Cattle may seem calm and peaceful when you look at them from a distance. However, handling them is a whole lot different than just observing. Even experienced ranchers find it challenging to handle cattle properly and efficiently.

They are sensitive animals and get easily scared, making it difficult to transfer them from one place to another. They don’t also obey commands immediately so you’ll need efficient techniques to make them easier to control. If you have a cattle farm, you’ll need some essential tools to make cattle handling efficient and easier. Here are the important tools you need to have in your cattle farm.

Stock Prods

Stock prods, also known as hot stick or cattle prods is a really useful tool in moving cattle from one place to another. It typically looks like a long stick which is used by the rancher to poke or strike the animal making them go to the desired direction. Electric prods are more effective than the traditional prods.

When pressed on the cow’s body, the prod sends an electric shock making the animal turn away from that direction and guiding them to the right way to go. Although it causes pain to the animal, the electric shock is not that strong that could cause damage or injury to the cattle. Be sure to use the device properly for the safety of your cattle and more efficiency in handling them.

Flags

Some ranchers don’t prefer the use of stock prods because of the pain it causes to the animal. If you’re one of those, you could opt for flags instead. These colourful flags are used as barriers to help guide your cattle to where they should go – whether it is going in or out of the barn or even trucks. You could also easily catch a cow’s attention and make it turn to the right direction with the use of a colourful flag on a stick.

Rattle Paddles

There are times when you need to sort your cattle. To do this easily, you can use sorting poles and rattle paddles. A rattle paddle can be used to catch the attention of cattle and control the direction of where they are going. Sorting poles also work similarly without the paddle on the end of the stick unlike a rattle paddle. Keep in mind that gentler cattle are easier to handle with these tools. However, it is a lot challenging when handling more aggressive cattle.

Aside from those tools, there are also some techniques that will help you deal with these animals easily. Be sure that there are less noise and shadows around when you move them to keep them calm and easy to handle.

Give them enough space to move around so they feel less pressured. Patience is important when handling cattle and be sure to keep them calm and much as possible so they will obey and follow directions easily. You could definitely do more things and save time and energy when you could handle your cattle efficiently.