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timing, and number of applications will only result in an increase in the spread and severity of both diseases and
parasites.
Whenever new cattle are brought onto the property, good biosecurity procedures entail quarantining
the new animals for a period of up to four weeks, depending on their origin and the potential disease
risk that they pose. This allows prophylactic treatments such as anthelmintics or vaccines to be administered,
and the cattle can be observed closely for symptoms of ill-health before being released to join the existing
herd. Adherence to a good biosecurity protocol will limit the introduction of diseases from outside sources
and reduce the associated negative economic impact of such diseases.
4.1.7. Nutritional Stress
Maintaining normal rumen function is fundamental to help avoid nutritional stress in beef cattle. The animal
needs to eat suicient quantities of quality forage, and drink enough water to ensure there is a good
balance of ibre and luid in the stomach to allow for fermentation to take place. If fermentation does not
happen, the digestive process of rumination that assists in the breakdown and absorption of nutrients will not
occur. This fermentation process is necessary to assist the microbes in the stomach to extract the nutrients
from the ibre grass ready to be absorbed in the small intestine. There needs to be suicient numbers of the
various types of microbes to ensure that fermentation continues and the animal functions normally.
Nutritional stress occurs when the animal is not getting enough feed and water, or the quality of the feed and
or water is poor. Where the animal is fed too much roughage low quality forage, grass or straw, or feed
with a high moisture content, the animal cannot extract enough nutrients to satisfy its needs for body
maintenance, growth, or reproduction.
One of the irst signs of nutritional stress is when an animal begins to lose weight. This will be followed by
female animals having reduced fertility.
A sign of a lack of feed or poor quality feed is when animals stand around the feed trough looking for more
to eat. They will often sort through the feed and eat the best parts irst the leaf and younger plant sections and
leave the poor quality roughage or stalk until last. They may also be seen licking the walls of the empty trough
to try and get as much nutrient as possible.
A similar thing will happen if water is in short supply. The cattle will wait around the water trough in the hope of
getting a drink when they should be out eating grass or forage or resting and chewing their cud.
4.2. Safe, Low Stress Cattle Handling
4.2.1. Understanding the Animal Welfare Requirement
International standards for working with animals outlined by the World Organisation for Animal Health
OIE concur that people working with and handling domestic livestock cattle are required to understand
the following key points;
• Domestic livestock live in herds and follow a leader by instinct
• Animals have natural light zones • How animals use sight and sound inluences their
direction of movement • Animals need to be handled in a balanced way to
avoid harm, distress or injury • Aids such as the ‘cattle talker’ can be used to
encourage movement and direction of animals • Unacceptable practices include creating noise that
will agitate the animals, using implements that may cause pain or stress, hitting animals, and walking
animals over the top of other animals.
Beef cattle are herding animals that like to be with and follow other animals in their group. The most important
principles to understand are the animal’s light zone, its point of balance, the importance of handling smaller
groups, and training cattle for handling procedures.
4.2.2. Features of Sight
Animals have panoramic vision Fig. 4.6. Despite this, a zone exists directly behind them where they cannot
see; known as the blind spot. The handler should never position themselves directly in their blind spot as the
animal needs to be able to see and know where the handler is so that they feel comfortable, or can respond
to their presence if they are uncomfortable.
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Figure 4.6. Cattle vision and their blind spot. Source: Grandin, T., Colorado State University, Proway Livestock Equipment.
The primary features of sight that inluence the behaviour of cattle when handled include;
• Depth perception - many animals ind it diicult to determine the distance of a stationary object,
including people. Slight movement helps overcome this
• Illumination - stock like to move from dark to light areas. It is diicult to move animals into dark places
• Colour - animals can distinguish some colour such as the diference between red and blue or green.
Other livestock senses that need to be considered when working with animals are:
• Sound - excessive noise causes stress and should be avoided. Animals can be moved without noise
• Smell - for example cattle can become upset by strange smells, particularly the smell of blood.
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4.2.3. Flight Zones
