Key points
1. We are creatures of habit
2. Habits can be deadly
3. Young animals learn more quickly
than older animals
4. Necessity is the mother of invention
5. Change takes time
Behavior depends
on consequences
Consequences lead
to habits
Habits Change the Body
The body determines the structure
of experience.
Experience determines the structure
of the body.
What are the
advantages of
habits?
Efficient and
Effective
Where do deer go during
the hunting season?
What are the
disadvantages of
habits?
Poisonous Plants
Gila versus Apache Counties
Animals Prefer Familiar
- Toxic Plants to Unfamiliar Plants
in Unfamiliar Environments
Ease the transition
with familiar foods
Change is
sometimes
necessary
… but it’s hard!
Faced with the choice between
changing one’s mind and
proving there is no need to do
so, almost everyone gets busy
with the proof.
- John K. Galbraith
What causes
creatures of habit
to change habits?
Youth
Satiety
Inadequacy
Old dogs can learn new
tricks, but young dogs
learn them quicker…
Japanese Macaques
Ewes, Lambs
and Douglas-fir
Satiety
Not meatloaf again!
Inadequacy
Diet Selection
If nutritional state is adequate
400
novel flavor
Intake of rice, g
Familiarity breeds
content, novelty
breeds contempt,
animals are
neophobic.
500
300
200
100
0
1
2
3
4
5
Day
6
7
8
9
If it ain’t broke,
don’t fix it
Familiarity
breeds contempt,
novelty breeds
content, animals
are neophyllic.
Intake high-energy, g
If nutritional state is inadequate
high-protein diet
300
200
100
high-energy diet
0
1
2
3
Day
4
5
6
Necessity is
the mother of
invention
Nutrient
deficient goats
that ate woodrat
houses…
lost significantly
less weight
Nutrient Balance
aversion
sample
preference
Inadequacy
Habitat Selection
Maxfield
Thompson
Maxfield Thompson
Calf
 mother
Yearlings
 peers
2-years age
 drought
3-years age
 mother
Old dogs
New tricks
System Performance
Changes in Management
Soils, Plants, Herbivores, People
Time
Dairies…
If video doesn’t play, insert file NewYork_dairy.wmv
Ease transitions:
Feed green chop in the barn prior to
turnout on grass.
 Increase time spent on pasture slowly.
 Ration fed in the barn must complement
pasture.
 Expose replacements to grass early in
life, preferably with their mothers.

Riparian Areas…
If video doesn’t play, insert file Upland_cows.wmv
Riding not harassing:






Move cattle out of bottoms
Keep cows/calves and subgroups
together
Settle animals on upland sites with
ample forage, salt, supplement, etc.
Ride consistently and persistently
Cows pass behavior to their calves
It takes time to change behavior
1994
2001
1995
1998
Taking
animals to
the fair
Key points
1. We are creatures of habit.
2. Habits can be deadly.
3. Young animals learn more quickly
than older animals.
4. Necessity is the mother of invention.
5. Change takes time.