ELDERS staff undertook a two-day low stress stock handling refresher course at Boyanup last week.
Course co-ordinator Grahame Rees teamed up with Elders employees to provide the team with both theoretical and practical elements of livestock handling.
With more than 20 years of experience under his belt he explained that "the staff are constantly presented with the challenges of livestock, they all vary depending on breeds and temperaments, we don't just do this for the welfare of animals but for the welfare of people too".
Elders WA commercial cattle manager Michael Longford was pleased at the outcome of the course.
"The aim was to put staff through the course as a refresher for our existing staff and to educate our new starters, it's very beneficial for our staff and their safety," Mr Longford said.
"Elders is taking the initiative to provide staff with a better understanding of low stress handling to accommodate the safety of ourselves and the management of livestock in unfamiliar environments."
Throughout the course, Mr Rees discussed the importance of the person or person's frame of mind and how their attitude going into yarding can affect stock.
He also highlighted that the majority of accidents involving livestock happen in the yarding and penning up process.
"Understanding an animal's flight zone is crucial, sometimes just being there in the right place is enough to move stock rather than putting pressure on them - it's a natural instinct for them to choose fight or flight," Mr Rees said.
"Pastoral animals might have a larger flight zone that we need to take into consideration, whereas southern, local cattle present themselves with a much smaller flight zone due to being handled more often."
Mr Rees told the group that the four animal instincts were: animals move in the direction they're facing, herding animals want to follow other animals, animals want to see what's pressuring them and they want the pressure released.
"Without putting pressure on cattle it is effective in some cases to just rock side-to-side on your feet and move back and forwards to work the cattle to where you want them to go," he said.
"The majority of people push cattle from behind, where they can't see us and often the cattle up the front, depending on mob size, are standing still - once the cattle up the front move the rest will usually follow making it much easier to move stock.
"I find the 'T-method' effective, it's where usually a group of three people form the top part of a T and hold that straight line throughout the yarding, with the middle person moving back and forth but coming back to form that straight line approach."
The key that Mr Rees stressed was that often the most stressed livestock were the quiet ones.
"We need to teach the animals not to feel secure but learn to tolerate insecurity, so when we go to saleyards they are able to take the pressure we put on them," he said.
"There are three things that will affect an animal's behaviour towards handlers and other stock - nutrition (including water), weather and survival, at the end of the day the stock just wants to survive."
Over the period of the course Mr Rees covered the seven principles of low stress stock handling, where he first explained and then implemented these principles in a real life sense in the yards.
"The seven principles include: a flight zone is the region in which an animal is caused to react, body language is the biggest form of communication in animals, when constant pressure is applied to animals they will move into it, when pressure is applied - it must be released, every mob/herd has a leader, your position determines their reaction and observation of the animals will tell you where you need to be," Mr Rees said.
"The Elders team were very fast learners and very responsive considering the weather conditions we were faced with."
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