Give them enough space….. to lie down or to get to feed easily.

Use the backing gate sparingly. Cows want to be milked and will into the shed voluntarily most of the time.

Keep them in their mobs. They are social animals with their own pecking orders. Putting a cow in a new mob will mean a period of adjustment and often a drop in Dry Matter Intake until she finds her place.

Provide lots of palatable clean water . They can drink up to 200 litres a day so they need the trough space and opportunity to do it.

Give them excellent footing. So they feel safe and secure. On the platform, in the yard and on farm races.

Understand that they need time to adapt to new people or feeds. Do it slowly, especially with fast fermenting, highly digestible feeds like turnips or wheat grain.  

Stay calm in the shed. It’s good to let it all out, only choose the right place to do it.   

Learn how to read cow signals. There communication with you is non verbal. You need to be present and recognize what is normal behaviour so you can quickly pick out the abnormal.

Avoid sudden movement. Cows have great peripheral 300 degree vision but they have trouble figuring out how far away you are.

Give them shade and shelter from the sun and wind.If it’s getting hot for you then it’s already too hot for cows. They have an internal ‘oven’ or a rumen that gives off heat.Especially when it’s digesting mature summer grass.

And why do this, you might be asking?

Because it’s the right and decent thing to do.

It’s good for feed conversion efficiency which is good for profitability.

PLUS cattle are smart..they’ll remember you.

If you don’t believe me ..check out this cool video!

 

Okay I get it. You lose the plot from time to time. I do too. Just do it sparingly or shut yourself in the ute for a while and have a good rant. You’ll clear the head and be more effective in your job afterwards.

Be a friend not a foe. For their sake, your blood pressure’s sake and the sake of your pocket.