Do your cattle stop when they reach the squeeze chute? Is a tap on the rear end or a little tail-twisting necessary to get them in? Do you think they’re stubborn or fearful when they do this?
I have an answer.
Cattle have panoramic vision. They can see things in all directions without moving their heads. The cattle pupil is long, narrow, and geared to detect motion, not objects like the round pupil of our eyes. All prey-species animals have panoramic vision and can detect the slightest motion from a considerable distance- the kind of motion made by predators stalking prey. A small movement alerts the animal to potential danger, and they lift the head for a better view. Panoramic vision is a highly evolved and efficient predatory defense mechanism, but as in all good things there’s a trade-off, cattle have poor depth perception. Our eyes are forward-looking. When we look down, judging depth is easy because both eyes see the same view. Cattle have eyes on the sides and when they see something on the ground in the direction they’re moving, they stop and lower their head and eyes to focus on the object and judge its depth. But here’s the problem, cattle don’t put their head down when they’re nervous or feel threatened. Handling is stressful and can put cattle on guard, so they keep their heads up and their eyes wide open.
A contrast is any difference in the floor surface. In image 2 you can see the contrast in the bedded surface to the steel grate cover. From a cow’s perspective, it looked like a big hole in the ground and she was terrified to cross it. Look at her eyes. All the cattle refused to step on the grate cover, and when forced, they jumped it. I took the picture in Indonesia where they use Lory-style cattle trucks, open to the sun boxes that hold about twenty cattle. The grate covers the gap between the truck and the dock. Loading trucks was the most hated job the feed yard, and the most dangerous. Their lives were at risk every day when 20 cattle turned back toward them and they tried to hold their ground.
They asked me to help them solve the problem. So after the next truck backed in and the grate put in place, I kicked some of the bedding over it to cover it completely. The next load of cattle went right on, like magic, or so the cowboys thought. They clasped their hands together over their chests and bowed to me as I tried to explain it was just a floor contrast.
Back to the squeeze chute situation, image 3 and 4 shows how to fix the problem after pouring a concrete floor, and images 5, 6, and 7 shows how to prevent it in the first place. In both of these, a slight contrast remains in the floor colors between the crush and concrete that cause some cattle to hesitate, but the floor height is the same, and that mitigates the problem.
Back to the squeeze chute situation, image 3 and 4 shows how to fix the problem after pouring a concrete floor, and images 5, 6, and 7 shows how to prevent it in the first place. In both of these, a slight contrast remains in the floor colors between the crush and concrete that cause some cattle to hesitate, but the floor height is the same, and that mitigates the problem.
Images 8 show a dramatic example of a floor contrast that caused real havoc in a large meat plant. Cattle wanted to avoid walking anywhere in this section of the alley. They tried to stay on the concrete, but when handlers forced them from behind, the crowds jostling for position caused pile-ups and hard falls on the concrete floors. The stainless steel covers were also slippery. Making the floor contrasts worse is the one horizontal line the cattle jumped, which caused further wrecks. The outcome measure of this disaster was the number of bruised carcasses in the cooler every day.
Image 9 shows a shadow contrast with a time-of-day effect. Inside the door is the single-file race to the knock box. They dealt with this problem so long that they came to believe that cattle “knew” they were going to die in there. That’s why they wouldn’t go in. Needless to say, they were surprised after mounting bright lights and illuminating the area. One light mounted inside the door and pointing inside, pointed the way for the cattle.
Image 9 shows a shadow contrast with a time-of-day effect. Inside the door is the single-file race to the knock box. They dealt with this problem so long that they came to believe that cattle “knew” they were going to die in there. That’s why they wouldn’t go in. Needless to say, they were surprised after mounting bright lights and illuminating the area. One light mounted inside the door and pointing inside, pointed the way for the cattle.
The depth of depth perception problems became clearest to me in the Utah desert on a Wild Horse Round-up in 2012. I was with a contract crew hired to trap and transport horses to the holding pens in town. A crew and the BLM hired Temple Grandin to evaluate the welfare of wild horses, but she was busy, so she sent me. I watched and recorded at three herd management areas in three states; the last was in Utah. Without going into detail, one of the biggest welfare concerns on the first two gathers was loading horses on trailers after being trapped. The crews built 10-foot (3m) alleys with portable panels leading to the stock trailers, and it was at the trailer’s opening where the real problems were. The step into the trailer was the contrast. Excessive force was necessary with the first two crews, but the last crew used their heads and outsmarted the horses. They dug two trenches in the dirt the width of the trailer tires and backed the trailer into the trench, effectively lowering the trailer’s floor to near ground level. Guess what? The horses went right in. The member of the crew who figured this out didn’t know why it worked, just that it worked so kept doing it.
Look for the wild horse images and videos in a future post.
You can test this yourself by spreading a layer of sawdust or sand in the lead-up and in the squeeze chute at your farm. Also, try it at the feed yard, or at a meat plant lead-up to the knock box to see if it doesn’t make a difference. Look at it from the cow’s point of view and make sure it all looks the same.
When they look down, they’re looking at something. Look to see what they see.
At my farm, I always spread sawdust around the back of a horse trailer and inside the trailer when training young horses. Black mats in trailers cause more problems than people realize. Let’s hear about your floor contrast problems.
