"I think using animals for food is an ethical thing to do, but we've got to do it right.
We've got to give those animals a decent life and we've got to give them a painless
death. We owe the animal respect."
—Temple Grandin
Ruminant Restraint
Chapter 2
Dr. Dipa Brahmbhatt VMD, MPH, MS
Objectives
• Understand potential risks that exist with the practice of large
animal veterinary medicine.
• KNOW quick release knot.
• Understand the basic natural instincts of each large animal
species.
• Understand the importance of protecting themselves,
veterinary personnel, and clients while handling patients.
• Be familiar with common methods of large animal restraint
and be able to apply them safely, efficiently, and effectively.
Safety
• One of the most dangerous occupations
– Death rate: 21 workers per 100,000
– 110,000 disabling accidents per year
• Reasons
– Human error
– Being tired
– Not paying attention
– Using poor judgment
Dangers
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Livestock
Chemical safety
Environmental safety
Animal disease
– Preventing zoonosis
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Cleanliness
Vaccinations
Quarantine sick animals
Avoid exposure
• Gain handling
• Building problems
• Fire safety
Biosecurity
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Wash hands and boots
Clean cloths
Control insects, rodents, and birds
Control mold
Limit contact with other animals
Limit vehicle traffic
Wear rubber gloves when dealing with sick animals
Wear shoe coverings to prevent transmission
Wear protective eye covering
Wear a mask when concerned with aerosols
Beef Cattle – Cow/Calf Producers
NE,TX, KS
• Before the feedlot, spend most
of their time in open range or
field settings.
– Handled and restrained only
occasionally: vaccination and
deworming.
– Suspicious of humans and
enclosures (pens and chutes), and
are usually more difficult to
segregate and restrain.
– Caution: Beef bulls and cows with
calves
Dairy cattle
• Temperament
– nervous cow
– the docile cow
– the balker (obstinate)
– the chronic kicker
• Dairy bulls should
never by trusted
• Cows with calves
• Facility
– dark barns are apt to
be nervous.
– Better in a well
lighted, well
ventilated one
– sedative or
anesthetic
Dairy Cattle
• Dairy cattle are handled more
frequently and spend much less
time in open settings.
– Dairy cows are milked twice daily
while lactating, and the lactation
cycle lasts on average 8-10
months of the year.
– Breeding is done by artificial
insemination.
– Calves are often reared in
enclosures with frequent human
contact.
– In generaL, dairy cattle tend to
be much easier to handle and
restrain. (Caution on dairy bulls
and mums)
Cattle Restraint
• “Stress”
– Loss of production results in lower profits.
– Increased feed requirements result in increased
cost.
– Decreased immunity results in increased illness.
– Death results in lower profits.
Cattle Restraint (cont’d)
• Stress
– Increased respiration
– High mortality
– Teeth grinding
– Poor product quality
– Nervousness
– Poor growth rate
– Poor reproduction
– Increased flight zone
Most veterinarian procedures required two
stages of animal handling:
1. The individual most be separate from the
herd (herding instinct)
2. The individual must then be restrained
appropriately for the procedure
Restraint
• Chemical and physical
restraint
• Prepare
• Be familiar with your
equipment
• Protect the animal
• Protect yourself
• Protect your coworkers
Liability: The veterinarian
is responsible
• Drive
animals to
pen/corral
/“tub”
• Tub to
alleyway to
working
chute
Moving and Herding Cattle
• CALM
• Should not move faster
than a walk
• SHOULDER
– Aka: point of balance
– Behind > forward
– Front > backwards
• Ask the farmer 
• Cattle move toward light
• STRESS > DISEASE AND LOW
PERFORMANCE
Cattle Restraint (cont’d)
• Tailing
– The middle of the tail is grasped and twisted forward to one side or
the other, over the back, and off of midline.
– Too much pressure can break the tail.
– Do not stand directly behind them.
Backstops
Spring loaded panels pushed forward as animal moves through than
popped back in place
Cattle Restraint (cont’d)
Chutes
Head gate
Tail gate
Squeeze
Chute Restraint
• The working
chute is
designed to
hold one
animal at the
time
• Silencer
chute
Chute Restraint
Self
closing
head catch
or
manually
“Posting”
Use both hands
• Fully restrain head
before working with
animal
• Head first squeeze
later
Nose lead
Challenges
• Cow is down
• Occlude trachea or
blood flow to the
cranium
• Handle calmly
• Only 1 hand inside
chute
• Head restraint may
be applied to
cooperative
animals, without
use of a chute, but
most individuals
must be placed in a
chute first.
• "the part that
draws goes under
the jaws.“
• Not for beef
Cattle Restraint (cont’d)
• Halters
• Cattle halters are used
to control the head by
tying or securing the
head to an immovable
object with a rope
attached to the halter
• Watch trachea and eye
QUICK RELEASE
Restraints that divert attention
• Tail restraint
• Nose lead/ “nose
tongs”
– IV injection
– Udder surgery
– Examine hoof
• Restraint of the head
Nose leads
• They apply blunt,
pinching pressure to the
nasal septum.
• Supplement with halter
and/or with head
restraint
• Nasal septum may be
torn with violent
movement
• Don’t use in calves
• If tie knot: quick release and monitor
carefully
Nose rings
• Placed through the nasal
septum and are often
used in bulls
• Should not be used to tie
the head for head
restraint
• Only for additional
control of the head but:
nasal septum can be torn
Tail Restraint
• Cattle tail not as strong as horse
• Don’t include vertebrae
TAIL JACK
Leg Restraint
Over common
• Calcaneal tendon, just above
the hocks
• Hobbels/ Hoppels – No Kicking
• Flank rope – No Kicking
Leg Restraint
Leg Restraint: Front Leg Hoppel
PE or treatmen
ASSISTANT
A rope with an eye in
one end is used to form
a loop around the
pastern.
The other end of the
rope passes over the
withers where is should
be held by an assistant
so that it can be
released quickly if the
cow starts to go down.
Beam and Hook - HL
Other method
If more
than 30
min.
NPO
Casting – Rope Squeeze
• Casting is a method of
forcing an animal to the
ground, usually with
ropes
• Prefer R lateral
recumbency:
discourages bloat
• Casting - calving
Casting – Burley Method
Advantages
• Less time
• No respiratory/
CVS pressure
• No pressure in
genitalia area
Dr. D. R. Burley of Georgia
Recumbent animal
• Stand next to spine
• Back/ Rib/ Thigh
– Tap, slap or poke (blunt item)
– Knee
– Electric cattle prod only if necessary
Calf restraint
• Separate the calf from mother first
• One arm around chest and other around base of tail
• Lateral recumbency: “Flanking”, slide down your legs DO
NOT throw calf on ground
• 1 knee on neck and other holding HL
Calf restraint
• Do not throw the calf to
the ground
• Do not place the entire
bodyweight on the calf
and do not occlude the
trachea
Video
http://vetvideos.com/restraintcattle.htm
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1725026942547112254
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8512037042
653473796
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6761217048822203559
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3356654913389880021
References
• http://research.vet.upenn.edu/Dairy/Restraint/Restr
aintsthatDivertAttention/NoseLead/tabid/3904/Defa
ult.aspx
• K Holtgrew-Bohling , Large Animal Clinical
Procedures for Veterinary Technicians, 2nd Edition,
Mosby, 2012, ISBN: 97803223077323
• McCurnin, Dennis and Bassert, Joanna, Clinical
Textbook for Veterinary Technicians, 6th Edition, W. B.
Saunders, 2005, ISBN 0721606121.
Editions
• Dr. Mendoza
• Dr. Brahmbhatt