The best way to avoid livestock injuries is to understand animal behavior. Only by knowing their animals, and what to expect in certain situations, can farm workers protect themselves and others from injury. Animals without proper care pose more danger to humans than ones that are fed and sheltered. This publication, however, deals with animal behavior related to habits, social relationships, maternal instincts, and territorial behavior. Part of this is caused by habit formation, such as when cows gather around the barn just before milking time.
Animals are most active at the time of greatest change, such as at dawn or dusk.
They will be least active either in the middle of the day or the middle of the night. Learned behavior patterns enable animals to adjust to changes in their environment. Most animals have a variety of established behavior patterns that can be expressed when their environment changes. Animals learn to apply one behavior over another according to which one produces the most comfortable situation. For example, a cow placed in a milking stanchion can react in several ways.