Rebooting Herd Instinct

The core difference between conventional stockmanship, and that used to reboot herds, is that it not reactive, but proactive. Rather than relying on pressure to create movement, it takes advantage of approaches which create murmuration (similar to the swirling behavior of bird flocks or schools of fish) between the animals and stockman. While a big part of stockmanship is "feel" that you can't learn from books and videos, we have videos below, some which are drone based making it a little easier. We also have a page featuring podcasts I've been on, some with people who are practising the methods on their operations so you have a better idea of how it works.

If you want to talk about the stockmanship methods or how they relate to grazing, or would like to host a school or clinic, leave me a message at and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

This video demonstrates emptying a pen and controlling flow from the gate. Be sure to watch to the end, so you see how to shut down the flow by simply backing up rather than stepping in front of cattle.

Part I

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Even if you are running cattle in a more conventional manner, the stockmanship used in rebooting herd instinct makes positive changes in the behavior and stress levels in your cattle. Five days before this first video was taken, these cows would take off a lope when they saw people horseback. This video was taken at the end of a six mile drive. 383 cows, The silence was broken only by a bull. All of the cows were paired and happy, even the ones as young as two weeks.