Today, Jec loans the mic to me for an interview with Whit Hibbard, a fourth generation Montana rancher and low stress stockmanship professional. I met Whit many years ago when he was passing through Colorado, giving presentations on low stress stockmanship and livestock handling.

There’s a strong parallel I see with the shift in handling cows and the shift of handling horses as we move away from physical and domineering ways to the mental, partnership type of work. But it’s interesting because when you go to a horsemanship clinic nowadays, it’s populated mostly by women. When you go to a stockmanship clinic, it’s mostly men. Which is the tougher audience, I wonder?

Whit is doing impressive work with National Parks, big private ranches like those owned by Ted Turner. Turner Enterprises consists of 18 ranches and two million acres. Most recently, Whit has focused on bison and has helped livestock handlers design structures that incorporate low stress handling into their overall system.

Pretty cool. Even if you don’t work cows or have an interest in working cows, there are helpful, insightful reflections here around how we operation. By the way, Whit also publishes the Stockmanship Journal and you can find links to a free download on besthorsepractices.com.

Many thanks to our Title Sponsors, Pharm Aloe Equine and Lucerne Farms forage. Learn more about them here. 

Also, we thank Redmond Equine, Kate’s Real Food and Patagonia WorkWear for their continuing support. Please follow these brands and buy their stuff as they support us and what we’re doing. This month, we’re giving away a Patagonia WorkWear item to two lucky listeners. Check it out here.