. . . was the title of a “Quicktake” in the November 2006 issue of The Progressive Farmer magazine which briefly described farmers in Tennessee who use Bud Williams’ stockmanship techniques to remove stress from their stockers.

The word is slowly, but surely, getting out!

About two weeks ago I was driving back to the office from a landowner visit and decided to drive by another landowner’s place who I have worked with on several occasions. He was standing out by the corral looking at several calves, so I decided to stop and visit. As he approched me I could see that he was not happy, and I asked what was up. He said he had just weaned these calves and that they were all sick. So, we visited a while and I said, “looks to me like they need some driving.” He didn’t think that would help much, but said to help myself and do whatever I felt the calves needed. I got in the pen with the calves and walked them for maybe 10 -12 minutes, and they all started eating grain and hay so I walked out and left them.

I called him the next morning, and he said the calves all looked much better this morning and he would take them out to pasture later that day.

He called me yesterday and said he could not believe what a difference I had made in the short time I had spent with them. He went on to say that the calves all drove so easily and just handled great. All the calves were doing very well now and had gotten over any sickness shortly after I drove them.

Adele Buettner, Executive Director, Farm Animal Council of Saskatchewan, called today and said they’d like to have us come back and speak to Saskatchewan producers about Low Stress Livestock Handling in March 2007. We will speak March 12 is Swift Current and March 13 in Saskatoon. Watch these pages for more information about how to register! See you there!