Question: . . . . I moved a little bunch of cows from one pasture to another the other day. I moved em like I think Bud would. I gathered em first then just stay moving across them from behind and steered by moving out wider if the need arose. It went real well moving as it always does when I handle them like I think Bud would. I took them to a 600 acre pasture we had cleared and burned about 40% of before the drought. It got a rain the day after the burn and a start, but nothing for over a year until this past October. I want to graze the 60%of the pasture that was unburned and uncleared that has plenty of grass though it is low quality. I want the cows to graze the low quality forage and leave the burned area alone. I was pressed for time (my mistake) and didn’t settle them when I moved them. I went back friday morning and gathered them and walked them up to a little flat and took the time to settle them, and (more…)

To answer your questions:

First, I want to tell you that it is possible to place livestock in an area and have them stay there. They will even go out for water and return to the area on their own. I have done this with cattle, sheep and reindeer. The key to getting this kind of behavior is in the way you handle and drive the livestock. The video tells you how to do this. Sorry to say there are no shortcuts. You can’t decide to use parts of what I do and still get the results I do.

We worked with a couple of ranches in Texas. One runs cattle and sheep, the other just cattle. They both use a rotational (more…)

To expand on Bud’s statement about placing livestock and have them stay where you want them to without the use of fences:

The traditional way of driving livestock is to get behind them and force or frighten them to move away, hopefully in the direction you want them to go. If they go the wrong way someone goes up along side to make them turn. The person riding up the side tends to slow the animals down which makes the people on the back end have to exert more pressure to keep them going. This push-pull action on the herd is very stressful (more…)

I have been asked to give my opinion about the feasibility of herding livestock in open range conditions. I have been involved in this type of livestock work for a good many years and consider it not only possible, but preferable, under many conditions, to using fences to control the livestock. Following are a few instances which might give you some idea of what I am talking about. (more…)

Here is an excerpt from a letter I received from Zimbabwe, Africa.

“…..Cows calving at a good pace, but my ‘friends,’ the leopard and cheetah are still trying and in some cases causing havoc with the new born calves. Still pursuing with your principals of handling cattle with the emphasis on re-establishing the herd instinct as you did with the sheep at Joe & Dalton’s. The leopard and cheetah very much (more…)

Yes, Allan, you are correct in saying the herder should be able to just go to the herd once a day, start them grazing in the desired direction or move them to a new area and settle them there and then leave. But, probably anyone who is vitally interested in the answer to that question will never be able to herd cattle. If you are going to try to do this on a schedule, you are doomed to failure.

The actual amount of time required is as long as necessary for the herder to learn the skills needed to allow the cattle to feel comfortable in a herd and (more…)

Thanks for sending me Bud’s comments on herding. I am particularly interested in the idea of placing cattle where you want them. The way I understand it, Bud works with the cattle by moving them around and getting them to trust him in so far as not penetrating the flight zone. When he places them in a spot he makes sure that the movement is taken out of the herd. Is the roughly correct? (more…)

I thank you for your help on the phone last week. I appreciate your advice. Although I have been working with a number of riders in many places, I have been having particular success lately with helping two riders keep a herd together and place stock. They have been facing the common problem of having to move off their allotment pastures very quickly because the cattle ate off the riparian areas and left huge expanses of feed unused on the uplands, but the Forest Service makes them move to another grazing unit because they had not been able to control the stock and keep them from impacting the creeks (more…)