Past Experience Animals have long memories. If they have been handled roughly in the past, they will be more stressed and difficult to handle in the future. Choice is a factor in stress - feedlot cattle who will freely investigate a coat hanging on a fence will balk when forced to walk past the same coat hanging on a chute or flapping in the breeze. Familiarity with the Environment New pens and facilities are stressful. Let the cattle get used to the corrals.
Cattle also show signs of stress when they are isolated.
A single animal left alone in a crowding pen or working chute will try to rejoin its herdmates and may charge the handler. High body temperature at the time of insemination increases the risk of early embryonic death. Excitement before insemination depresses secretion of hormones that stimulate contractions of the reproductive tract that move sperm to the site of ovum fertilization. Use a dark box to hold cows. You can hold the wildest cow with minimum distress.