Working With Cattle

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, Issue 205, 13 August 1927, Page 4

Working With Cattle

Branding, Marking and Dehorning Calves Handling Weaners and Rules to Observe By “Sundowner" (Written lor the Tribune. AH Kights Reserved.)

A S it will apparently always I e necessary on North Island stations and farms to carry a considerable number of cattle to keep the country in order, it is as well that farmers and runholders who are specialising in the production of mutton and wool should pay more attention to the handling, drafting, and grazing of the useful cattla beast.

Too often the only handling that cattle get in their young and impressionable days is the knocking about experienced at marking and weaning times, followed bv an inferquent mustering from one block or paddock to another. ADVANTAGES IN CAREFUL HANDLING. On the majority of sheep stations where 1 have witnessed a cattle muster the work is done with as much noise and exhaustion of men and horses as possible. Barking docs cracking whips and yelling men soon work the cattle into a state of panic, and if no actual damage is done io fences aud animals, at least much energy has been wasted, and the cattle’s growth or fattening interfered with. As a matter of fact, less noise and trouble should accompany a cattle muster than a muster of sheep, for the former are much more amenable to training and discipline than the latter, and the condition of docility acquired bv daily cows can be closely approached in run cattle, provided the earlv handling is of the right sort. During calving time the farmer should move quigtly about amongst his cows, rendering assistance where it is necessary and, if possible.-mov-ing the new arrivals an* "heir mothers to a small paddock where fresh feed has been saved for them. At this stage absence of noise and bustle in working is essential unless trouble with the irate mothers is to be experienced The change to fresh feed, however, is very advantageous, ensuring rapid and even growth to the weaner age. No voting animal shoijd ever be stunted of abundant food if it is later to produce maximum profit, for however good its breeding may be. it cannot develop into a high class animal if abundant nourishment is lacking. When marking time arrives, which should be as soon as possible after calving, the yard work should be out through as quickly as is possible, and no dogs should be used once the cattle are yarded. If a proper cattle yard has been constructed on the farm, the work of drafting off the calves from their mothers can be done with little more effort than drafting sheep, and the calves can then be retained for marking, branding, etc. while the cows are turned into a small adjoinin™ paddock, there to await their offspring. PREVENTION OF HORN GROWTH. At the same time as emasculation and earmarking is done, dehorning, or rather the prevention of the growth of horns should be attended to in all run cattle where the breed being handled has these unite unnecessary appendages. A minute or so of rubbing with a stick of strong caustic on the thickening of skin which denotes the spot from which the horn would later grow, does the trick. Thp young horn should be first damped, and care should be taken not to allow the caustic to spread to the surrounding skin of the head, thus causing unnecessary pain and a possible blemish. Cattle which are thus dehorned as calves fatten quicker, are quieter, and present a more uniform appearance as a mob than those which are left horned or even those which have their horns removed later in life bv a dehorning machine. All except stud cattle, in which the horn may have some slight value as an indication of breed tvpe, should be hornless, and the least check to the growth of the animal will certainly be secured if their growth is prevented bv caustic action rather than if thev are removed later BRANDING If branding with a firebrand must lie resorted to. the brand should; be applied as close to the tail as Possible; low down on the foreleg or < a the animal’s forehead. A small face brand is easily seen at all times, and damages no valuable hide. The positions of the other branding spots on the body of the animal, when this is preferred, are chosen also to damage the hide as little as possible, and that suggested near the tail, while usually being very readily noticed, affects nothing but flank skin. Unless fire brandin" is essential, it should he avoided, and certainly the middle of the rump, the middle of the side, or the middle of the shoulder are not spots where the branding iron should be applied. Never attempt fire branding if the skin of the animal is wet or even damp. If you do the result will be a ghastly blodge which will give the beast great pain, and the surrounding skin will be utterly spoilt. A properly constructed marking race where the calves can be kept from struggling while the various operations are being performed greatly speed ur> the work and saves the little animals much knocking about.

Directly the marking, branding, etc., is completed, let the calf out where he can rejoin his mother. Holding in the yard after marking means the risk of blood poisoning. Until wearing time is reached. little further wbrk with the cows and

calves is necessary, except to see that they have abundance of good fresh feed Keep them in a spelled paddock ahead of. and not with, the sheep, aud it will be found that both cattle and sheep do better, while the pasture itself will improve The reasons for this have been dealt with in previous articles in these pages. TREATMENT AT WEANING TIME, Weaning time is undoubtedly the most important in the cattle beast’s life, for on the treatment then depends its tracability ever afterwards, and a few days or even hours devoted by the farmer at this time to handling his weaner calves saves days of work later in their lives. When the calves are separated from their mothers, the latter should lie moved to a paddock as far from the weaners as possible. The feed should be rather poorer than that they have been grazed on since calving to discourage the secretion of milk; also it is inadvisable to have the cows in too forward condition when they are again put to the bull. The calves should be left for the first night afetr weaning in the stockyard, and early next morning the farmer, supported by a couple of good heading dogs, should let thorn out into a small and securely fenced adjoining paddock. If they have had no water in the yards overnight allow them to drink their fill, then put out the heading dogs and pull them back to the yards, forcing them back into the pens. Close the gates and move about amongst the weaners on foot for half an hour or so. and then let them out again. If thev rush awav from the yards, pull them back again with the dogs AFTER WEANING. Keep tlip weaners close to the homestead for the first week, making a point of yarding or putting them through a gate with the dogs everv day. and at the end of that time it will be found that they can be worked as easily and as quietly as can sheep. When this stage of their education is reached they can bo safely turned out on to any block where there is abundant feed and shelter. . The growing weaner needs these, and to oe highly profitable should never lie allowed to be ip any other condition but fat or forward until the steers are ready to be topped off for the butchers, or the heifers are put with the bull. With station breeds of cattle more than half the breeding goes down the neck while thev are young. If weaners are taught to muster quietly with a dog. thev will never give trouble later in life, however seldom they may see a man during the year. As a consequence fewer hand? are necessary to make a clean muster. No stock are lost through trumbling over gorges in terror of the dogs and men when it is necessary to yard or move them, and less damage is done at these times to fences and gates than when the animals are wild and' half out of hand. In all the phases of work with rattle, including drafting in the open paddock, the quiet man on the quiet horse will accomplish double what the excitable, quick-moving horse and man will do, and generally the man with a stick will do much quicker drafting than the man with a whip. Whips are only permissible when inobs are being driven considerable distances, but in all close work, in the paddock or in the yards, thev should be discarded.