Beef cattle handling: A practical safety guide

What it contains

Working with cattle can significantly increase the risks to your health and safety. The size and temperament of the animal, along with environmental factors, site design and handling methods all increase your risk of being seriously injured or killed. Hygiene and cattle diseases also impact on your health and safety.

This document tells you:

• how working with cattle affects your health and safety
• how to behave safely around cattle, including moving, mustering and yard work
• how beef cattle’s physical and behavioural characteristics affect your health and safety
• how to reduce your risk when drenching, injecting, vaccinating and dehorning cattle
• how to use personal protective equipment and proper hygiene practices
• which cattle handling practices are dangerous to your health and safety
• how to safely design and maintain cattle yards
• your risk management responsibilities around on-farm cattle sales
• how to safely use chemicals in cattle yards
• safe work systems around animal fluids
• how to manage the risks of cattle diseases and parasites