large pregnant ewes to small lambs in the same facilities. Having tapered sides to the race is a help.
• Make sure the sides of pens and races where you do most of the handling are close-boarded, so the sheep cannot see through and get distracted.
• Advancing sheep should not be able to see those following them, as they’ll stop, then reverse, or try to turn round and block the flow.
• Sheep following each other should see sheep moving ahead, preferably around a bend. Moving sheep will generally “pull” the followers with them – once you’ve got a flow going.
• Sheep move best from dark into light, and dislike changes in light contrast.
• Sheep don’t like bright lights e.g. reflections from windows.
• They don’t like light coming up from under gratings. Gratings at woolshed doors should to be laid so the floor looks solid to the sheep walking inside.
• Sheep really panic on slippery floors – so provide some grip.
• Sheep don’t move well in mud and accumulated wet dung so keep the concrete parts of sheep yards clean.
• Sheep soon get adjusted to any noise used to move them – so keep changing the noise for full effect. Changing it (or stopping it) will also help prevent the staff going silly!
• Sheep remember past experiences. Run them through new facilities a few times and let them think they can escape before you subject them to any unpleasant procedures like ear tagging or shearing.
• If you have badly designed handling facilities that cannot be fixed – keep a “Judas” sheep to lead the doubters through.
• You can easily train a Judas with some pellets, or a pet lamb will do the job. Just make sure it doesn’t get onto the sale truck without you knowing. Many a Judas sheep has ended its days by accident like this. It’s not a bad idea to cover it in bright-coloured raddle or copy ancient tradition and put a bell around its neck – a bell wether.
  

Clever design: door to block the sheep race which fits inside the
other door so it doesn't impede sheep flow when not in use.

Catching and moving sheep

• Don’t catch or hang on to sheep by their wool as it causes pain.
• To catch them, creep up in the blind zone immediately behind them. But you have to move quickly.
• The easiest thing to grab is the hock, and this is where you catch them with a leg crook. As soon as you’ve hooked the leg, lift the crook so its leg is held well off the ground. Then grab its neck before it gets the leg out of the crook.
• Use a lambing crook – today’s models are aluminium and incorporate both leg and neck crooks. Either grab the sheep around the neck after you have crept up in its blind spot, or hook it around the neck as it goes past you. If it’s doing this at speed then be prepared for a fairly solid jerk and maybe losing the crook and the sheep! Once caught by the crook you’ll have to move fast to catch and restrain it.

• To hold a sheep in a pen or in the yards, place one hand under its chin and hold it with your knees pushing it up against the rails. Keep lifting its head up to stop it lurching forward. If it gets its head down you will lose control.

Restraining a sheep up against the yard rails. Keep its head up and your
knee up against it's back leg.

• To get it to sit on its rear end, first turn its head round to face its rear, then grab its rear end with your other hand, down where the back leg joins the body.
• Hang on tight and move backwards pulling the sheep towards you.

Bend the head back and grab it just in front of the back leg. Pull and walk backwards.

• The sheep’s legs will buckle and it will fall back towards you. Lay it on the ground on its side, and press down mainly on it’s head to keep it there.

Sheep now on the ground where it can be held

• Then quickly grab its front legs and pull it up into a sitting position. You'll have to do this quickly as the sheep may be faster than you and escape or start kicking.
  
• It's very important to find the correct sitting position where the sheep is comfortable and totally relaxed (see picture below). The sheep is being held only by the handler's knees bent slightly to keep the sheep upright.
  
• If you move back from this position, the sheep will be uncomfortable and struggle, and if you move forward it will move forward and escape.
  

Sheep held in relaxed position with handler's knees pushed forward.

• Practise finding the right angle to sit the sheep at, and keep your legs very close in behind its body. You should get the feeling that the sheep is sitting on your boots!
  
• When you find the right angle, the sheep will relax and you can take your hands off and hold it only between your legs. It’s the position a shearer uses before starting to shear.

Perfection! Sheep totally relaxed for inspection,
treatment or for crutching or shearing.

The wrong angle with sheep leaning too far back. It's clearly
uncomfortable and ready to struggle, twist and escape.

Handling really heavy sheep

• With a big heavy ram or ewe, you’ll struggle to turn its head around as its neck will be too strong.
  
