Cow pen/handling area

greybeard

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Thought I'd throw up a drawing of how mine works.
The fence at the bottom is three board 3" X 8" creosote timbers backed by 6' chain link..never had any cattle test that one. All the rest of the pen is Prefiert corral panels with a Prefiert 180° sweep tub. It isn't perfect, but it works for me.

I load thru an alley that funnels down from 4' to 28" via a sort gate. I've never had a wreck in that alley. Once they get in the narrow part, they head for the trailer unless one balks at the step up of the trailer itself. All my trouble comes in the 12' alley leading to the sweep. That's the only place I have to get in among them.
I'm never very good at drawing my pen. The sort gate is a prefiert 3 way sort gate. Send them straight ahead to headgate, or out to load, or cull back out to the holding area. The sliding gate is to keep 'em back in the 10' section after the sweep while I reposition the sort gate. All gates except my escape gate swing both directions.
Not drawn perfect, and not all corners are square like I have it drawn. I don't have more than 40 head at any given time and usually don't put more than 15 in the holding pen at any given time to work.
The gate just below the word 'sort' swings around and isolates the working area from the holding area.
pen1.jpg
 

Baymule

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That looks pretty well drawn to me. Cattle or sheep, the principals are the same. I have been able to work my sheep with a very rudimentary set up. This gives me better ideas that I can apply. Thank you.
 

GLENMAR

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I'm getting ready to buy about 20 tarter 12' corral panels to build something. I have a small herd of Highlands. Do you guys think those will be heavy enough? I'm on a tight budget.
My animals are used to me getting close to them. They don't freak out about much. They are also very food motivated.
 

greybeard

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I'm getting ready to buy about 20 tarter 12' corral panels to build something. I have a small herd of Highlands. Do you guys think those will be heavy enough? I'm on a tight budget.
My animals are used to me getting close to them. They don't freak out about much. They are also very food motivated.
Depends...on how docile your cattle are, how docile they stay once in the pen, how slow and gentle you work them and which 12' Tarter panels you are referring to.

I've never used any of Tarter's stuff. Found most of it too light and everyone I talk to hates their squeeze chutes and head gates. I use only Priefert panels.
Tarter, like other ranch supply companies makes some econo utility panels, some better panel and some heavy duty 'bull/rough stock' panels. The better the panel, the more they weigh--thicker tubing.
I don't know what Tarter panels weigh but the econo line of Preifert 12 foot panels (call Premier panels) weigh 90lbs each.

If you are getting the utility Tarter panel, they weigh 50 lbs each are are advertised for: "
  • Ideal for light confinement and portable for travel to overnight shows or trail rides.
Their next better panel is 'heavy duty standard panel' they weigh 62 lbs each and are advertised to be used for:
  • Ideal for the light-to-medium confinement of livestock in round pens and working areas
To get up to the area of working pens where cattle exert a lot of pressure on the panels, (sweep tub, loading chute and alley leading to headgate) you would want Tarter's heavier panels, but they run over $200 ea for a 12'panel.

If your cattle are very docile and you take your time with them, the lighter panels will work, but I can tell you from experience, that even with Priefert's medium duty panels, when the rodeo starts, an average cow can bend the crap out of them in a hurry too.
If budget restraints mean you need to buy the lighter panels, you can hedge your bets by driving Tee posts on the outsides about every 4' and find some way to tie the panel to the tee posts. If you don't, I've seen pin-together round or square corrals turned into a diamond shape or parallelogram in a hurry.
Scroll down at each panel and look at the MSRP/specs part to see what the panel is going to weigh.
http://tarterusa.com/corral-panels-and-walk-thrus
https://www.priefert.com/products/cattle-panels
 

greybeard

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And I prefer panels that chain together instead of pin together. You can get the tight as the blazes with a tapered spud bar and the panels can be set up on uneven ground and still fit easily and tightly together.
 

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And I prefer panels that chain together instead of pin together. You can get the tight as the blazes with a tapered spud bar and the panels can be set up on uneven ground and still fit easily and tightly together.
oh... good point....

had that problem with my round pen.
 

jhm47

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For the past couple years, I've been buying the panels made about 80 miles from here. The mfg company is called, tuffernhell, and I think they have a website. I buy the 24' panels. They weigh around 900 lbs, are stand alone, and cost $275 each. They are 6' high, with 2&7/8 inch pipe on the top and bottom. There are four upright pipes with 5 - 1" rods running through them. I now have 21 of these, and use them a lot. I needed to rebuild an older corral, and these work just fine. I could have built a wooden corral with railroad ties and heavy timbers, but with the labor involved, these were cheaper. Also, if I decide to retire someday, these will likely sell for about the same or more than I paid for them. Only drawback is that I have to use a loader to move them, but even that's OK, since I can move them out, clean under them and put them back in minutes. They have a facebook page with lots of pictures. The panels I buy are pictured loaded on the semi. You'll be hard pressed to find more rugged, well built panels anywhere. Look them up. They are great people to work with!
 
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greybeard

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900 lbs per 24' is a bit more than I need here, but I do bet they last and will hold most anything.
Their website seems to be down at the moment but I'll put the link in.
http://www.tuffernhell.com/
 

GLENMAR

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Thanks for the replays. I have a small herd. I need to be able to get them on a trailer of needed. I don't have a chute yet.
Mine are gentile, some are semi halter broke. A few are halter broke and have been shown. I will work with them slow. I'm
going to try the light weight panels and see what happens. I have part of one field with 3 strands of cheap electric fence and they respect that, so
they are not too hard on equipment, yet. I'm sure they could bend them up if they wanted to.
 
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