When taking into account the effects of stress on human health, it is not hard to comprehend that stress affects animals similarly.

I was told as a kid never to pray for patience, because if you get it, you will surely have opportunity to use it.

Well, there you are. Old Paint’s lathered up; your rope is all kinked and has about 15 pounds of mud on it, and it feels like you’re trying to throw a grenade instead of the light nylon twine you had about 30 minutes ago.

Have you ever thought about when it happened? Not many of us really know an exact date or even an exact year, but those of us who are starting to get a little gray or a little thin on top know that at one point we made the rite of passage from cow-boy to cow-man.

Have you ever noticed how people tend to be captivated by the latest guru in their field – only to leave that guru behind for the next “big thing” that comes the following year? Or how some become so fiercely loyal to a mentor they feel everyone else’s thoughts or ideas must be bad simply because their mentor didn’t think of it?

Stockmanship and animal welfare go hand in hand, and the cattle industry takes both very seriously. “Stockmanship” isn’t found in the Webster dictionary; however, an applicable definition for stockmanship reads, “Stockmanship is the art and science of handling cattle properly.”

Are we just punching holes in the hide?

The mind of a cow and the human male In order to understand a key element of cattle handling, we must first explore the concept of the male human’s brain and the “nothing box.”

For cattle ranchers, ensuring livestock have the nutrients they need is a crucial factor in maintaining herd health and ranch profitability. Optimum health and immunity of your beef herd depends on adequate nutrition.