EffIcient and Effective “Pen Riding”

By: Ted Howard Production Animal Consultation

“When we develop an efficient pen riding system, we become effective pen riders in identifying the wellbeing and health of our cattle.”

Who uses Google.com in their day to day life? I use it daily. Google is a powerful search engine that helps me find websites and driving distances, and it is my dictionary. So when I started this article I looked up “efficient” and “effective” in Google.

Efficient was defined as “achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense; working in a well-organized and competent way and preventing the wasteful use of a particular resource.” Effective was defined as “successful in producing a desired or intended result.” Therefore we really can’t be effective without being efficient.

When we ride pens efficiently, we are trying to achieve maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort. We cannot ride haphazardly throughout the pen without a plan or purpose. We need to be well-organized and competent and not waste our resource of time. When we develop an efficient pen riding system, we become effective pen riders in identifying the wellbeing and health of our cattle.

When my services of low stress cattle handling through proper horsemanship are introduced to a new team, the biggest push back I hear is, “We don’t have TIME for this.” Low stress cattle handling, when done correctly, can make your day more efficient. It is our mindset that takes time to change.

By the time I have ridden into a pen of cattle, I have already scanned the group from the alley. I am looking for the cattle to show me their natural state. I try and see any obvious illness or lameness. By recognizing who is at the bunk, who is at the water tank and who is laying down, I know where to start my closer assessment inside the pen.

In most articles I write, I make the following statement: your horse’s headset must be low and his feet must be slow to gain the trust of your cattle. I continue to reinforce that a calm and relaxed horse is essential for cattle’s acceptance. Your proper horsemanship matters to be an effective pen rider.

Once I am in the pen with my cattle, I can accomplish numerous goals with the same effort. I observe the health of the cattle while I exercise them. I begin by looking at the cattle that are looking at me. These cattle are the leaders of the pen. Stepping toward these cattle will ask them to move. These cattle move and take a few of their peers with them. I continue this same process throughout the pen until I have the entire pen up on their feet and in a controlled motion.

It is essential that each animal is gotten up during the pen riding process. To accurately assess the health of each animal they must get up and walk. Many pen riders tell me this takes too long. However, if you use other cattle’s motion or energy, their movement will cause the cattle resting to get up and move without taking much of your time.

Once you implement these efficient practices into your pen riding, your cattle begin to know what you are expecting. They will start to get up when you ride into the pen and move easier on their own without as much effort from you and your horse. Our cattle are looking for positive interactions with us.

Correctly executed exercise and acclimation programs help our new cattle to begin to trust us and their environment. They will start to show us the true state of their health. Our older cattle benefit from exercise during feed transitions to minimize acidosis. Exercise also helps alleviate boredom in cattle. When cattle are stimulated, they continue eating correctly and maintain their health easier. They will go to the bunk more frequently and consistently.

Once these cattle build that trust with you, the ability to empty a pen or pull a sick animal becomes much simpler and therefore quicker. These cattle are better prepared to handle the different environments when they are processed, doctored or shipped, which also allows for some time saving efficiencies.

To be effective in our goals, we must first become efficient in our practices. Now if my pickup engine would stay as strong as the Google search engine, my worries would be few!