Human instincts, however, can present a major obstacle by contributing to a lack of control and the conflicts, anger and frustration that commonly accompany plans gone awry. Dylan Biggs, a lifelong Alberta rancher and clinician who has worked in the industry conducting livestock handling clinics across Canada and the U.S. over the past 20 years, makes it clear that learning new skills and controlling human emotions are two crucial aspects of efficient herd management.

In a world where many are faced with an urgency to achieve maximum efficiency, hustle is the name of the game. “The reality is that once we have control of our cattle, (through slow and steady techniques) we can achieve maximum results with the least amount of time and energy,” says Biggs. “We may feel like we are getting a lot done in a big hurry when we’re running and chasing and everything is moving fast, but the reality is that training cattle so that you have control (is highly) efficient.” When you don’t have to repair fences or stop to fix simple mistakes made in a hurry, it is more cost effective and time efficient in the long run.

Biggs and his wife Colleen and family operate the three-generation TK Ranch near Hanna, in eastern Alberta. The 10,000-acre ranch, which has received animal welfare certification, was established more than 50 years ago by Dylan’s father Thomas Biggs.

Better way to do things

Biggs believes there is a better way of handling cattle than the all-too-common story of frustration and angry outbursts. As an individual who has experienced and lived this story, Biggs says when producers gain low-stress handling skills, there is less of a need to get so frustrated and upset if or when livestock get out of control.

“I’ve been thinking about this for 25 years and I think that most of it boils down to a lack of confidence,” says Biggs. “When we feel insecure, we need to find someone to blame for our feeling a lack of control.” Such a thought pattern increases the likelihood of conflicts and creates a situation where, “The cattle are already upset and freaked out, so believing that things are going to get out of control often becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy and the situation erodes into a downward spiral.

“At my clinics I often ask, ‘Who gets yelled at? Who does the yelling’ and everybody’s hands go up. Everybody can relate. If you make it into a joke, everyone laughs, but beneath the humour, everyone knows it’s no laughing matter.”

When producers start to lose control of their cattle, it is much easier to lose control of emotions. Learning to control livestock, “solely through our movements, proximity and position” pays off, says Biggs. “Handling cattle isn’t about waving our arms, yelling or chasing. Those are all things we resort to when we run out of knowledge or options and when we have exhausted our repertoire of tools.”

Need patience

Having patience can go a long way toward changing the experience of handling cattle for all involved. “Once people get worked up and cattle are worked up, human nature makes it extremely difficult to step back, take the pressure off and let everyone relax, but that is the biggest thing,” says Biggs. “We have to learn to take the pressure off when things are going poorly. It is critical we learn the proper position when working around cattle and understand their movements.

“Typically we have a tendency to spend way too much time in an offensive position, pushing cattle and not nearly enough time being defensive. Often, when we get closer to our target, we get insecure about losing the cows and try to hedge our bets by pushing too hard. The increase in pressure makes cattle nervous and they start to pressure back on us and we want to push more. Not many of us are naturally inclined to step back, take the pressure off and let the cows think about it a little bit.”

Every time you work with your herd, you are training your animals and setting the tone for how handling will go in the future. Biggs says keeping your cool maximizes the benefits of low-stress handling.

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Moving from Carrot River, Saskatchewan to B.C.’s Peace Country in 1986, Brittany’s parents Walter and Dolores Enns started Creek Bank Farms and have grown their business into a diverse farming operation that encompasses grains, oilseeds, pulses, turf grass seed, forage seed, silage and hay as well as a herd of bison.

Today, Creek Bank Farms is a family-run operation that consists of Walter and Dolores, Charissa (and her daughter Maddie), Brittany and twins, Jeffrey and Bailey as well as one full-time employee and seasonal workers. In 2010, Brittany Enns started her own herd of beef cattle (together with her sister, Bailey). Enns felt the need to have something of her own. She says, “I really do love working with cattle and I saw an opportunity to start a herd.” The family has since scaled back the bison herd and it appears as if the cattle may begin to play a larger part in the future.

Enns says her favourite part of being involved in agriculture is the diversity she can experience on a daily basis. After receiving her agricultural business diploma from Olds College in 2009, Enns returned to the family farm and became more involved than ever.

She says, “While going through college, my plan was to continue with buffalo. I believe there are major opportunities in the bison industry, even more so than beef. I am still very involved with the buffalo, but the beef are easier for me to handle and manage. There is less risk [with cattle], but also less opportunity for market development.” Enns has also become very involved in all aspects of the family farm: GPS programming, operating the drill during seeding, running harvesting equipment and everything in between.

Starting the herd

Enns started her herd by choosing the best heifers from two local producers and has grown the herd (together with Bailey and their mom, Dolores) to approximately 100 head of young, quality commercial cattle.

The herd mainly consists of Black Angus cows that are crossed with black Simmental bulls to get a little extra growth without sacrificing efficiency. On heifers, they use Angus bulls for calving ease.

