The Bagpipe - American Highland Cattle Association

CONTROL AND RESTRAINT
Ted Millen, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Perhaps you can scratch your cattle behind the ears or maybe even pet them but there are times when you need
to be able to immobilize them safely. You should have a good squeeze chute or at least a head gate for use when
tattooing, hoof trimming, treating or examining your animals. Minimum equipment for handling them would be
a small area where single animals can be confined, a good lariat preferably with a release honda, a stout post and a
nose lead on a rope.
Your gentle cattle may come to you when called, take food from your hand and be very tame but when you grab hold
of them they react. Always be mindful of the arc or swinging horns, both up-and-down and from side-to-side. Stay
behind this arc till an animal is secure.
Before I bought my chute I used welded cattle panels set about 32 inches apart and fastened to wooden posts. I
drove or coaxed the animals into this narrow passageway and stuck 2” x 4”s at either end to hold it in place.
I can’t throw a loop around the horns of a good-sized Highlander but by using a forked stick I can usually ease the
loop over the horns. When the loop is drawn tight around the horns and the rope is snubbed around a stout post, the
animal usually quiets down. The nose lead can then be applied and its rope passed around a firm support above the
animal’s head. Your critter can then be handled safely. Always have a knot in the lariat rope so that if the loop goes
over the head and is drawn tight, the animal will not choke. A second lariat could be put around the horns before
removal of the first from around the neck.
Never give the animals slack rope when a nose lead is on, for it may injure itself. Also, always remove the nose lead
before taking the lariat from the horns when releasing the animal.
Topping the “Pecking Order”
Your cattle establish a peck order. I always stay at the top of the peck order in my herd. If they tend to crowd around
when I am carrying feed to them, I often carry a short broomstick or other rod.
Frequently an animal is turned suddenly by a “superior” and in swinging away from it may come too close. I tap it
on the head to let it know I have a longer horn than it has and to keep it at a safe distance.
Also, your animals have a reflex kick ready for attacks from the rear. This may be triggered by a shadow or sudden
close movement. I always carry the bucket between me and the feeding cattle. Recently a gentle cow with a day-old calf
(hidden somewhere in the weeds) kicked my bucket as I passed her beside the feed bunk. I always chase such an
aggressor a few steps when it does this, to re-establish my top position on the peck order.
When I put feed in the line of wooden boxes on the ground, I drive the animals away from the side I am on by sound,
stick or dog, so that there will be no sparring behind my back in case a retreating animal should swing around and
catch me with a horn tip. I am not mean to my animals but I am always the boss. When I whistle, the lead cow answers
and the herd comes for a reward.
Once I tried to get a yearling heifer to go into a truck by touching her with an electric prod. She didn’t move forward
but took the glasses right off my face with a reflex kick. I don’t use the electric prod anymore.
Don’t get behind low peck order animals in a cramped space with a high peck order animal ahead of them. First
thing you know you will be run over by retreating cowards. Don’t let your veterinarian crowd a bunch of animals
together to tail bleed them. Take them one at a time, especially if more than one age group is represented and have the
animals tied up or in a headgate.
An animal may catch its head in a narrow slot and not be able to get it out. Put on a pair of thick gloves, grasp the
horns near the tips and turn the head sideways till you get it released. Be careful to keep your head back so a sudden
upper thrust will miss your chin or eye.
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