• Outsmart it by standing or kneeling beside the standing sheep with your head in its ribs, and grab the two far-side feet.
• Give the sheep a mighty pull towards you and the sheep will land on its side in a hurry at your feet. Use that moment of surprise to dive on it to hold it down flat, and then grab its front feet quickly and sit it on its rear. Watch for flying legs when the sheep realises what’s happened and it wants to level the score!
• Or just simply lean down and grab its far front leg and pull. Hang on to the leg and it will stagger and fall down, but you’ll have to be quick to hold it down.
• When lifting small sheep over fences, rock them up and over on your knees, to save your back. Don’t try to lift heavy sheep. ACC figures show that over 40% of sheep farmers have bad backs!
  

Immobilising a sheep
Sometimes you may have to leave a sheep in one place after you have caught it, or immobilise it to put on the back of a vehicle or bike. Here’s a simple trick:

• Take a length of baler twine as it comes off a bale of hay.
• Leave it uncut so it’s really in a loop.
• Tie one end of the loop around the hock of one back leg of the sheep.
• Then tie the other end of the loop around the other back leg.

A loop of twine around each food above the fetlock

• Then lift the loop over the sheep’s neck and it cannot move.

Pull the loop up over the sheep's head

• Lay it quietly on the ground and it will be there when you come back.

• Don’t forget to go back!
• If you put it on a vehicle or bike, make sure it cannot roll off.
• If you don’t have a piece of baler twine you may have to use your belt with whatever personal risks that brings! Align the hock on a back leg with the hock from the opposite front leg and tie the belt around both, or tie three legs together.

This is the best position to leave a sheep in as it can
belch normally and not get bloat

Droving sheep on the highway

• With today’s traffic and motorists’ attitudes to livestock on the highway, this is a high risk business that should be avoided wherever possible.
• Under the Transport Act 1962 and the Local Government Act 2002, local authorities are increasingly brining in Stock Droving and Crossing bylaws that will greatly restrict the movement of stock on a highway and certainly phase out stock crossings in favour of underpasses for dairy herds.
• This is being driven by road safety issues but urban dwellers don’t like getting dung on their cars as they have heard about salmonella and campylobacter present in animal faeces. At least sheep produce less dung on the road than cattle do.
• To avoid any legal problems in case of accidents or confrontations with motorists, you must be able to show that you have taken all due care and not deliberately placed motorists in danger. Be aware of this, as you may have to prove it in court, so make sure you provide large safety margins.
• If you are forced to move sheep on the road, first check with the local authorities (district and regional councils) because their regulations vary in regard to the need for permits.
• You may need to give 10 days notice of your droving plans and also submit a “traffic management plan” and get a permit. This may take some time to sort out and may cost money.
• Local government bodies are concerned about damage to the highway and the verges, and large fines can be faced for breaching bylaws.
• Droving within townships and on certain roads is prohibited and established stock routes must be used when designated.
• If you have to cross a railway, you must inform the railway authority.
• Stock movements are not allowed on the road during the hours of darkness or when visibility is less than 100m.
• Don’t attempt to drive stock too far. About 10-12km/day is a good target distance.
• Remember that when sheep first get on the road they will take off at a gallop and this can be the most dangerous time until they steady down.
• When they settle down, let them proceed at a steady amble or walk to avoid excess feet wear on the abrasive road surface.
• Stock need rest, feed and water at the end of each day’s journey. This will have to be arranged in advance.
• Have plenty of support with people well ahead and well behind with large notices and flashing orange lights to warn traffic. Make sure they wear reflective safety vests and crash hats if they are on bikes or ATVs.
• Be especially careful with the working dogs that move quickly and often get run over. Make them a reflective jacket!
• Expect motorists to have little knowledge of how to drive through a mob of sheep so you will have to be very clear in your directions to help them.
• Do not be tempted to damage a motorist’s vehicle in any way through frustration as experience shows that you’ll generally lose the court case.
• Have vehicle support for any animals that go lame and a first aid kit handy for both animals and humans.
  

OSH requirements

• Your sheep farm and yards are “a place of work” and the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) legislation applies to everything that goes on in them.
• The law says that the owner, lessee, sub-lessee, occupier and anyone in the vicinity must not be harmed by any hazard in the yards.
• So to meet OSH requirements you need to go around the yards and first, Identify all the hazards, then secondly to Eliminate them. If you cannot eliminate them then you are required to take the third option and Isolate them.
  
