Curt Pate understands how to work cattle the right way and he goes around the country teaching audiences how to do that. He's from Wyoming and was in Oklahoma this last week teaching a group at Oklahoma State University’s Totusek Arena. Pate teaches cattle handling, but doesn't like to refer to it as low stress livestock handling, but rather effective stockmanship.
“So, for whatever job I am going to do, whether it be working cattle in an auction market, in a feedyard or on a ranch, I want to be effective with my skills to get the job done in a way that is profitable, doesn’t create a lot of stress on the animals and the consumer can accept,” Pate said.
This involves handling animals at different stages of their life. With the cow-calf sector, Pate said producers are a trainer in getting animals where they learn how to work by moving away from pressure. Pate said if these animals aren’t properly trained when they are a calf or when they are weaned, this can create problems when the animal gets in a stocker situation, goes to an auction market or through a big sale. Pate said cattle need to be prepared to go onto the next step, just like how youth are prepared to go onto to college.
“That takes stockmanship and stockmanship to me is a skill,” Pate said. “Skills are learned and practiced and you get better with each time you do something."
Without practicing proper handling, this can cause cattle to become spooked or they can become easily confused. Pate said a docile animal doesn’t get spooked, but rather stops. With all animals, he said the better they work and the better they can think their way out of pressure, the less pressure is needed. When animals aren’t working, Pate said that creates challenges and producers may resort to practices that don’t work for the industry.
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