Valuable insight into the behaviour of cattle and how to use their instincts to your advantage were the focal points of the low stress stockhandling (LSS) school led by trainer, agricultural scientist and “cattle whisperer” Tim McGrath at Quincan Springs, Malanda over the weekend.
A dozen students attended the school to learn the LSS techniques from Tim to better manage their cattle on-property while removing stress for their animals as well as themselves.
“The LSS practice involves working with livestock’s natural instincts and harnessing that to get them to do what you want,” Tim said.
“It’s about reading the animal, using body language to send the cattle where you want them to be,” he said.
The benefits of having happy and relaxed cattle on your property also extend to your bottom line with some producers transforming a 30 kilogram weight loss in the month following weaning calves into a 15kg weight gain by using the LSS principles.
Queensland grazier and LSS founder Jim Lindsay started conducting low stress stockhandling school’s in the early nineties after he was inspired by the legendary American stockhandling pioneer the late Bud Williams when he visited Australia.
About 12 years ago Jim realised that the job was getting to big for one person so he selected six beef industry professionals to help develop and refine the LSS program; Tim was one of these promising people.
Tim’s passion and enthusiasm for LSS is driven by the empowerment that comes with showing people an easier, enjoyable and more profitable way of handling livestock.
“I’d estimate 5000 people across Australia have attended LSS school’s, and just about all of them have come away very impressed and enthusiastic about applying their learning's at home.
Desiree Irwin, Valley View, Cooktown attended the school with father Peter and had a brilliant experience.
“My parents already practice the LSS technique on-property so it was fantastic to attend the program and learn it myself,” Desiree said.
“The best way to learn things is to do them yourself, and we all had a chance to demonstrate the thorough knowledge Tim imparted to us in a well controlled environment in a practical hands-on manner,” she said.