A modern approach to stockmanship
Twenty years across feedlots, stations and live export has taught me one thing above everything else: how we handle livestock matters.
Workplace safety. Animal welfare. Business profitability. Social licence. All of it can trace back to the quality of handling in your operation.
Stockmanship has never been more important.
As our understanding of livestock behaviour continues to evolve, so too should the way we develop people and approach livestock handling.
Skilled handling isn't just good for livestock. It's good for people, businesses and the future of our industry.
Today I work with handlers, producers, agribusinesses and industry organisations across Australia and around the world, helping shorten the learning curve and build the knowledge and skills needed to handle livestock safely and effectively.
Timeless principles, modern approach
Stockmanship is a timeless practice, but in modern day fast paced production systems it can be something that is a nice to have, rather than a standard approach.
Modern stockmanship techniques have a place in every livestock business, however it’s a matter of understanding what they are and how to apply them, especially under time pressures.
Modern Stockmanship is a culmination of a lifetime of observing cattle and people and studying what works. Our method keeps handlers safe, allows them to accurately read animal behaviour and fosters a positive relationship between human and animal.
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Modern Stockmanship is a consultancy specialising in reduction of risk and workplace injury and promotion of animal and handler wellbeing in livestock businesses.
The business is founded by Alex Snape.
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In line with conventional consultant frameworks, Modern Stockmanship listen, observe, coach, and advise to help our clients create the greatest impact for their people and cattle.
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From producers to pastoral stations to feedlots of all sizes and businesses within the export supply chain, wherever there is people & cattle there is a need to share best practice knowledge on handling cattle.
Where Passion meets Purpose
Hi, I’m Alex.
I didn’t grow up on a farm. I spent my childhood in suburban Melbourne and Western Victoria, where my exposure to cattle was fleeting. But I loved them, and I was adamant that when I grew up, I was going to be a farmer.
My foray into the beef industry began at agricultural college, and in the twenty years since I graduated, my interest in cattle and beef production has taken me all over Australia and internationally.
I built the foundations of my career working on the ground—as a stockie in feedlots, a ringer on cattle stations in the Northern Territory & Queensland, and contract mustering- camping out for months at a time, keeping horses shod, calves branded and cattle drafted.
When I first heard about live export, I got a funny feeling in my stomach. I just knew I was destined to work in that industry.
I began at an export depot in Western Australia, gained my accreditation with LiveCorp thus becoming an Accredited Australian Stockperson, and worked my way up to sailing as a head stockperson on voyages to Kuwait, Vietnam, Indonesia and China.
A timely meeting with some incredible cattlemen in 2016 fed an already red-hot interest in cattle handling. What I learned from them was added to my growing toolkit, and I took that knowledge into the live export supply chain with me.
Ideas and practices most commonly used with cattle on land in feedlots—such as acclimating and exercising feedlot cattle—were things I began testing onboard.
The years I spent sailing gave me the opportunity to observe cattle more closely than I ever had, try different approaches and hone my craft in low stress handling.
In 2018, I dared to share some of that knowledge with the crew onboard the ship I was sailing on. It was a positive experience for everyone, but perhaps most of all for me. That venture was the beginning of my belief that I had knowledge of value to share—and that this nomadic life I had lived all over Australia and overseas, working with animals, might just have been leading me somewhere.
Modern Stockmanship grew from that belief.
It brings together my love of cattle, my penchant for writing and my desire to share what I have learned throughout a career spent handling livestock.
At the heart of it is an evergreen desire to help others better understand cattle and to find practical ways of working with them that protect their wellbeing, keep animals safe and leave both animals and handlers better for the experience.
Our Services
Livestock handling consulting for producers, livestock businesses, agribusinesses and industry organisations seeking specialist knowledge and practical advice on cattle behaviour, stockmanship and best-practice handling.
Services range from targeted advice, staff education and subject matter expertise through to the development of complete, site-specific livestock handling systems incorporating assessment, training, documentation, coaching and ongoing review.
For businesses where cattle are handled day-to-day, consulting can help improve workforce capability, animal welfare, safety, consistency and operational performance. I also work with businesses that service the livestock industry, including equipment manufacturers and other agribusinesses, to strengthen their understanding of cattle behaviour and handling and apply that knowledge to their own products, services and teams.
Practical, hands-on cattle handling schools designed to build confidence, capability and a deeper understanding of cattle behaviour.
Available for producers, stockpeople, agricultural students, cattle-sport competitors and industry groups, with general and ladies-only schools available.
Available Australia wide.
Keynote speaking, industry presentations, podcasts and technical writing informed by more than 20 years of practical experience across livestock production.
Available for conferences, workshops, podcast interviews, industry publications, educational resources and specialist livestock content.
View my work over at Portfolio
Independent expert opinion and report writing relating to livestock handling, cattle behaviour, animal welfare and workplace practices. Available to assist legal professionals & insurers with case review, technical interpretation, expert reports and court proceedings.
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