• A good example is an offal hole which is a hazard that you cannot eliminate, but you can isolate it with an effective cover and fence.
• The key point is that if anyone has an “accident” which is generally interpreted by farmers as needing medical treatment or time in hospital, then the person in charge of operations at the time could be liable if hazards were found that had not be identified and dealt with.
• You have to be aware of risks to people who visit your yards such as truck operators, stock agents or veterinarians .
• Check with your nearest OSH office of the Labour Department for full information. We have got to take this seriously from now on, as we kill and maim too many people every day on farms and court proceedings can be very traumatic and costly.
  

Sheep welfare issues
People and organisations interested in sheep welfare list the following topics of concern. They are not in any priority order.

• Lameness. The pain caused by sore feet, so sheep graze on their knees.
• Flystrike. The agony of being eaten alive by maggots.
• Shearing. Stress caused by catching the sheep and then having a machine run all over its body with the risk of being cut and then pushed down a port hole out into cold weather.
• Shearing. Cold stress caused by losing its fleece, especially in unseasonal storms.
• Stress from not shearing. Having to carry many years of wool in summer heat and often not being able to see (wool blind) into the bargain.
• Dystocia. Problems caused by difficult births so many lambs die.
• Lamb mortality. Lambs lost through hypothermia in late storms which always get TV coverage.
• Castration. The pain of having rubber rings put on testicles or having them cut out with a knife using no anaesthetic.
• Docking. Having the tail removed with a rubber ring or severed with a hot cauterising iron and no anaesthetic.
• Transport. The stress of long journeys in land vehicles, and even longer journeys by ship through the tropics.
• Dipping. Making sheep run through or stand in shower dips or swim through dip baths.
• Swim washing at works. Sheep don’t like having to be made to swim.
• Dog worrying. The panic and pain that stray dogs cause.
• Mulesing. Removal of the loose skin around the rear end of Merino sheep by hand shears with no anaesthetic.This has been banned in New Zealand from December 2010.
  
• Parasites. The stress and poor health caused by both internal and external parasites.
• Untreated diseases. Sheep left to suffer disease without any treatment.
• Starvation. This happens when farms have too many stock and in droughts.
• Easy-care or minimal-shepherding systems. This is where shepherds keep away from their sheep and rely on “the survival of the fittest” principle during lambing. Animals may be left to suffer or die in this system.

In warm dry conditions, sheep need shade

Animal behaviour and welfare: Horse Part 3

HORSE BEHAVIOUR BASICS: PART 3

Reproduction: Birth: Training

By Dr Clive Dalton

Reproduction

• Puberty in horses varies a lot with breed and it can occur from 8-24 months.
  
• Well-fed horses usually reach puberty at around 12 months, but feral horses would be much later.
• The mare's oestrous cycle is stimulated by increasing daylight so she is sexually active in spring and early summer.
• She comes into heat 4-18 days after foaling so the foal can be in a dangerous situation from the stallion wanting to mate her during this period in the wild.
  
• A mare is pregnant for 11 months and if not mated she will cycle every 3 weeks and she is on heat for 5-15 days.
• Sometimes you can get prolonged oestrus for several weeks (nymphomania) and it can be a real nuisance to the handlers.

Heat signs

• Plenty of vocalisation - especially if she sees other horses.
• Frequent stopping to urinate.
• Standing with hind legs parted and in a crouch with tail held up.
• Swollen vulva.
• Viscous vaginal fluid running from the vulva.
• Everting the vulva to expose the clitoris - called "clitoral flashing" or "winking"
• Restless - always looking for the company of other horses.
• Tail twitching.
• Stud mares are tested for standing oestrus using a "teaser" or small pony stallion that is too small to mate the mare. But don't believe that as some get very cunning!
• Mares not quite right on heat are happy to meet the stallion, but will squeal, kick and bite him when he tries to mount. They are best tested over a gate to prevent injury to both parties.
• A mare right on heat will stand firm when the stallion mounts and lean back to take his weight.
• After mating the stallion will stand around resting and the mare may come and try to stimulate him again.
  
• Hand mating can be a dangerous time for the handlers as there is always the risk of being kicked, stood on or bitten. Full protective clothing including head protection body armour and safety boots should be worn and strangers should be kept away.
• Mating is best done outside but if it is done indoors, make sure the roof is high enough so the mounted stallion does not injure his head on the roof beams. This has happened.
  

