Dairy farms in New York were reminded again this week of just how dangerous our industry is. A 28-year-old dairy farm employee was fatally struck by a cow after entering a maternity pen to care for a newborn calf. She was struck immediately upon entry, before even handling the calf. This situation is devastating for the family and the farm involved.
I don’t think we need to get into statistics, we all know agriculture is a dangerous industry and that losing one life is too many. Since we’re focusing on maternal aggression here, I’ll just mention that a report from the UK looking at fatalities associated with cattle over an 11-year period showed twice as many fatalities associated with cows with a calf compared to cows without a calf by her side (Health and Safety Executive, 1993-2003).
What is maternal aggression?
Maternal aggression is a defense mechanism that dams use to protect their offspring from external stimuli that they perceive to be threats. Cows who are otherwise easy to handle may show signs of aggression during the post-partum period due to hormonal changes that decrease their response to fear of novel situations (Grandinson, 2005).
How can we make our maternity pens safer?
- Talk about animal behavior with your employees. The vast majority (some sources say 98%) of Latino dairy employees have no experience with cattle when they enter their first job on a dairy farm in the USA. If you are not familiar with normal cattle behavior and handling, you’re less likely to identify an agitated animal. At a farm meeting on Monday, I brought up this recent fatality to the employees and we discussed the signs of an agitated animal. They admitted experiencing multiple aggressive cows in maternity with one employee being head-butted recently (not injured luckily). The owner then set the precedent that if any aggressive behavior is noted they are to report the animal to ownership immediately and ask for help prior to handling. Hopefully this short discussion helps prevent an injury.
- But training is not enough. Training is a great place to start, but we all know that even the most experienced cattleman can let down their guard or be caught in an unpredictable situation. Over 90% of the time humans act from our subconscious, without truly thinking about what we are doing. So, along with effective training, we need to think about designing our facilities and protocols in a way that “nudges” people to do tasks in a safe way. This takes advantage of human behavior and muscle memory to change behavior rather than just willingness and determination.
- Facility and protocol design. Think about the last time you were under high stress. Maybe this spring while working 18-hour days during planting. Did your behavior change towards your spouse, family or employees? Most species show increased aggression and unpredictable behavior when under stress.
If you evaluate your maternity pen, can you see any ways to make it less stressful for your calving cows? Lighting, noise and proximity to herd mates while allowing for privacy (i.e., calving blinds) are great places to start.
How about less risky for humans? Where are your escape routes like man passes? If your calving pen has solid walls, it may provide great privacy for the cow but no way to escape from an aggressive animal. Should we have a policy where you must spend a minute observing the fresh cow from outside the pen prior to entering? Can we design a facility where we can more safely separate the cow from the calf with minimal handling?
Not all accidents can be avoided, but we can work to improve what is in our control to minimize risk. Let’s not get stuck in a rut and be open to thinking outside of the box. For more information on how to “nudge” dairy employees to safety, check our NYCAMH’s project here: https://necenter.org/portfolio/dairy-safety-nudging-project/. A good quick read about taking advantage of human behavior to make changes is “Nudge” by Richard Thaler, which is available for free on audiobook here.
