For successful beef production, certain facilities are necessary. These facilities must simplify the management of cattle and it must be functional and economical. The ARC Institute for Agricultural Engineering in South Africa has made their manual on handling facilities available to ProAgri Zambia so that our readers can benefit from their research and knowledge.

Animals have certain behavioural traits which determine their behaviour during handling. These behavioural traits must be taken into account in the planning and design of a handling facility. Poorly planned facilities will waste time, which can jeopardise the productivity of the farmer and the animal.

 

Unlike humans, bovines can see nearly right around them without turning their heads. This means that they cannot distinguish depth everywhere. Figure 1 shows the field of vision. In the front is an area where it has telescopic vision. This is the area where it should theoretically see depth. Behind it is a blind spot where it cannot see anything. In the remaining area it has single level sight. This is the area where it can theoretically not see depth. In reality cattle can however, to a certain extent, see a degree of depth in this area.

 

If a person should close one eye, depth should theoretically not be observed at all, yet the human brain has learnt over the years to associate depth with the image. Cattle, just like people, have a personal space. This space is called the flight zone and it is the space around the animal in which it wants to be alone to feel safe and comfortable. The size of the flight zone is how close the animal will allow a person to approach it before it moves away.

According to T Gradin (1998) there are four factors which influence the size of the flight zone, namely:

• The genetics of the animal
• The number of times it has hadcontact with people
• The quality of the contact
• The actions of the handler

By taking the flight zone into consideration, cattle can be handled comfortably. The point of balance is approximately at the shoulder of the animal. If a handler stands behind the balance point and is in the flight zone, the animal will move forward. If he stands in front of the balance point and is in the flight zone, the animal will move backwards. Cattle must also be driven into the crush this way.

Figure 2 shows the position of the handler for the successful handling of the animal.

The handler moves to position A. This is in the flight zone and behind the balance point. The animal does not want the handler in its personal space and moves forward, so that the handler is now in position B. The handler now moves to position A again.

Whenever a number of cattle are driven into a crush pen, the handler must move from the front to the back, as seen in Figure 3.

This action may seem wrong initially, but if the flight zone and point of balance are taken into consideration, it will make sense. To make the animal move forward, the handler must be behind the animal’s balance point. There is also a social hierarchy amongst cattle in a herd. When they are grouped together in a waiting corral, the normal frequency of antagonistic behaviour between them will increase. Cattle with horns can injure other cattle, while the younger animals and calves can also be seriously injured.

 

When different groups of cattle are suddenly crowded into a pen, it will cause unnecessary discord between individual animals because the pecking order has been disturbed. It is therefore important, where possible, to keep established groups apart from other groups during active handling. This is also applicable to young animals and calves. When cattle are being driven, the  behaviour as described above must be kept in mind.

 

Figure 4 shows the handler’s position when cattle have to move along a camp fence.

In the planning of handling facilities, the objective of the facility must be taken into account. The handling facility for commercial cattle will possibly differ from that of a facility for a stud-farm and definitely from that of a feedlot. In a well-designed handling facility, animals can be gathered safely, sorted and controlled. Depending on the size and type of facility, there are basically five essential components in a well-designed facility:

• Sorting pens
• Working area
• Loading platform
• Crush passage
• Crush pens

 

Next month we shall continue the discussion of these components. With acknowledgement to the ARC Institute for Agricultural Engineering for the use of their  Beef Cattle Handling Manual. Visit www.arc.agric.za for more information.