Reducing Stress for Cattle
A first-generation Texas rancher has uncovered different tactics to improve low-stress cattle handling techniques for ranches of all sizes.
Kim Youngkind was living the life of a trauma nurse in Philadelphia when her father-in-law passed away leaving her and her husband the family ranch in Texas. The Youngkinds didn’t have any knowledge of ranching but took on the challenge and quickly learned.
Previous arrangements were made that the other side of the family, who were ranchers, would take over the ranch. “It seemed to be a good plan,” says Kim. “But at the funeral, the experienced ranchers decided to give the responsibility to us.”
Kim approached ranching and animal behavior with curiosity. Afterall, her mind was a clean slate never having heard, “This is how we’ve always done it.”
“I think being curious is important to gain a really different perspective. There are always insights and new information available and tapping into those insights can really help your cattle business,” says Jungkind. Her background as an Emergency/trauma/Heart transplant nurse and artist brought a special skillset to ranching as well. Her background as a trauma nurse and artist brought a special skillset to ranching as well.
“Nurses are very good observers,” explains Kim. “I just transferred those abilities and started really focusing on the cows – they seemed emotional and curious.”
However, Kim’s first experiences with cows weren’t ones that lead her to believe cows were either of these things.
“The few times we had been to the ranch, my father-in-law told us to stay away from the cows because they could hurt us.”
Her curiosity lead her to try playing music for their cattle and the results were interesting.
She says, “I tried different kinds of music and watched how they reacted. When I played rock or jazz, they moved away or even ran. When I played Bach, they came closer and closer. They actually wanted to lick the boom box.” It was the low soft tones that the cows preferred.
Being an artist, she also hung a variety of quality artwork in the corral. The cows quickly let her know which ones they preferred which lead her to discovering and researching their preference for the color yellow.
“They went straight for one painting of yellow daffodils,” shares Kim. “That’s when I started asking why. After some research, I found they can see yellow very well—and they’re naturally drawn to it.”
Kim applies these discoveries on her ranch by playing music for cattle during stressful events. An area rancher took her findings with the color yellow and switched to only using yellow sorting flags.
She says, “A yellow flag on the end of a sorting stick catches their attention and creates a less stressful experience. It’s a simple change, but it makes handling easier on both the cattle and the producer.”
Next time you evaluate your cattle handling scenarios to reduce stress, stay curious and observant to how they respond to colors, noises and human energy. Listen to the full conversation on the Casual Cattle Conversations podcast.
For more cattle research, information and observations, click the website: https://www.insightskj.com/. To purchase the book: "To the Barn and Bach" or for questions, please contact the author through the website above at the bottom of the home page.
