Attitude is generally defined as: “a settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in a person’s behavior.” The attitude a person has toward animals and people around them will really set the tone for a how a group of animals is going to respond to the principles we talked about.
As I’ve said before, I’ve seen a lot of men, cattle, and horses get hurt from poor animal handling in even poorer handling facilities. I guess that has made me a little bit of a stickler on having the right tools and using them properly when it comes to handling cattle, even if they are pretty good natured – the cattle that is.
I’ve seen very few remedies for cattle handlers that are wild, rough, or downright mean except to cut them their pay and send them on their way. I think it was Temple Grandin that suggested that only about 20 percent of the population really has the temperament to work with livestock. I’d say that’s about right from what I have seen. Of the other 80 percent, I think about half of them can be trained to be mediocre livestock handlers and the other half shouldn’t be anywhere near livestock.
I worked for a guy one time that told a group of his cowboys during a round up, “your attitude might hurt her a little bit, but her attitude might get you killed…so be nice.” Although I’m sure he meant it in jest, for whatever reason that always stuck with me.
Probably because if you are in the thing long enough, you see a couple different types of folks in terms of their attitude when working with animals: the first type seems to view animals as objects rather than living, breathing, thinking creatures.
Furthermore, their internal view seems to be that the object (animal) is to be manipulated at their every command and then they are plum surprised (and usually angered) when the animal doesn’t do exactly what is expected. This usually leads to an immediate transformation in demeanor from that of a good-natured, or at least tolerable gentleman, into a maniac, slashing and stabbing with a sorting stick like an English knight in a sword fight at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. That’s usually accompanied by an outburst of cussing and carrying-on that would make Satan himself blush…and that attitude and ignorance is contagious to other people and to the cattle.
These folks aren’t the worst type either, but they just simply do not have the right attitude or frame of mind to work with an animal in the proper fashion, either because they don’t know the right way or someone has personally shown them the wrong way…if you catch my drift.
I don’t think they necessarily want to act that way, but that type of behavior is a cycle and they just don’t know how to break out of that cycle. Usually these folks can receive and are open to receiving an attitude adjustment through training and education and a lot of practice…and that attitude also is contagious.
The other group simply is scared of cattle, plain and simple. Anyone who has been around cattle at all has probably figured out that one of the most dangerous attitudes to have when working with livestock, especially livestock that are substantially larger than you, is fear.
Fear is contagious and having an attitude of fear is doubly contagious. It makes cattle, horses and men skitterish because they all sense something is up, but only one knows for sure.
The good thing is that you can easily teach someone who is just naturally a little scared of cows or horses, or whatever, how to deal with that fear when they are in the presence of the afore mentioned. You probably can’t completely cure somebody of the fear because it is just who they are, but you can give them the tools to effectively deal with it…and that attitude also is contagious.
In my view, a person’s attitude is the most critical tool in the animal handling tool box because of its effect on almost everything around that person. Attitudes are contagious, good or bad, and people that handle animals need to be aware of that.
For many it may seem silly, but there are a good majority of people that routinely handle animals that must really work to mentally and emotionally put their mind in the right place before they go to working cattle or horses or other livestock.
The work they put into mentally preparing themselves before going to work pays big dividends in the end for them and the animals because the work happens more quickly, efficiently, and safely.
Source: Eric Mousel, University of Minnesota Beef Team