Cow Camp Chatter: Pet Peeves

Ron Torell, Long-Standing Educator and Advocate of Agriculture

According to Webster’s dictionary a pet peeve is a minor annoyance that can instill extreme frustration in an individual. Typically each person has several pet peeves that irritate them. What is an annoyance to one may be viewed by others as trivial. Whatever they may be, our pet peeves often find their way in to the conversation. In this month’s issue of Cow Camp Chatter I would like to discuss a number of pet peeves I have that are related to working cattle.

At the top of my list is bringing too many cattle at one time to the tub for processing. Typically it is the young, inexperienced cattle handler that does this. By bringing too many animals at one time, cattle ball up with noses in the air. Usually cattle are pointed in the wrong direction for entrance into the lead-up alley leaving no room for them to turn around. Soon the whips and hot shots come out and human tempers flare. Cattle are juiced up when they reach the squeeze chute and remember the chute experience as a painful one.

A similar situation happens when too many cattle are placed in the sorting alley. This is certainly not a time-saving move for, again, cattle ball up and pile on top of one another at the closed end of the alley. This is especially true when sorting alleys are too narrow. Cattle are reluctant to go by a person sorting cattle in a ten foot alley. A twelve to fourteen foot alley is good for sorting on foot where a fourteen to sixteen foot alley is best when on horseback. Sixteen foot alleys are too wide when sorting cattle on foot for it is difficult to stop cattle from rushing by.

Next on my list has to be the excessive use of a hot shot. We do not need to squeeze every drop of adrenaline out of a cow’s system by overuse of the hot shot. The biggest abuse I see is pouring the juice to a cow when the animal has nowhere to go or her head is turned. A short, well-placed shot is enough when you give an animal a place to go and she sees it. I feel the judicious use of a hot shot is necessary on some operations especially where facilities are poorly designed. The argument could be made that rather than use the hot shot one should redesign the facility for easier flow of cattle. I agree, as an inadequate or poorly designed facility is another pet peeve of mine.

I often work cattle in facilities that are nothing more than one big jerry-rig of repairs. Gates are in the wrong place and drag the ground, alleys are too narrow, and the coral is an accumulation of temporary jerry-rigged patch jobs. These types of facilities are miserable for both man and beast. So why don’t we FIX them? If we are in the cattle business for the long term, shouldn’t expenditures of time and money on working facilities be a priority? No amount of yelling and beating will make cattle flow through a poorly designed corral.

Nowadays four-wheelers and motorcycles are widely used in place of horses for moving cows. As cattle handlers we sometimes forget that cattle move at a slower pace than our all-terrain vehicles and we have a tendency to move cattle at a faster than usual trot for long distances. This stresses animals, especially in hot weather. We need to remember to slow it down. Working cattle in the extreme heat is a real concern of mine. What ever happened to a daybreak start?

Heat stresses man and beast. If we get started at daybreak we can usually be done before the heat of the day. This is given our facilities are adequate and we have not planned too much for the day. Lack of planning can make for a long day. In anticipation of the workload ahead, order vaccines in advance. Gas vehicles and fix flat tires for the next day’s job. Repair the coral from the last wreck you had while working cattle. Think it through and plan ahead.

Having someone watch as another labors away is a major annoyance that instills extreme frustration in me. If you want to get the job done, find the most productive, hard-working person around and ask them to do it. Don’t ask the one who’s leaning on the hood of the truck talking about how busy they are.

These pet peeves aside, I have been very fortunate over the years to have had the opportunity to work cattle in all types of facilities and with cattle handlers on all levels. Based on those experiences I can tell you that working cattle does not have to be drudgery. It can be a pleasurable experience. All it takes is some effort along with advanced planning, a positive attitude, and a good amount of get up and go.

That’s enough for this month. As always, if you would like to discuss this article or simply want to talk cows, do not hesitate to contact me at 775-385-7665 or rtbulls@frontier.com.