White Gloves and Party Manners
This morning while watching our young herd of first-time mamas, yearlings and babies moving into their new pasture, I found myself remembering a book that my mother gave my daughter. It was called White Gloves and Party Manners and was about being mannerly in all you do. Now, you say, whatever was the connection?
Everyday we move our girls from the small pasture they grazed yesterday to a new one full of fresh lush grass. Even in November we have managed to keep verdant pastures. That’s due to a trick called mob grazing that we’ve written about elsewhere. Now, I want to tell you how these young ladies and one two week old gentleman behaved. They had been off getting water in an adjacent paddock and watched us as we opened up the new area. They stood behind a closed gate and mooed appreciatively at our work. They knew what was coming. And they were ready and eager for the new grass to munch upon.
The gate opened inward so they had to back up to move around the gate and ME! They did this in an orderly fashion with no pushing or shoving and gradually made their way up the alley way to the new eats. We watched their progress. Again there was no shoving and not even any high jinks. They fell in line behind the leader, one of the older females and marched single file to the new grazing area where once there fell to! They each found an open spot and began their daily munching. Their good behavior reminded me of the book and its stress on good manners and orderliness. That was something considered important in the old days. Maybe it is still there somewhere.
You may wonder why I find this so great in a herd of cows. Well….it helps! We can move our cows easily from one place to another. We can load them into the trailer when that is needed. They feel safe. We feel safer….we are safer! The animals are not stressed out and neither are we. When the time comes to part with them, they will go without panic.
Yesterday we saw another benefit. We had prospective buyers here and we went around to our various pastures where we keep our separate groupings. Not one animal turned heel to run away. Some even came up to have their noses patted and to lick a friendly hand. Our guests were impressed with their friendliness. Yes, they are not only docile, they are friendly! They make eye contact and are known to moo their hellos and good-byes.
Again you may say that is all very fine and well but what useful purpose does mannerliness have for a cow or for its eventual end user? It has been proven scientifically that a calm non-stressed cow actually provides better meat. Wild and unruly cows that become stressed undergo a chemical change that causes their meat ot toughen up. They’re called “dark-cutters” in the trade. That’s why most up-to-date abattoirs stress their good animal handling. They know the value of keeping costs down and profits up.
And for us producers, what could be better than having animals that are calm 24-7? And so, you see, that is where the white gloves and party manners fit into the picture.