Birth behaviour

• Mares generally foal rapidly. First comes the initial stage when she prepares a birth site and gets ready to lie down. Then comes the delivery stage with the foal's head and front legs first like a diver, which is usually over in about 15 minutes.
• The foal is usually delivered with the mare resting and the membranes are burst when the foal hits the ground.
• So if there are delays in this procedure, which usually means problems, get veterinary attention urgently.
• There are more difficult births in thoroughbreds than other horse breeds/types.
• The mare should get up immediately and lick and chew the membranes, lessening the chances of the foal smothering. But an exhausted mare may not do this and the foal can be smothered.
• The mare should void the afterbirth in an hour and it's important to check this to avoid uterine infections.
• Bonding is done by the mare licking the foal, and it can spend several hours doing this. Licking helps blood circulation and warming the foal.
• Young mares (first time mothers) may strike the foal with their front feet. This may be a reaction to get it to stand and be ready to move off, to avoid predators being attracted by the birth site and afterbirth.
• About 80% of mares foal at night, peaking around midnight.
• A foal is usually on its feet in about 15 minutes.

• The foal's approach to the udder is important. It uses its long neck to avoid kicks and seeks out a warm area of bare skin where there should be a teat.
• Good mares will stand and encourage teat seeking by nuzzling the foal's rear end and genital area.
• Poor mares will keep moving and looking at the foal, preventing it getting round to her udder for a suck. It's vital that the foal has colostrum in the first 6-8 hours.
• A foal should suck within 30 mins of birth. It then sucks at frequent intervals of 50-75 times in 24 hours in the early weeks of life.
• Suckling lasts from 15 seconds to 2 minutes as the foal stands with legs apart and tail raised. It keeps well tucked in touching the mare's side.
• After the mare and foal move away from the birth site, the foal keeps in physical contact bumping the mare as they go along.
• Bonding is rapid at birth (within 2 hours) but foals can be fostered on to mares for up to 3-4 days. But the success of this depends on the nature of the mare and some mares will not have any other foal but her own. The skin of a dead foal is often tied on to a foster foal to fool the mare.
  

Early handling

• There are great benefits from handling and fondling foals soon after birth so they associate humans with positive experiences. They need to see you as part of their environment and not as a threat.
• But some horse experts say you can overdo this so care is needed. The danger is that the foal may end up being so friendly (and cocky) that it will be more difficult to dominate later. The behaviour developed early you’ll see later as foals are quick learners and remember.
• In the first few days just get the foal familiar with people.
• Experts suggest 3 weeks of age is early enough to start handling the foal and get this well established before 6 weeks of age.
• Start training by removing the foal from the mare for a few hours, speaking quietly and gently while encircling its neck with your arms. Release it only when it has relaxed and is comfortable with your actions.
• Fit a soft leather halter and lead the foal when the mare is led. The foal should never be driven. It must learn to come forward “off pressure” and this is taught with a rope around it’s rear end.
• Brush the foal, handle it often and introduce it to a variety of noises.
• From 3 months old, halter it regularly and lead it around vehicles, along farm tracks, etc, and get it used to different situations and especially noises.
• Later training is done on the long rein, i.e. "lunging" to build up fitness and to learn voice commands.
• Thoroughbred trainers reckon a total of 20 days training between 3 weeks and a 12 months old is enough. Training need not be repetitive and more than 3 days in a row is too much.
• Some suggest Lesson 1 at 3 weeks, Handled again at 10 weeks and then 3 training sessions before weaning which covers yearlings coming up to sale time. They need to accept being led, bridled, covered, loading on and off floats, standing on their own in a box and walking in and out of doorways.
• Weight bearing should be delayed till the horse is mature, usually after 2 years old.
• Take plenty of opportunity to introduce the young horse to different experiences.
• Correct mouthing is critical - use the correct bit to prevent soreness."Breaking" horses is out - "gentling" is in. There are many sources of information on this subject now.
  

