How can people minimize distractions to keep cattle calm?
Grandin: People need to look for all the little distractions in their handling facilities that make cattle block and stop. If you’ve got a coat hung on a fence, if there’s a hose lying on the ground or a chain hanging down in the chute — you’ve got to look around for all those things and remove them. I don’t know how many chutes I’ve gone to, especially some of the metal prefab ones, where they leave a chain hanging down right at the entrance to the single-file chute, and then they wonder why the cattle won’t go in. They see the chains flipping there, and instead of removing the chain, they’re back there yelling and screaming and using the Hot Shot. You’ve got to take out of the facilities little things that move, little things that are high contrast. You might have a car parked next to it — things like that. Get down in your chutes and see what your cattle are seeing. If they can see tractors driving by or something like that, that’s going to interfere with your handling. High pitched
