Low Stress Cattle Corrals

Low Stress Cattle Corrals

By Rance Tanner Clark

            For all those farmers and ranchers out there that are looking into building new or updating their cattle corrals I would recommend watching a very influential movie first.  Last year a new movie came out called Temple Grandin.  Many people in Agriculture know that name, but if you don’t Dr. Temple Grandin is a designer of livestock handling facilities and a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University (2009,Grandin.com).  Dr. Grandin is a world leader in livestock handling and corral design.  According to the Committee for Sustainable Farm Publishing, over half of the cattle in North America pass through working facilities that she designed.  Dr. Grandin is autistic which allows her to see and think like a cow which in turn has helped her be more influential on livestock handling strategies.

            Thanks to Dr. Grandin we are now better able to understand cattle and therefore are able to develop working facilities that are more productive and less stressful.  Dr. Grandin has a web site called Grandin.com and at this site you can look at many corral designs and even shows their dimensions if you would like to build your own.  When you look at these designs you will notice a lot of curves and fences built on an angle.  Dr. Grandin was the one that discovered that cattle move better in circles, because they think that they are returning to the herd (2009, Grandin.com).  Knowing this, she made several designs that use tubs and curved alleys with various widths.  Doing this keeps the cattle moving forward and not bunching up which in turn makes a lower stressed working environment. 

            When you start planning your next corral system some things that you might keep in mind is start with the basics and then move forward.  If you work in a chronological order then I think that you will find that you’re next working system will work very nicely for you.  Where you will want to start with is where your cattle are coming from and where they are going.  After you have that figured out try to use curves and cattle flight zones to your advantage. Something that you might find helpful is in high traffic, high activity areas to use solid sides on your tubs and alleyways.  This will also be a good time to think about the chute and loading ramp placement.  After you have a good steady cattle flow, go back and put in your man gates and walkways.  If you keep cattle flow a first priority, then you will find that the cattle will work for you instead of you working the cattle.  By doing this it will lower cattle stress, speed up processing time, and make cattle working a much more enjoyable experience.                                                    

  

Work Cited

Grandin, Temple. "Livestock Behaviour, Design of Facilities." Temple Grandin's Web Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2010. <http://www.grandin.com/>.

 "Low-Stress Livestock Handling." Ibiblio.org - Storytelling. Committee for Sustainable Farm Publishing, 1997. Web. 11 Oct. 2010. <http://www.ibiblio.org/farming-connection/grazing/features/lowstress.htm>.