Training principles

• Remember horses are a panic species - they respond to stress or fear by flight.
• They use speed, bucking and kicking and biting to escape threats. The principle of modern schooling or gentling is to prevent the horse escaping from handler so it learns to accept human contact as providing safety and security.
• Horses are very teachable and have a considerable capacity to learn.
• But work within the animal's repertoire of ability. A horse will cannot learn anything if it's incapable of doing it.
• Horses have a good memory but do hot have the ability to reason. They lack initiative but are not dumb. They rely heavily on innate behaviour.
• They cannot cope well in new and novel situations. They cannot solve problems that go beyond simple associations or limited choices.
• Recognise the temperament of the horse and this will dictate your approach. Your first lessons will indicate how the temperament is going to affect progress, and you may have to rethink certain actions.
• Horses are right or left handed showing side preferences and brain lateralisation.
• In training do not scare the horse as this will set up flight responses.
• Remember punishment only suppresses behaviour: it does not eliminate it.
• Punishment incorrectly given, or given to excess makes behaviour worse as the horse's sensitivity is reduced.
• "Reward training" is the simplest and best method, but reward must follow the correct and required action immediately. After a very short delay the association is lost.
• Rewards may include a pat on the neck, rest, food, or being able to see new and interesting things.
• In "gentling" a wild horse, handlers often start with a "carrot stick" which is a long stick with a leather thong on the end, which they use to rub the horse starting at the rear end. This imitates the feeling of mutual grooming, and the horse will enjoy this.
• Then the trainer moves up along the back to the shoulder, and finally to the head and nose. If you touch the head too early, all will be lost and you'll have to start again.
• Use "rewards" intermittently and do not reward for every correct response.
• Too much handling may lead to boredom and too little can produce a scared or reluctant horse.
• The trainer needs to be smarter than the horse. Problems mostly arise from what the trainer did wrong and not the animal.
• Break up the tasks to be learned into simple, basic steps and work from the known to the unknown.
• Always be consistent.
• The Monty Robert's principle (also attributed to many other trainers) is to drive the horse around a circular pen which is an alien territory for the horse, and then letting it come to you for security - when you are ready and want to let it come into your human space.
  

Animal behaviour and welfare: Pigs Part 1

PIG BEHAVIOUR BASICS: PART 1

Senses: Social behaviour: Learning: Abnormal behaviour: Moving pigs

By Dr Clive Dalton

Man and pig

• The pig is farmed in a wide range of farming conditions around the world, except in Moslem countries. It evolved mainly in China and Asia, and our New Zealand Kunikuni pig shows all the traits of these early Chinese ancestors.
• The many types of wild ancestor of the modern pig were domesticated to provide meat and they took well to confinement and being omnivorous and were useful to clean up human waste and garbage.
• If was the first animal apart from the hen, to be subjected to very intensive housing and management.
• Pigs have now become fashionable pets in some modern cultures.
  

Pig senses

Pet pig - house trained and sits on command

Sight

• Pigs are forest dwellers and nocturnal feeders in the wild.
• Their eyes are highly developed and they can see colour like other higher mammals.
• Their sight can be greatly reduced by their floppy ears which act as protection when rooting in scrub.
• The pig's other well-developed senses compensate for any limitations in vision.
• Sight is important in reproduction as the boar uses visual clues as to the oestrous state of the sow.
  

Smell

• The pig has an acute sense of smell, exploited by man in hunting truffles.
• It has a well-developed olfactory lobe in the brain.
• The design of the pig's nose and strong neck give it very powerful rooting abilities.
• Feral pigs use scent to follow trails and can smell feed and carrion from a considerable distance.
• They can locate each other in the wild by smell when spaced out foraging.
• Smell and taste are thought to be important in recognition, as at first meeting pigs sniff each other in the face, along the line of the jaw and around the eyes and ears.
• Smell is very important in piglets to find their own chosen teat for sucking.
  

Hearing

• Pigs have extremely good hearing and clearly recognise a wide range of sounds used in communication between them.
• They can be easily panicked by unfamiliar sounds - which can cause major problems in intensive housing e.g. when jet planes fly over or thunder.
• They must be able to sense very low pitched sound by reports of their early reactions to earthquakes.

Taste

• Pigs have clear taste preferences.
• Creep feed for piglets is sweetened with sugar to encourage intake.
• Mature pigs love apples - they're a great means of getting a pig to follow you.
  

