A Guide to Low Stress Animal Handling
by Burt Smith

Taken from Back Cover:
"The Livestock Conservation Institute has estimated that the U.S. cattle industry loses over 520 million dollars annually to stress related illnesses, primarily shipping fever and bruising. Handling and transportation are two major contributing factors to this mostly preventable loss. These numbers have remained relatively constant over the past 20 years. Yet the 1993 Strategic Alliance Field Study showed that bruising can be significantly reduced by simply changing how animals are handled...

"...There is a dawning realization that the costly flood of pharmaceuticals that are pumped into livestock to ward off stress related effects is simply treating the results of the problem and not the cause. A stressed animal is an animal whose immune system is malfunctioning; such animals are highly susceptible to disease. Improper handling creates stress - proper handling reduces stress. This book presents a sound basis for working stock with a minimum of stress. Dairy operators, producers who sell on a weight basis, those who retain ownership through slaughter, and all who care about increased profits and the humane treatment of their grazing stock will find this book invaluable."

Contents:

• Acknowledgments and about the author
• Foreword -Temple Grandin
• Preface
• It's a pleasure -Randy Rieman
• Why Stockmanship?
• A Brief History of Herding
• Animal Basics
• Perception and Senses
• Social Considerations
• Stress
• Elements of Herding
• Herding the Individual
• Working a Herd
• The Final Frontier
• Training One to Many
• Practice Sessions
• Appendices
  • Effect of Object Size on Avoidance Zone of Cattle
  • Definition of Flight Zone
  • Initiation of Motion: the Individual Animal