Training Tips From Cow Students


Here are just a few pointers for taking advantage of cow social behavior to make the training process easier.	You don't have to train a whole herd, just a few representatives. Cows can train offspring and herdmates.	For example 8 trained heifers trained 20 cow calf pairs to eat Canada thistle in a large pasture. In Marin 12 trainees educated 120 more to eat Italian thistle.	The 12 "apostles" also trained all of Kevin Lunny's cows and now he says he's running out of the thistle.

When you're training, encourage competition by limiting the number of feed tubs or feeding space.	When cows compete, you win because they believe they'd better eat whatever is available before someone else gets all the good stuff.	It's the same in training pastures. Small pastures keep cows close together so they see what herd mates are doing.	You can bet that if my herd mate eats it, I'm going to be sure I get my share of it too!