I’m not going to pretend to know who Curt Pate is, aside from what his website says. The Woods said I should really go to the clinic, and audit it, so I did. Best $20 I could spend anywhere.
I was very impressed with his lecture and just his style. Everyone, from been-there-done-that cowdog trialers to Cal Poly animal science kids (oh man, throwback to 15 years ago fro me) felt comfortable with him, asked him questions, and he was just generally a supportive, congenial, and good sport. He had a balanced perspective on things and really did demonstrate really beautiful low-stress stock handling (or as he called it, “Smooth Stockmanship”).
In the first couple hours of his clinic, he lectured, and I got about ten pages of notes that I’ll get down, but I did something a little different this time because I had the ability to do so as an auditor: I took photo essays of a couple things he was trying to get people to understand.
So, away we go.
#1: How you REALLY move a herd
Generally, if you see people go out to get herd animals, whether you are talking about in a field or out of a pen, the way I have been taught (and seen it done) is to get the influencer (guy on a quad or horse or a dog) to go out, around the stock and way from their sphere of influence, and then come in from the top. Curt had other plans and demonstrated this.
Basically, it involves turning some heads by getting around them, and then just letting the rest do the work. Movement begets movement. Once a cow is turned, the other cow will see him or her wander and start to follow. You don’t get all the way in the back where you can’t turn the lead head’s cow, you get where you need to. And here’s a photo essay illustrating that.
He not only gets the cattle moving, but he’s able, at the end, to create a little draw by sending a couple behind the complicated panel setup and bend them into a chute without any support. Pretty impressive if you ask me.
#2: Working cattle like you are a dog
This part was interesting to me. Curt has a theory that today’s society makes us line up all the time so we think going straight’s a good idea but it’s not. Dogs wear because they’re catching the eye and pushing the cow, but a lot of times the human doesn’t do that and isn’t effective. So, whether you’re on horseback or whether you’re on foot, being aware of the power of wearing (and how the cow reacts to your position) can get a lot out of them.
You can see him bending the cattle using eye the way a dog instinctually does. The horse moves laterally instead of just directly at it.
Notes to come. I just thought these two aspects of stockmanship were pretty cool and wouldn’t have come naturally to me. Though I do have to admit I’ve seen the herd gather style work really well with my ducks in the take pen. They don’t want my dogs to come at them and then stop at the top. They will move right on out if the dog is just far enough to tip the lead duck and keep moving. It’s not “trial pretty” but it’s effective.
More to come!
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