Vocalisation

• Pigs use a wide range of sound to communicate - probably developed because they evolved as forest dwellers.
• Young piglets squeak, grunt, bark and squeal.
• Older pigs use various grunts and squeals to indicate hunger, thirst, alarm, fear, terror, affection, calling a litter to suckle, courtship, and many others.
• Pigs respond very well to human communication, and soon seem to learn what human sounds mean. One researcher suggested that "uff uff" uttered with the lips and your face level and close to the pig was very successful in establishing friendship. To move pigs forward "choo choo" achieved interesting results.
• Pigs squeal can reach 112 decibels which can damage human hearing and stress the animals. Wearing ear muffs, especially at feeding time is essential in large intensive operations. A level of 85 decibels should be the limit aimed for in housing.
• The terror squeal of pigs when held by a nose strop is also damaging to hearing.
  

Social behaviour

• Pigs are very social animals but do not show tight herding behaviour. You soon learn this when trying to drive pigs!
• Wild pigs that are hunted are very nocturnal; otherwise they can be active at any time. Pigs farmed intensively are diurnal and active during the day because of the husbandry system.
• As they are den-living animals, social contact developed at birth is very important for the rest of the pig's life. Pigs enjoy the close company of mates.
• They develop a social rank very early within their litter by vicious blows with their needle teeth while fighting for teats. Farmers clip these teeth off to prevent damage to other piglets and to the sow.

• Pigs have many ways of communicating with each other - sound is the most important because of the bush environment in which they evolved.
• Twenty different calls have been identified - 6 of which can be identified by man such as the grunt, bark and squeal.
• Body language is also important at close quarters, especially in courtship.
• Feral pigs are usually found in groups of about 8 made up of 3 sows and their offspring. Males tend to be solitary.
• Groups of wild pigs have their own home range, and these can overlap with other bands of pigs.
• Pigs don't have sweat glands over their body so wallowing is a common behaviour in feral pigs in warm conditions. However, they'll also wallow and enjoy mud in cold climates.
• If water is deep enough outdoor pigs will swim.
• There is little social grooming in pigs as we know it in other animals. This is surprising as they enjoy rubbing and scratching so much. But they do nuzzle each other along the flank and back - areas they can't reach on their own.
• Lone pigs scratch these parts against objects in their territory.
• Pigs yawn like other farm animals, and this is often combined with stretching the back leg and closing the eyes.
• Pigs also shake themselves after a period of rest, especially if they've been lying in a group.
• Pigs regularly "tuck in" with their mates and by wriggling settle right down into the bedding.
• When growing pigs have selected their own temperatures, they chose warm afternoon temperatures and quite cool conditions at nights when they lie huddled with their mates for warmth.
• Pigs show a lot of play behaviour, and it's very common in young pigs when they leave the nest or lying area.
• They show great play behaviour especially when they go into a new environment as part of their exploration.
• Social play usually consists of fighting with selected littermates. Often one animal runs away eliciting a chase by mates.
• A piglet playing by itself will whirl round trying to scratch itself and may jump up and down on the spot.
• Pigs are great investigators and play by lifting and moving objects on the ground and throwing them in the air.
• With their sensitive nose, rooting is a favourite pastime and treasured finds are carried away with other pigs in pursuit.
  

Pig learning ability

• Pigs learn quickly and show great variation in their ability to learn and solve problems.
• Teaching pigs can be done easily by using mild electric shock avoidance, audio signals and feed rewards.
• They have been taught to control their heating and lighting regime - which saves human labour and reduce costs.
• This learning ability is moderately inherited so you could increase this trait in a herd through selection.
• Pigs quickly learn all the details of a new environment because of their well-developed exploratory behaviour. When tested in a maze, pigs are smarter explorers than any other farm animal. Depriving them of this natural ability can cause great stress as seen in pigs kept in barren concrete environments with no bedding to chew.
  

Pig-human interaction

• There is now plenty of research to show the benefits of pigs that have a strong relationship or bond with their human minders.
• The pigs have clearly been "tamed" and have responded to good handling.
• Taming is best done by quiet and gentle handling of young pigs at feeding time.
• Lay your hand on the pig's had or back, talk gently and scratch or stroke the animal. The best areas to touch are behind the ears, shoulders, along the back and down the sides.
• Pigs soon learn to enjoy this contact and will often lie down to enjoy it. Complete taming can be done in 2-3 weeks after which they will come when called.
  