Last year, Enns used artificial insemination (A.I.) to breed a handful of their best cows, performing this task herself after a brief refresher from a local producer. Enns says, “I believe A.I. is a fantastic, economical way of improving a cowherd. Besides not having the risk of a bull going lame during breeding season and the cost of feed, it provides access to genetics that I otherwise could only dream of owning. Synchronizing can also help shorten a calving season to a few weeks, rather than a month and a half.” In the future, Enns plans to A.I. most, if not all of her herd.

Farm life can get busy, especially in spring when both the bison and cattle are calving and seeding is happening. Bison are unlikely to have problems calving, but cattle can be a different story. Bailey (who finished high school in 2014) is largely responsible for the cows during calving as Brittany Enns and Jeff operate the drill, so one of the main focuses in developing the herd is, “maintaining trouble-free calving. This means calves need to be born on their own, get up and suck without any help. Calving ease, especially in heifers, good udders and longevity are all essential.”

After the calves are weaned, they are typically backgrounded before being sold sometime around February or March, depending on market trends. Typically, feed is stockpiled in order to keep options open. By having excess feed on hand, Enns is able to hold her animals back if the market is suddenly lower than expected, or sell earlier if an opportunity arises.

Calves are fed a ration of silage, grain and dry hay until they are sold, which gives an opportunity to find the most efficient animals. Enns firmly believes in the value of keeping accurate records in order to determine feed efficiency and average daily gains in their livestock. Enns says, “In the end, more pounds means extra money in the bank, so the more feed efficient an animal is, the better. With record high cattle prices, I believe one of the main focuses on a lot of farms will be to have more pounds to sell when it comes time to market, so feed conversions and efficiency is a major factor we consider when selecting breeding stock in both the bison and cattle.”

Enns raises a handful of her best bull calves to market to local producers, but in the future, she plans to begin raising purebred black Simmental cattle and has considered embryo transplant as a means of herd improvement. She says, “This would allow me to begin with the best available genetics and build my purebred herd from there. One issue with this is how far away from a major market I am.”

Owning and finishing bison has taught Enns a number of lessons. She says, “Cattle and buffalo are stressed in the same ways. With beef, it’s just not as noticeable. For example, when feeding buffalo in the feedlot, we would move and divide a group into two separate pens and just the stress of sorting and moving into a new pen caused them to cut back on feed to half their normal ration for a week. Experiences like this have shown me how much stress actually affects profits. Every time animals are stressed, you are losing money, whether that stress causes them to back off feed, not gain as well or get sick.”

From her father, Enns has learned to keep her options open and consider everything with an open mind. She is not shy about “talking to other producers about their management practices or doing research and some experimenting to find out what works for our operation.” Seeking to understand, learn and improve is a way of life for Enns, a value she is not likely to abandon in the future.

Author’s note: Although I write under the pen name Stephanie Grace, I am in fact the Charissa Enns mentioned in this article, sister to Brittany Enns.

The post Young Peace farmer has farming in her blood appeared first on Grainews.

One Peace Country farmer said his management practices were copied from a fellow producer who has a great deal of experience raising wild game such as bison, elk and deer. He said his method is to, “Put up fences immediately after each bag is full to provide the best training before the cold and snow reduces the effectiveness of electric fencers.”

Wildlife are much more easily trained to avoid fences when alternative feed sources are readily available during the time between the end of harvest and the beginning of winter. Keeping any holes patched and spills cleaned up also helps to avoid attracting animals to bags. The fences he uses consist of a single fence with three strands of electric wire (powered by a high-voltage, solar fencer) placed about a foot away from the bag. These temporary fences are fast and easy to build and successfully train deer and bears to avoid fences when they try to reach through. Deer will not jump these relatively short fences (approximately four to five feet), as they would land on the bag.

Other crop-saving suggestions

Electric fences work well for deer and bears, but farmers say these measures are less effective for elk and obviously don’t work at all for ravens. Bird-scare cannons seem to be an effective means to deter herds of elk, but ravens require a different approach. Rumour has it that a practical alternative to reduce raven damage is to hang a dead one from the surrounding fence or cover the tops of bags with net wrap.

For those who need to store grain for longer periods of time, an effective and largely maintenance-free option is using bale fences to surround areas. Bale fences have the added advantage of deterring ravens, possibly because they cannot view approaching predators, but it is still advisable to check these fences periodically as deer seem to be especially notorious for squeezing through tight spaces to access feed as winter drags on. One drawback to this method is the mice that bales attract, especially if bags are left in the field until spring, the damage may be difficult to detect.

One final note that a Peace Country producer shared is that, “Bags are most likely to be damaged at the ends, so contrary to the bagger manufacturer’s directions, placing the middle of the bag at the crown of a hill reduces the risk of water running in and along the entire bag.” Grain bags are a great way to store grain without needing to build costly bins, but just like bin storage, bags do present some unique challenges. If you have to store grain in bags, start training early to keep wildlife out before their regular feed sources become scarce.

Stephanie Grace is a writer and student from B.C.’s Peace River country. For more from Stephanie or to contact her, please visit her website at stephaniegrace.org.

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