Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
Chapters 22 & 24
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
• Unit 4 Objectives:
– Knowledge of the affects of various animal
behavior on production and performance
– Appreciation of inherited vs. learned
behaviors
– Understanding of effective management, and
its relationship to profit
– Comprehension of the decision-making
process, and technology/tools available to
assist managers in the process
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
• Fields of Animal Behavior
– Psychology
– Ethology-Instinctive & Learned Behaviors
• Instinct
– Present @ birth (Ex. Nursing in mammals)
• Habituation
– Lack of response to a repeated stimulus
– Called Conditioning
» Classical-association between an unconditioned
stimulus & a neutral stimulus (Pavlov’s Dogs)
» Operant-learning to respond to a stimulus as a result
of reinforcement
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
• Trial & Error
– Trying different responses until the correct one is
performed, tied to a reward
• Reasoning
– Correct response to a stimulus the first time
– Intelligence
» Short term memory
» Long term memory
• Imprinting
– Bonding process
– Mostly for recognition purposes
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
•
Systems of Animal Behavior
–
Nine identified systems
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Sexual
Caregiving
Care soliciting
Agonistic
Ingestive
Eliminative
Shelter seeking
Investigative
Allelomimetic
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
– Sexual Behavior
– Heat or estrus
– Pheromones
– Used to attract the opposite sex
– Flehman-curling of upper lip
– Cow & Bull
– Sow & Boar
– Sow seeks out the boar
– Mare & Stallion
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
– Caregiving Behavior
• Most is maternally oriented
• Stimulation to suckling
• Protection
– Care Soliciting Behavior
• Young crying for help when distressed, disturbed,
or hungry
• Vocal sounds
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
– Agonistic Behavior
• Fight or flight
• Aggressive or passive
• Interaction w/ other animals
– Males always fight other strange males
– Establishing social dominance
» Offense
» Defense
» Escape
» Passivity
– Females usually are not as aggressive
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
• Social interaction plays a huge role in animal
production
– Age has an effect
• Interaction w/ humans
– Disposition is formed through experience and inheritance
• Behavior during Handling & Restraint
– Animals remember positive & negative experiences
– All depends upon the handlers and the facilities
– Knowing and understanding behavior will reduce stress
on the producer and the animal, and prevent injury
– Blood odor appears to be detectible
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
– Vision can be manipulated
» Curves chute systems
» Solid walls
– Flight Zone
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
– Ingestive Behavior
• Eating & drinking
• Grazing behavior
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–
–
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Rumination
Relation to water access
How do we manage the range
Climate can have an impact on grazing
– Eliminative Behavior
• Feces and Urine
– Cattle, sheep, goats are indiscriminate
– Hogs will defecate in a particular area
– Horses will defecate on the scent of another horse
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
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•
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Cattle defecate 12-18 times daily
Horses defecate 5-12
Urinate ~7-11x/d
Elimination is effected by stress
– Responsible for Shrink Loss in cattle transport
– Shelter-Seeking Behavior
• Shade for rest & rumination
• Wet areas for cooling
• Crowding during cold conditions
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
– Investigative Behavior
• Curiosity
• Common in pigs, horses, dairy goats, and
somewhat in cattle
– Allelomimetic Behavior
• Doing the same thing at the same time
• Herding behavior
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
– Other Behaviors
• Communication
– Transfer of information through any of the senses
• Maladaptive or Abnormal Behavior
– Animals that cannot adopt to a new environment, or
exhibit inappropriate behavior
» Ex. Tail chewing and cannibalism in swine
– Buller-steer syndrome
» Steer castrated before puberty
» Certain steers are more attractive for mounting
» As one mounts, the others do the same
» Can cause physical injury, reduced weight gain,
additional labor/equipment
» Can be as much as 1-3% of the feedlot steer herd
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
• Assignment for the first half of Unit 4
– Review questions
• 2-5, 9, 11, 15, 18
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
• Making Effective Management Decisions
– Fixed resources
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•
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Land
Labor
Capital
Management
– Renewable resources
• Animals
• Plants
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
• Managing for Lower Costs & Higher
Returns
– Profitability Formula
• Profit/loss=(production X price) – cost
– Production and cost include many different things
• Managers should focus on the optimum level of
output vs. input
– Primary Components of Long-term profitability
• Costs
– Careful monitoring of input costs
– Ex.?
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
• Production
– Pounds or numbers sold
• Price
– Amount received/lb., or /h, or /doz.
– Influenced by supply/demand
• Resource Improvement
– Land used for forage and cropping
– Can easily be depleted if not cared for properly
• So, how do producers focus on the business side
of their operation? What can they influence?
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
• The Manager
– Plan
– Act
– Evaluate
– Characteristics of an Effective Manager
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•
•
•
•
Profit-oriented
Short-term and long-term objective planning
Keep up on current knowledge/technology
Effective time management
Attentive to physical, emotional, financial needs of
the employees
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
• Use of incentive programs for motivation
• Honest business dealings
• Effective communication and use of employee
input
• Prioritize duties
• Self-starter
• Prioritize resource use
• Risk management
• Be a good example
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
• Financial Management
– Must have good records for costs, returns,
and profitability
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•
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•
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Cash transactions
Balance Sheet (net worth=assets-liabilities)
Income Statement
Cash-flow Statement
Enterprise Budget
Partial Budget
Income Tax Forms
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
– Credit and money management is crucial to
making effect management decisions, during
times of inflation & high interest rates
• Credit must be managed carefully, and used as a
tool
• Income Tax Considerations
– Paying little or no income tax should not be a
goal
– Well-managed operations pay income taxes if
profitability is the goal
• not poor management to pay income tax, but to
pay more than is owed
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
• Estate & Gift-Tax Planning
– Adequate knowledge & planning can greatly
help managers pass on farms to heirs
– Producers can make an annual gift of $10,000
to children/grandchildren without paying
federal gift tax
– 1997 unified credit exemption up to $1m by
2006
– 1998-family farms can use a family business
exemption of an additional $300,000
– Consult a tax professional
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
• People
– Most widely overlooked part of management,
but is the most critical
– Communication is the key
– Effective people managers should be able to:
• Determine optimum labor needs
• Identify, hire, and retain employees
• Motivate and reward employees both financially
and nonfinancially
• Keep the focus of the mission and goals
• Build and enhance teams and partnerships
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
– If the operation is family-owned and operated
• Use sound business practices
• Evaluate other family operations
• Include all family members in written planning of
responsibilities
• Weekly meetings for planning, evaluating, problem
solving
• Family relationships are most important, and can
be compatible w/ profitability
• Patience and tolerance
• Encourage open communication
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
• Management Systems
– Systematic organization of information in
order to make valid management decisions
– Critical thinking and assessment are key
– Often, sophisticated evaluation tools are not
necessary, however, they are useful for large
volumes of information
– Animal production has typically been
maximized without consideration of costbenefit relationships
Unit 4: Animal Behavior &
Effective Management
– Lets talk about some management examples,
good or bad
• Assignment for second half of Unit 4
– Review questions on pg. 437
– There’s only 3!