Dunging behaviour

• Pigs are probably the cleanest and most orderly farm animal if their environment allows this, and if they have learned appropriate behaviours during their early rearing.
• Pigs defaecate and urinate regularly throughout the day and night in intensive housing although they rest a lot between 7pm and 6am the following morning.
• By 3 days old, piglets have learned not to dung where they sleep. After this age further dunging behaviour is learned from their dam - habits they maintain throughout life. A "dirty" sow that dungs and urinates on her bed will produce "dirty" piglets that do the same.
• Good dunging habits can be encouraged by a few management practices:
• When changing pigs from one pen to another, give them a run for a while before they enter the new pen. This will let them empty out and their first urge in the new pen will not be to defaecate and urinate.
• After moving, dampen the dunging area of the new pen, and put some dung from the old pen on it.
• Pigs that are scouring should have the problem fixed as they will have less control of their faeces and where it goes.
• If there are too few pigs in the pen, use temporary barriers to reduce space in the sleeping area so they are forced to dung elsewhere. Put fresh bedding on the sleeping area.
• A false roof maintaining warmth over the sleeping area will encourage them to rest there and they'll hopefully be less keen to foul the area.
• Cleaning their pen at night may help if the problem exists. After cleaning the fouled area, put some bedding and feed on it.
• Pen shape and the position of the feed and water sources can affect where pigs eliminate. Try moving troughs until the pigs modify their habits.

Abnormal pig behaviour

• Pigs show a long list of abnormal behaviour where stress is the major underlying cause.
• Tail biting
• Ear biting
• Cannibalism - killing and eating pen mates
• Belly nibbling
• Tongue rolling
• Rubbing the nasal bone
• Rubbing snout
• Hyperactivity
• Massaging the anus
• Vacuum chewing
• Biting pen bars
• Rocking back and forward when tethered
  

The “runt“ pig and its problems

• It's difficult to describe in precise terms what a runt is. It's not necessarily a small piglet, as these can be the result of poor nutrition.
• These nutritional runts are commonly seen in large litters where pigs are not weaned until 5 or 8 weeks.
• Piglets can be runts because of their position in the uterus, where for some reason they have been deprived of nutrients. These runts never catch up, even with extra feeding as they are physiologically under-developed.
• As litter sizes increases and competition for milk and feed increases, the problem the runt has to survive and grow increases. Commercial pig farmers often see euthanasia as a cost-effective solution.
  

Moving pigs

• Pigs are den-living, home-loving animals and do not show any flocking/herding response when moved.
• In the wild, frightened pigs scatter and crouch in the undergrowth, or race back to their den. Domestic pigs still show this behaviour.
• They just don't like being moved - especially from their darkened den into bright outside light.
• Loading and unloading are the most stressful part of transport when pigs are pushed, dragged by their ears, have their tails pulled, or goaded physically or electrically. (Note that electric prodders should not be used on pigs in New Zealand).
• Suggestions for loading and transport of pigs:
• Select the pigs for market the night before, and hold them in an unfamiliar pen.
• Reduce feed before transport but not water.
• Move them in the early morning.
• Don't attempt to rush, abuse or punish them.
• They'll go better up a ramp or along level ground.
• Avoid having to move them down a ramp.
• Keep ramp sides fully covered so they can't see through.
• Spread some bedding along their path you want them to go.
• Spread some feed or slices of apple along the path and up the ramp.
• Use a hand-held pig board to approach them - this also protects your legs. Use any solid barrier to bring up behind them.
• Don't do anything like pulling ears or tails that will make them squeal. Use a canvas slapper so as not to bruise them.
• To move an awkward individual - put a plastic bucket over its nose and eyes and reverse it along.
  

Transporting pigs

• Transport can be very stressful for pigs. Here are some recommendations to reduce stress:
• Don't transport pigs that are not familiar with each other.
• Provide plenty of ventilation in the truck.
• Avoid transporting when temperatures exceed 28 C.
• Avoid long parking periods on hot sunny days. Always park in the shade.
• Avoid physical exertion and excitement before and during transport.
• Do not feed during the 12 hours before transport.
• Put the pigs direct from their pen on to the truck.
• Transport the following pigs separately:
• Young piglets
• Sows with piglets
• Adult boars
• Unfamiliar groups of pigs
• Sows in advanced pregnancy