Livestock Training Philosophy
Leadership, Relationship, Partnership
Leadership
Leadership: You must be the leader. If you don’t lead, they will lead themselves. Think of a few leadership qualities that are important: leaders listen, communicate, provide direction, motivate, serve, and meet the needs of the team. Without leadership no one is in charge.
What can I do to get livestock to feel safe and trust me? Do I act like a predator or do I take action to earn and build trust. My actions, verbal and non-verbal, determine if the animal will trust me. Remember, animals won’t follow someone they don’t trust.
Being a leader means that you influence by providing purpose, direction, and motivation. Leaders must pay attention and listen. It can be difficult since animals can’t audibly talk, but their body is speaking loud and clear. Understanding livestock body language is key to successfully building leadership. A lot of the time it takes respect, patience, kindness, and encouragement.
Relationship
Relationship: Leadership is relationship. Understating an animal’s flight zone is critical. Where you stand, how you stand and your movements influence behavior and increase or decrease trust. If you are aggressive, assertive, or fearful yourself, you can’t build relationships. You must communicate using body position and body language.
Partnership
Partnership: When we have equipped the animal for success, now we can work together in partnership. Effective leadership is not based on being clever; it is based primarily on being consistent. If we don’t have a partnership with the livestock, we are handling, we will be unsuccessful. You can’t make livestock do something they don’t want to do, we have to build trust, so they want to do what we ask.
Transportation Safety, Hauling and Loading Livestock
July 11-12, 2023
Des Moines, IA
Free Training- A donation to Animal Rescue League of Iowa is appreciated.