Stockmanship with Bud and Eunice Williams

Last week we had the great honor and pleasure to have the global authorities on Stockmanship, Bud and Eunice Williams out here to give a clinic to the Ranch and The Hideout staff, management and owners.

If you surf the web and look up Bud Williams, you will discover very quickly why we where so honored and excited to attend this class. Stockmanship is comparable to natural horsemanship, but then with cattle and other livestock. Bud and Eunice also worked with caribou, elk, sheep in various parts of the world.

What is Stockmanship?

Stockmanship is a concept of handling and operating around life stock that produces calm and highly responsive animals and does not produce long lasting anxiety, stress, or panic.

Knowledge of how animals learn, what bothers and stresses them, and how to move around animals to achieve high control is required. It is about handling livestock without involvement of force, limits loud noises and fast movements. It creates calmer, more responsive animals. The traits of cattle and the principles of how animals learn are the basis for all handler movements.

At the ranch side Greg and Ramon have adopted this concept for several years in training horses and to a large extent and as best as possible handling livestock.

 This clinic will help fine tune this philosophy. At The Hideout we do a lot of cattle work with the guests, every season guest’s challenge us to teach them, to communicate and explain this better as part of the working cattle ranch experience. It also aligns the approach of the ranch side with the guest side of the business.

Greg and Ramon know that applying these methods at the ranch results in less and more efficient use of drugs and vaccination and less sick animals due to reduced stress. Livestock grows better and faster and it is proven that the percentage of choice and prime beef increases dramatically.

What is in it for The Hideout Guests?

The Hideout is known for the amount of real cattle work we offer, for this we owe it to our reputation to communicate and educate our guests much more on stockmanship.

We are investing much more in training our staff and this way your vacation at The Hideout becomes more meaningful and educational while having a good time. You will be able to participate better and more pleasantly in the cattle work and know what is going on.

Last year we laid out a plan to offer more clinics at The Hideout off season, the clinic on Stockmanship with Bud and Eunice Williams is another step in implementing this plan.

In addition to the above initiative some of our crew will spend time this winter at other restaurants and stables to gain more experience and knowledge. Our staff and our guests are our most important assets. We want to make sure we invest in learning on a continuous basis.

A consistent philosophy and concept as part of The Hideout Experience

Greg and Ramon use natural horsemanship and low impact training methods, to train the horses of the breeding program (next year we have another production sale).

Our hunting partners Powder horn Outfitters manage the hunting on our properties, adopting a long term view and low stress on managing our game. Corporate programs like The Western Challenge Clinic by Frank Bennett aim at more efficient communication and leadership style, using horses as a medium.

The respect for the environment, the community and esthetics Paula and David use as guidelines in whatever project they develop since start up. The way we manage the range and lands with future generations in mind, are all part of this concept .

Our Wranglers attending the Leave no Trace classes of the Forest Service make us better users of the National Forest.

Stockmanship and low stress handling of livestock is another cornerstone in supporting an excellent The Hideout Experience for our Guests.

If you would like to learn more about Stockman ship, you can visit www.stockmanship.com and read more on Steve Cote – Stockmanship and handling cattle on the range

Stockmanship Clinic at The Hideout and Flitner Ranch for our Guests

If you are interested in attending a Stockmanship clinic yourself at The Hideout with Bud and Eunice Williams Fall next year, let us know. Depending on the on the level of interest, the availability of Bud and Eunice, we might organize another class on Stockmanship in spring or fall.

Be on the look out for The Hideout Gazette….

We are working on The Hideout Gazette, which will cover much more news on what is going on. So next month make sure you check your mailbox to read all about it.