You might have heard of other days, weeks, or months set aside to bring special “awareness” to various situations such as (not a joke!) International Carrot Day (today!), National Gardening Week (April 11-17), and Mathematics Awareness Month (April). Read more about them here.
One that stuck in our minds is that April is also Stress Awareness Month! During April let’s talk about stress and your livestock! How can you tell if your livestock are stressed? If they are, what can you do about it? And, why does it matter?
At the same time, let’s also talk about stress in people because, that’s also part of what we need to talk about when discussing “Proper Stockmanship.” Proper Stockmanship can only be attained when both the livestock and the people are in the proper frame of mind. If you are under some sort of stress which you are not managing well, the livestock you are responsible for will know it and not respond well to it! I know, that sounds pretty far “out there!” But, stick with us through Stress Awareness Month as we talk about all these issues and many more.
