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Stockman Events Return to Cambria, Bedford Counties Oct. 27, 28
Pennsylvania Ag Connection - 10/20/2017

The Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) stockmanship roadshow returns with demonstrations scheduled for Oct. 27 in Cambria County and Oct. 28 in Bedford County. Have lunch while learning from cattle handling expert, Dr. Don Höglund, DVM. Höglund will present, "How do cattle learn and what they seem to remember?"

The Oct. 27 dairy focused event also includes a FARM 3.0 workshop by Beverly Hampton that meets FARM stockmanship training credits. Both the Oct. 27 and 28 seminars qualify for BQA certification and recertification credits.

Höglund received his veterinary degree from Colorado State University specializing in large animal medicine and his undergraduate and graduate degrees concentrated on beef cattle production and agricultural economics.

Internationally recognized for his work with handling methods in livestock, Höglund is owner of DairyStockmanship.com. He has focused his career on educating and training stock handlers on safe, efficient and gentle ways to work with animals in agriculture.

His early work helped rehabilitate 4,000 prison inmates while handling more than 20,000 free-roaming mustangs. Höglund's best-selling book, Nobody's Horses, Simon and Schuster, told the true story of the capture and rescue of 2,000 former ranch horses from the White Sands Missile Range, birthplace of the world's first atomic detonation. Dr. Höglund also played a central production role in the establishment of "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" at Disneyland-Paris. Learn more by reading Efficient Livestock Handling: The Practical Application of Animal Welfare and Behavioral Science by Bonnie Beaver and Don Höglund. Visit www.dairystockmanship.com and www.livestocktrust.com.

During his BQA presentation, Höglund will dispel some common myths about human and cattle behavior including how learning, knowledge and skill are not necessarily one in the same. Participants also can expect to learn more about the following:

- Troubleshoot livestock behaviors.

- Animals can learn by association and every experience can affect learning.

- Innate behaviors (freeze, flee, aggression) are complex hardwired circuits; not a product of learning but can be supplement by learning.

- What the animal is doing matters; we handle them primarily based on their ability to learn.

- Currently, no evidence confirms that animals understand human intention.

- Live animals can react to human presence and action in any environment.

- Farm animals can learn to avoid certain humans and places.

- Efficient animal handling is a human resources endeavor involving control of human presence and action; starting position, timing, angle of movement, and rate of approach or withdrawal.

- Stress has no agreed-upon definition, no "litmus test", and as a result, we cannot assess high or low stress. Science can measure the stress response.

Höglund explains that, "If you do not know how humans and animals learn, you are likely employing a ‘stand here, move there,' philosophy. If you understand the basic principles of how animals learn, including the horse or dog that may be used for cattle handling, you can become innovative during efficient handling of livestock," he says. Höglund estimates that 95% of the participants in his audiences, including veterinarians, do not know how cattle actually learn.

The veterinarian also hopes audience participants will learn how giving cattle human motivations can lead to serious well-being issues for handler and animal. "Because of the limitations in our understanding of animal behavior, we are all safer when being more careful handling livestock," Höglund says. "Assuming that an animal understands human intention has led to many an injury."

For event partner, Dr. Jennifer Kauf of Dairyside Veterinary Service, a five-doctor practice serving clients in Bedford, Blair, Cambria, and limited areas of Huntingdon and Fulton counties, the demonstrations reinforce best practices.

"As a bovine veterinarian and owner of AJK Ebony Acres, I am hoping that each participant walks away from this event with at least one skill or idea that can make cattle handling on their facility more efficient and less stressful for both the cattle and the people," she says.

"The program will benefit their operation, but also helps me when I come to call," Kauf explained. "I also hope that this event serves as a successful networking event for my farmers."

To register for these events, please visit www.pa-bqa.org. For questions about the stockmanship trainings, please contact Courtney Cowden at ccowden@pabeef.org.


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