A “Low-Stress Cattle Handling Workshop” will be hosted Oct. 25 in Canyon by the Veterinary Education, Research and Outreach, or VERO, West Texas A&M University, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Texas Cattle Feeders Association.

Ron Gill, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service beef cattle specialist, College Station, will discuss low-stress cattle handling. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

The free program will be from 9-11 a.m. in the Bain Event Center, located directly behind the Happy State Bank Academic and Research Building, 600 WTAMU Drive. Park in the dirt lot north of the arena.

“Stress decreases an animal’s immune function, making it easier for them to get sick,” said Dee Griffin, D.V.M., VERO program director, Canyon. “Low-stress cattle handling is a critical key to keeping cattle healthy, to decreasing our dependence on antibiotic use and to improving cattle growth performance.”

Ron Gill, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension beef cattle specialist, will conduct the workshop. Gill is a nationally recognized expert in teaching low-stress cattle handling, Griffin said. He is a key instructor in the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Beef Quality Assurance Cattle Care Training program, giving more than a dozen live cattle handling workshops across the U.S. annually.

“This is an opportunity for all FFA/4-H students and cattle folks: cowboys, feedlot workers, ranchers … everyone in the Texas Panhandle region to attend one of his workshops free of charge,” Griffin said.

AgriLife Today