Agricultural Animal Manual Therapies
We are delighted to provide agricultural animal therapy training to use on your own animal, produced and delivered by industry professionals with a wealth of agriculture and animal therapy experience. The training is also accredited with UK Rural Skills so you have the knowledge that the training meets specific standards.
Training Audience
Farmers, farm workers, young farmers, livestock owners, show animal owners, breeding centres, veterinary professionals, small holders/hobby farmers, Argi college students, equine therapists wanting to diversify to another species. The pre-requisite for the training is handling experience of agricultural animals – if you do not have this, contact us direct as we can provide.
Multimedia Training Package
The training is a blend of theory, practical and media so that you have a comprehensive training manual and filming to refer to as you wish. We will take you through the relevant anatomy & physiology, assessment for injury, therapy for: injury, lameness, well-being and performance. The content applies to both commercial and hobby industries.
The Courses Available
Cow Manual Therapy
This training has developed from the growing research relating to the benefits of bovine manual therapy (massage). It is well documented that massage is great for cows in a variety of circumstances:
Well-being - both current academic research and anecdotal evidence suggests that massage appears to make animals more comfortable, reduces stress levels and increases muscle tone when cows have limited movement due to their housing.
Injuries/lameness - it has also been proven that massage has an extremely positive impact with muscle injuries and lameness sustained by cows in the shed, living on concrete, milking parlour, field, travelling etc. We also cover calf injuries and deformities.
Productivity -the evidence also reveals that happy beef cattle produce a better quality meat and massage increases milk yield in dairy cows. Lameness also has a link with production output and welfare implications.
Showing – with showing stock, the coat and musculature is enhanced by massage and movements appear more fluid as the cow is able to move more freely and track up as required.
Bonding – on a social level human and cow bonding can be very beneficial especially for smallholders who keep their animals in a more ‘natural state’ and want to learn a valuable additional skill.
Delivery Details
The training takes place at one of our venues in the North West, or we can come to you. The training is held over 1 day (with the option of a second day working with sheep). Training in small groups is £150 per person. Private tuition is also available. Please contact us to discuss your needs. Forthcoming courses are shown on the Training Calendar.
Sheep Manual Therapy
This is the perfect course to be taken alongside the cow therapy training because the same benefits apply to both the sheep and the cow. All animals benefit from manual therapy!
We will focus on the common muscular injuries that occur with sheep due to their day-to-day activities. Such as: the compensatory patterns in their muscles from foot abscesses, knuckling, when they fall and strike the surrounding infrastructure such as gate, fence or floor, the tup in the breeding process, excess mounting, the transporting process and from incorrect handling. We will also cover the benefits of generic manual therapy for the show sheep to make it look good in the show ring.
Lambing is a time fraught with injuries, as such we will also cover this and share a number of manual therapy options that can be performed.
Delivery Details
The training takes place at one of our venues in the North West, or we can come to you. The training is held over 1 day (after the cow course). Training in small groups is £150 per person. Private tuition is also available. Please contact us to discuss your needs. Forthcoming courses are shown on the Training Calendar.
