We hear it in nearly all the classic Western films: A weathered cowboy sits on a good-looking horse overlooking the herd as he waxes poetic about freedom and the beauty of livestock grazing on open ground.

While few would disagree with how appealing the scene is on film, those involved in the cattle business understand what happens behind the scenes to manage and protect animals in the modern day.

Processing cattle is, without a doubt, an enlightening experience. Whether that is positive or negative depends on whether planning was done prior to cattle handling and whether the facilities are in place to complete the task at hand. After all, facilities might have to scale, switch focus or be repaired throughout their lifetime, notes Dale Moore of Cattleman’s Choice Feedyard, but the fundamentals still apply.

Where to begin

When Moore and his wife, Mary, purchased the Gage, Okla., property that would later become Cattleman’s Choice Feedyard in December 2000, it didn’t take long to figure out what didn’t work when it came to handling cattle.

“When we came out to Cattleman’s Choice, it was a bunch of grown up kochia weed pens with 300 or 400 little calves in it,” Moore says, recalling that the first thing they checked off their list was completely tearing out the existing handling setup. “I think within the first 10 days, we spent all night long with a cutting torch and a welder. We didn’t have the money and we didn’t have the time to go find what we needed, so we built something that I felt was more cattle- and user-friendly.”

Time is a commodity often short on farm and ranch operations, but when Moore found a little, he was able to sit down and design a setup that worked better for the cattle and — eventually — better for the consumer and the rancher.

Attending an early 2000s Bud Williams cattle handling clinic in Woodward, Okla., changed the trajectory of what working cattle looks like for Dale and Mary. After striking up a rapport, Williams asked if he could swing by to see what exactly the Moores were working with.

“It’s life changing to just be in the presence of somebody like that for a week. He worked with Mary and I and all of our crew. We looked at facilities; we looked at pen designs; and, on a newspaper, [Williams] drew out his ideal processing facility,” Moore recalls. “Fifteen years later, I built that same facility. It’s been operating for probably five years now, and it’s all set up on Bud’s design of simple cattle handling and low stress.”

Cattle welfare is at the forefront of priorities for Taylor Ranch, as well. Based in Cheyenne, Okla., Taylor Ranch was founded by Jimmy Taylor’s father in the 1950s.

Facilities haven’t changed a great deal over the past several decades, but updates are made with a focus on cattle welfare and the safety of those involved with cattle handling.

“Our facilities are basically the same design as when [my father] came to the place. The difference is it was board corrals back then,” Taylor recalls. “When I was a kid, that was one of my jobs. Before we worked cattle, we had to repair lots because boards rot and, when cattle hit them, boards break.”

In the early 1980s, Taylor Ranch made the transition from wood to steel. While improvements are made here and there, the family has kept the same basic design because it just plain works — for both the Taylors and their cattle.

After all, says Moore, thinking about cattle comfort is where cattle raising and finishing begins.

Learning the cowboy way

While the working system plays a huge role at Cattlemen’s Choice, Moore says keeping cattle low stress comes down to plain good stockmanship.

When asked whether he has any nonnegotiable handling rules, Moore acknowledges he has a whole list. At his yard, employees learn by example and shadow a veteran feedyard employee before ever being turned loose on their own.

“I don’t know that you can ever spend too much time training, but we probably spend more time training than a lot of places just because these animals can’t take care of themselves. They depend on us to take care of them,” Moore explains, noting ranchers take care of that animal for 150 to 200 days. “Then they turn them over to us. Facilities are a huge part of it, but 100% honest, the stockmanship side of it is a bigger part of it for the animal’s well-being than the facilities are.”

Over at the Taylors’ place, the notion of understanding their cattle, as well as low-stress cattle handling, is alive and well.

Something as simple as moving cattle from a pen up an alleyway is an opportunity to observe cattle behavior and alter handling methods to work with animals instead of against them.

“When we’ve got a lane full that we’re getting ready to run through the chute, it gets pretty packed in there,” Taylor says, explaining that the old way of doing things was walking down the lane against the animals and letting cattle move around you. “If they’re pregnant, they all bunch up at the far end and put pressure on themselves. We’ll actually do a little extra work when we get them pushed in there. We’ll step out of that lane, go around and push animals from the bottom of the lane.”

In most cases, cattle take the path of least resistance and flow smoothly without a handler in the way.

Speaking of people, Taylor suggests making sure cattlemen have enough hands to get the job done efficiently. Always try to look ahead and have enough people there to do the job, he cautions, but always move easy. You don’t want to excite the animals because when a cow is relaxed, everything seems to flow better, in his experience.

If there was one piece of advice Taylor could share with new cattlemen looking to decrease the amount of stress their cattle experience?

“One thing — if I had to pick a couple here to tell somebody that was helping me — is to watch the cattle,” Taylor imparts. “They’ll tell you what you need to do.”