Sheep & Cattle: Caring for Livestock
Today’s BIG topics are all about our sheep and cattle. We will explore caring for sheep and cattle with basic veterinary tools and technology with Animal Science Educator Nick Babcock. We’ll participate in an interactive STEM activity to design a cattle chute out of every day supplies.
Activity: Curved Cattle Chute
Lesson adapted from Ag in the Classroom
Scenario: A local dairy farm has a problem. The farmers need to move their cattle from the pasture through a squeeze chute to run a standard health check on them, but the cattle are afraid to run through the chute.
Your job is to design a cattle chute for the cattle farm using the following guidelines.
- The chute should contain three curves that cause the cattle change directions
- The chute should contain a squeeze chute or a pen at the end.
- The chute should start wide and then arrow gradually to a single file line by the end of the chute.
Chute example 1 
Chute example 2 
Chute example 3 
Chute example 4
Watch the following video about Temple Grandin’s curved cattle chute design and reflect on why her design works well to keep cattle calm and moving in the right direction. After watching the video think about how you can use her ideas and knowledge to design your own curved chute.
Using household supplies design a prototype of your chute design and test it using a marble or a small household object that can easily be moved through your chute design to represent the cattle moving through.
Material ideas: kitchen utensils, furniture, paper, paper plates, string, clothing, cardboard, food, pipe cleaners, etc…
Once your prototype is designed and built we’ll share with the group. Consider the following questions when testing your prototype design.
- What happened to the “cattle’s” motion when it hit a wall? Which direction did it go? Can you predict this motion? How does this affect the “cattle’s” flow?
- How does this represent how cattle process information and respond to distractions?
Review which angles in your chute design work best to move the cattle.
Does the length and width of the chute affect the cattle?
Why does the solid chute wall design work better for cattle? Why do you think many farms choose to not use the solid wall design?
Sheep
What are sheep raised for? What is their job at the farm?
Sheep are raised on farms for many purposes. The job of the sheep on our farm is for meat and wool. The most important of the jobs is for the wool. Sheep get their wool sheared off at least once a year. This thick fiber coat is used to make blankets, coats, yarn, and other materials. If we didn’t shear sheep their wool would keep growing indefinitely like explained in the video below!
Check it Out – Curved Sheep Chute!
Sheep Shearing in Michigan and its Importance
How Working Dogs Help Herd Sheep
Cattle Terminology:
- Bull: Intact male cow
- Steer: Castrated male
- Cow: Adult female who has had a calf
- Heifer: Young female who has not had a calf
- Calves: Young cattle of both sexes
- Squeeze chute: a tight stall used for holding cattle for examination, marking, or medical.
- Cattle Chute: a narrow cattle run that cattle travel through when being herded from one location to another.
Sheep Terminology:
- Ewe: Female Sheep
- Ram: Male Sheep
- Young Sheep: Lamb
- Wool: Fibrous sheep hair that is often used in textile