This document discusses stress-free and self-herding techniques for managing livestock. It introduces the concept of using attractants and cues to guide animal behavior in beneficial ways, such as allowing them to freely explore new areas and food sources. Examples are given of how these methods have been used to relocate cattle to unburned lands, manage migrations across large properties, and increase the uptake of carbon from the atmosphere, helping to stabilize the global climate. The document encourages adopting these more positive approaches to handling animals in order to improve outcomes for both animal welfare and land management.
2. A change for the better
Let’s take a walk on the mild side...... and get to some gold
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3. Animals Can Change
• They can:
Change what they eat
Change where they go
Change how long they do it
We can be an active part of that.
We can change them to help the ecology and us.
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4. Some guidance from the
leading
Animal Behaviouralist of our
time
• Gary Larsen of course!
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5. Labels for me….
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Husband, Father, 4th Generation Family Farmer
Cell grazer, holistic manager, No Kill Cropper, tree grower,
shrub grower, Alley cropper, Carbon Farmer, Stress Free
Stockmanship instructor, Self Herding instructor and farming
systems analyst.
6. Where we live
• Our farm called “Willydah”-
3700acres in central New
South Wales.
• We grow Sheep, cattle,
shrubs and trees.
• We have reinstated the
ecological functions on our
farm.
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7. We practice what we preach…
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• We have rebuilt the 3
landscape layers and
planted in patterns
inspired by Permaculture.
8. A Comparison of animal handling skills
• You Americans are very good!!
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9. You are a bunch of predators!
• Humans can’t
stop being
humans- your
predatorial
instincts are
born into you!
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10. Animals will go into difficult places- willingly
• As long as you
actively de-stress
them
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11. We can let animals eat weeds
• LET- not get or make them eat weeds!
• If you make them eat something they may reject it forever.
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12. Weed Eating
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• You can expand their
dietary choices.
• BUT we must do it by
choice not by force.
13. Examples of Livestock eating problem plants
• Cattle and sheep eating tussocks and thistles.
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14. How did we let the animals become weed eaters?
• Active De-stressing, getting them to the point where they
had little anxiety then allowed them to experiment in
company with many others with a new food.
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16. We can let them Self Herd- Rangeland Self Herding
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• This is being pioneered in Western Australia on large Cattle
and Sheep Stations- 350,000 acres to 2.3 million acres.
• We are doing this with Behavioural principles.
17. 7 RSH principles
Human-animal interactions – shape outcomes
Internal feedback – sets behaviours
Experience – reinforces behaviours
Diet diversity – animals seek it
Adaptability – required for change
Individuals and groups – influence each other
Broad consequences – everything is connected
18. RSH Elements
• Using new
approaches
and some
new parts we
achieve
results that
magnify the
elements.
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Approaches Methods Cues Ingredients
Jigsaw Circuits Atttractant Hopping Attractant
Coathanger
Salt
Rangeland Rotations Attractant
Leapfrogging
Attractant
Clothesline
Bruce’s Brew
Skimmer Boxes Whistle Mineral licks
Guidance Fences Attractant troughs Loose LIck
Jackpots Mobile lick feeders Lick blocks
Super Jackpots Louvre Fences Lime/Gypsum
Spreader Fences Molasses
Teaser Triangles Grains
Pellets
Chaff, hay
21. We can achieve a huge number of formerly
impossible things……
• Relocation retentions (letting animals stay in a new place)
• Managed migrations (moving groups of animals across the landscape)
• Diversions (directing animals away from sensitive areas)
• Adaptations (ensuring animals adapt quickly to new surroundings)
• Discovery (finding the presence of animals in the landscape-ie predators)
• Rehabilitation (concentrating or dispersing animal impact for change of state)
• Woody plant encroachments (allowing animals to increase consumption)
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22. New water point
Aimed to retain cattle in this
area of unburnt country
Cattle collected from various
parts of the property and
relocated to new water point
An example of relocating and retaining cattle in
an unburnt area after a large fire
36. Global Grasslands can shape the globe
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36
“It set a new record for a land-based carbon sink since high-resolution
records began in 1958, in a remarkable example of ecosystems working
to stabilise the Earth’s climate.
And that had a global impact. While atmospheric carbon dioxide still rose
in 2011, it grew at a much lower rate – nearly 20% lower – than the
average growth over the previous decade.
Almost 60% of the higher than normal carbon uptake that year, or 840m
tonnes, happened in Australia. That was due to a combination of factors,
including geography and a run of very dry years, followed by record-
breaking rains in 2010-11.”
- Nature Journal, May 2014
What we do with our animals affects the
storage and emissions of the whole world.
37. The big ideas
• By changing your animals
behaviour you expand their range
of area and diet.
• That changes their epigenetics
which allows them to further
expand their options and learn
from mum and their peers.
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38. The Big Ideas
• We can further cue them to explore
even more widely.
• This increases their adaptability and
lessens their impact across the
environment. This changes the whole
globe.
• You guide all of these by changing our
human behaviour.
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39. As you go…
Enjoy PV2 and behave yourselves!!
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That’s Gold!!
See:
“regenerativefarming” channel on Youtube
Read:
stressfreestockmanship.com
nokillcropping.com
selfherding.com
thelazyfarmer.com
Ask:
I’ll be at the pavilion at 1pm each day
40. Bruce’s Brew
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• The cheapest mineral
supplement in the world!
• You are only allowed to use
it if you call it Bruce’s Brew!!