Safe livestock handling

If asked to list the most dangerous jobs on a farm or ranch, many people would name those involving heavy equipment. But a significant number of injuries or deaths occur on farms because of mishandled livestock.

Livestock handling involves a multitude of different activities, including feeding, milking, branding, herding stock from place to place, shearing, and loading animals on trucks or trailers. And then there’s medical care, including artificial insemination, vaccination, dehorning, ear tagging, and assisting with delivery of newborns. Each of these activities has its own challenges, but all of them require caution and consideration.

According to one meta-analysis of injuries on farms or ranches in Colorado, between 12 and 33 percent of farm or ranch injuries were ascribable to livestock. A 2023 study of 97 injuries said over 70 percent of the injuries caused by improper cattle handling could have been prevented, and that in all but one of the injuries, handler behavior was a factor.

It’s in their nature

Primary in avoiding injury during livestock-handling is an understanding of the animals’ behavior. Ages before humans domesticated them, most livestock would have been prey animals, gathering in herds and flocks for mutual protection, fleeing whenever threatened, and attacking when cornered. An encounter with a massive panicked or defensive animal, such as a bull or draft horse, can be deadly. However, if the animals’ flight impulses or defensive aggression are placed under tight control through informed handling, carefully designed facilities, and training, this danger can be mitigated.

Expect the unexpected

Animal behavior can be unpredictable, but knowing and avoiding situations likely to provoke a panicked response is a good way to stave off trouble. Since personalities vary from animal to animal and species to species, there’s no one set of procedures that will guarantee safety with all livestock. Also, there can be wide disparity in the sensory experience of the various species. For example, cattle have nearly 360-degree vision and so can be startled even by movements occurring behind them. There are also important differences in animals’ hearing that make them sensitive to sounds that may be inaudible to human beings.

Most livestock-related injuries occur when the animals are trying to get away from something frightening or unpleasant — a horse shying from a snake on a narrow trail, for instance, or a cow bolting to avoid having her hooves trimmed — and workers end up getting bitten, gored, kicked, thrown, stepped on, pushed or trampled. It makes sense to start by assuming the animal in question is going to be wary and easily provoked and to come up with strategies for dealing with its fear or aggression before it manifests in dangerous behavior.

Some of these tendencies can be controlled through training the animal — “bombproofing” a horse through repeated exposure to an otherwise frightening stimulus is one example. It’s worth saying though, that if it’s not done right, the attempt to desensitize an animal through habituation can end up making things worse. This is a task for trained professionals.

Another way of dealing with an animal’s tendency to shy, bolt, or attack is through control of their environment. Most often, this means designing containment facilities that limit the animal’s movement, thus depriving them of the room to injure themselves or their handlers.

To control animal behavior, monitor your own

Training is key to mitigating livestock handling hazards. Studies have shown that handlers’ behavior is the single most important factor in safely moving or monitoring animals, crucial in maintaining animal welfare and efficient production, and in protecting workers’ well-being. Operations where there are large numbers of dangerous animals — feedlots or concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), for instance — should have clear guidelines for worker behavior.

Where proximity to dangerous animals can’t be avoided, injuries can also be reduced through changes in the facilities — better-designed facilities, better restraint systems, or by simply controlling worker and animal access to the confined spaces where injuries most often occur.

It’s also important that first-aid supplies are easily accessible, and your workers know how to render treatment. Emergency procedures and first-responder phone numbers should be prominently posted in barns and outbuildings.

Sources: Feedlot Magazine; Safety Science Magazine; thesprucepets.com; sciencedirect.com

The information included here was obtained from sources believed to be reliable, however Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company, SI, and its employees make no guarantee of results and assume no liability in connection with any training, materials, suggestions, or information provided. It is the user’s responsibility to confirm compliance with any applicable local, state, or federal regulations. Information obtained from or via Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company, SI, should not be used as the basis for legal advice and should be confirmed with alternative sources.

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