The better you handle your animals the more money they’ll earn for your, writes Roelof Bezuidenhout.
You can tell good farmers from bad farmers by the way they herd, handle or transport their animals.
Doing it the wrong way not only leads to losses due to injuries and death but also loss in production and reproduction because of stress. Like humans, animals like to be handled carefully and quietly. They don’t want to be chased, hit and pushed around or crowded into small places. Work nicely with your animals and they will become tame and manageable instead of wild and difficult to handle.
1. One of the most common mistakes is to load too many animals onto a bakkie or truck. That’s not only against the law; it’s extremely unthoughtful and stupid because it is sure to lead to broken bones and bruised meat. You can’t load 30 pigs onto a truck that can comfortably take no more than 10. In any case, overloading damages your vehicle and puts more strain on tyres and fuel consumption.
2. Also, try not to put different types or sizes of animals into the same compartment.
3. Animals must be able to stand up and breathe without trouble when they are being transported. The load area of the vehicle should also have some kind of non-slip material that will prevent them from sliding around in their own excrement.
4. The driver of the vehicle should drive carefully, especially around corners or on inclines and never brake suddenly, since this will cause the load of animals to move forward and squash one another. The driver should stop every few kilometres to check if the load is still okay.
5. The best time to transport stock is early morning or late afternoon, especially in summer. If you have to park somewhere for a while, do so in the shade as animals can easily get heat stressed.
6. There’s a right way and a wrong way for loading the animals as well. If no ramp is available, pick them up carefully by hand. And never toss or shove them so roughly that they lose their footing.
7. The same principles apply when herding animals on foot or horseback or working with them in a kraal. When herding them in the veld or along a road, don’t move too fast, especially if there are lambs or calves or pregnant animals in the herd.
8. If you have to move them over a long distance, start early in the morning and rest and water them along the way if necessary.
9. Again, when working stock in the kraal, never crowd them too tightly or work them too roughly. Learn how to handle individual animals so as not to hurt them or break their legs or horns.
10. And never ever let them stand for hours on end on a hot day without shade and water.
11. When the job is done, make sure they all have a good drink of water before going out to graze again.
12. Also, don’t let animals stand in wet, muddy kraals – they can get all sorts of diseases there, including foot rot.
Follow these tips and see how well your stock start looking after you, too!
 | Roelof Bezuidenhout is a fourth-generation wool, mohair, mutton and game farmer and freelance journalist. Attended Free State University, majoring in animal husbandry and pasture science. Other interests include golf, photography and geology. |
