What to do when your South Poll cattle first arrive
Your herd of South Poll cows are on their way, whether you hired a hauler or brought them to your farm yourself (How to have your cattle delivered). There’s one more thing to consider before finally getting starting in South Poll cattle: what to do when they first arrive to your farm.
It’s best practice to set up a small area that prevents stressed cows and bulls from breaking through fences or jumping them. We personally like using a movable metal corral. It is set up right where trailers can back into. The side panels can swing out and act as a chute from the trailer to the corral.
Know that any breed, even the docile South Poll, will be stressed during hauling, especially if they aren’t used to it. And with that, any breed of cattle are capable of leaving your farm either by way of forcing themselves through fencing or jumping them.
The next best practice is to assure yourself that stressed cattle may not act with their typical cow-minds when they are unloaded for the first time on your farm. The third best practice is to have an idea, a contingency plan, of what you may do if your cows act unexpectedly and try to run away.
Some businesses that specialize in herding cattle may be available in your area to help gather runaways. The majority of run aways tend to coincide with new cattle arriving on farms. Maybe you have a network in your area to stay on the lookout for escapees or a handy farming neighbor may volunteer to help get the runaway cattle too. In any case, be prepared for this scenario so you’re not taken by surprise if it happens!
Luckily, we haven’t had this issue with any South Poll cattle we’ve brought to the farm. They are unloaded into the corral when they first arrive, with water already setup and available to them. Then we leave them alone for awhile and observe them from afar to see if they are calm, stressed, or panicked. If they’re calm, we let them into the pasture with only a poly-wire for internal paddocks. If they’re stressed, we may follow Temple Grandin’s advice and allow them at least 10-minutes to adjust to their new environment. If they’re panicked? We leave them in there until they all calm. This may include placing hay in the corral to keep them fed, basic salt and/or minerals, and ample water which we may add a bit of organic apple cider vinegar or organic molasses.
To summarize, these are a few best practices to enact so you can best handle your South Poll herd once they arrive to your farm:
1. Set up a small area to back the hauling trailer to such as a corral
2. Know typical cow-mind may not be working due to stress of hauling
3. Have a backup plan
4. Give them time to adjust to this offload area
a. Have water already available
b. Have hay ready to be placed in the corral if needed
c. Have minerals ready to be available or ACV and molasses for water additives
We hope this helps give you assurance on how to handle your South Poll cattle when they first arrive to your farm and what to do.