Wildrosebeef - Armchair Cattlewoman's BYH Journal

[redtailgal]

And of course a good man gate can't be one where you have to screw around with a bloody chain. Ever since I've helped the vet with working with cattle in a handling facility I've loved the latches where they simply lock when you push them shut. That's what a good man-gate should have, not some stupid chains.

yes YES yes YES yes! my sentiments exactly!

They have since reworked the gates, they can now be closed without even entering the chutes. They swing back to the panels and latch, so we can undo the latch and give them a push and WALA!

My friend has also added a rotating press, so I am excited about working with that this summer. She does have to battle hoof rot frequently, so this should make caring for those hooves so much easier. Easier access to feet is a big deal for me, cattle hooves are not my favorite area.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Another plan I've considered.

Some old pictures of the current facilities:

Down the working alley towards the loading chute in the background and squeeze chute on the left

Entrance to the working alley

Crowding alley. Notice how much of a dead-end it seems to be from a bovine's point of view

Part one of the holding corral. Also notice the one side of the working alley that I'd like to work on to make it an adjustable chute. Be a lot of torch and welding work, as well as a bit of use with a lift or tractor loader to make it actually work. Might just have to hire a welder to get it done for me, lol. The ropes were used for the same purpose that SheepGirl mentioned in her pictures above: to make it easier to shut gates without going into the corral or pen to shut them, making them more safer for the handler.

Part two of the holding corral. The location of the barn (not to mention the pig-barn which is immediately behind where I took this picture by a measure of around 5o feet away) influences a lot of decisions on how to best go about making/planning these handling facilities. We've also used the barn as another "holding corral" since it can hold up to 20 animals at a time...and I'm talking 900 lb steers...it's not a very big barn either!

This is the really old squeeze chute we had. Simple, easy to use, easy to fix, and pretty effective for as long as it's being (and still in) use!

I took more extensive pictures of the facilities a few days ago, so I will have to upload them on the computer and look through them before posting here.

The thing that I really have to get in mind is that I don't have to have the facilities as the fanciest, snazziest facilities on Earth that cost much more money than the money I could've spent to make or renovate them into functional, easy-to-use, strong and safe for both me and for the cattle I need to run through. It's the money part that I really need to pay attention to. I don't want to spend too much money on a new crowding tub, new squeeze chute, new loading chute nor working chute. But, I know that I really need a new and improved loading chute as the one we have now is just about ready to fall apart. I also need a good squeeze chute, but I know very well that I don't need to buy one brand new, a squeeze chute as old or a little younger than the one we had pictured above for around $550 or $1000 would be just fine. I forget how much our old squeeze went for at the auction we had, but I think it went for something like $100 or more. I could be under or over estimating though.

But using the fences I have, being creative and innovative on building some good facilities, or just cruising a bunch of different farm auctions until I find what I like is as good as I can get to get the facilities I need for my operation.

But, of course before I do that I need: 1) a DARN good plan, and 2) enough money to make the facilities I want to have, and then some.

Love this stuff!

 

[redtailgal]

How many head will you be working in this set up?

It looks good, but I think it could get crowded easy if you are working very many at once. Crowded=dangerous!

Is there anyway you could weld a riser bar near your gates, to put your gate rope thru? I've seen several cattle panic and get there heads tangled in rope that was too low even if it was "out of the way".

 

[Remuda1]

Wild, along with the auctions you might check out Craigslist. I didn't notice what area you are in but here, there are always lots of chutes, ramps, cattle panels for sale there. I don't have cattle but I don't buy ANYTHING for the farm without looking for it on Craigslist. Also, if you're wanting to sell any of your older equipment, craigsList is a good place to start.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Red, the pics are of the facilities that need renovation. The crowding area is very dangerous even without the rope there, since whenever we've ran the steers through, they are always balking and turning around right before they actually see the entrance to the working chute. It would help to weld a pipe there to raise the rope up a bit, for sure. It helps maybe slightly if we tie a tarp over the outside fence to that area, but it still is going to cause balking because they see it as a dead-end and not an actual way to go through. We ran 80 to 90 head through this facility, with only doing around 5 to 10 at a time. The new facility would hold around the same, though with some rotational grazing I might be looking at higher numbers, maybe a little over 100...though that's just being optimistic.

What is needed, even if it's just a temporary fix until I can purchase some proper facilities, is to extend that little gate ten more feet to the left as a ten-foot gate that could be used as a temporary part of the crowding area. I'd also like to take out the grey panels that you see in the pics (which are meant to be temporary fencing, not sturdy, bull/cow-resistant fencing) and put in a 25' panel fence similar to the ones you see in the pictures (those big brown panels) with a gate at the inside corner to the working chute entrance to act as a crowding gate. I'd put a cutting-torch to that little gate at the angled entrance of the chute because it doesn't add to anything, really. I'd take off the gate attached to the barn that doesn't do anything except make cattle think they're going into the barn, at the way it's angled when closed.

The whole system, where it is now as I mentioned before would have to be moved back 20 feet to allow for space for the squeeze chute and for panels or gates for cattle to exit to the right (not left like with the old system) and get sorted into pens, like I had put in one of the diagrams on here.

The loading chute itself MUST go. The problem is (LOL! Not) is that one of the posts of the loading chute is mere inches away from a natural gas line. Mom told me that Dad didn't realize that until he had pounded in the post. So if/when I have to or want to take out those posts, I gotta call the natural gas company to stake out the area before I start a-diggin'!! And it's those posts that are getting really loose, since I was climbing up on the chute and seeing how loose the posts are by reefing on them a bit. The next loading chute will NOT be one that has posts sunk in, preferably a sturdy yet portable chute would be ideal, since it could be moved in if/when a cattle-liner is needed to haul out the backgrounder calves and moved for a livestock trailer to back up to to haul out any culls or anything that doesn't need a big 50' long cattle liner.

Now here's the clincher that makes it even more of a challenge to work around: according to some articles I've been reading and the Humane Livestock Handling book I have, it's a bit of a no-no to have working alleys and loading chutes in an east-west direction: they should be in a north-south direction. The system we have right now is in that no-no position. Which means that I could have the system stay where it is for now, but I really need to work on a plan that has these facilities in a north-south direction in such a location that I still have access to electricity and power, and trucks and trailers are still able to get at without having too much driving around and backing-up to do. With the location of the barn, the waterer, the low spots and high spots, the quanset, the pump-house, trees, etc. etc. etc. I've got a bit of a challenge on my hands!!

Temporary would work, but won't be the greatest. I'll have to be doing a lot of little improvements to the system as I see fit until I can actually get something worthwhile that doesn't take all those little improvements to do.

 

[redtailgal]

ok, so why exactly does it matter if the alleys run north-south or east-west?

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Something to do with how the sunlight would impede the movement of the animals, like if they were run into the system in the rising or setting sun where the light is in the animal's eyes, and that studies show that cattle don't like going into areas where there is bright light in their eyes. Can't blame them: I sure wouldn't like to go into an area where a bright light is shining in my eyes lol. The other reason could be that shadows could cause some confusion or something. Gotta look that one up...

 

[WildRoseBeef]

All it says in the Humane Livestock Handling book is this:

"Consider bright sunlight. Do not face the squeeze chute [...] or loading ramp into the rising or setting sun. Animals balk and refuse to move into blinding light."

I guess that also goes for working chutes too, since it can also impede movement if cattle go into bright sunlight. Guess that would also go for point it south too, especially on a bright, sunlit-day working cattle during the winter.

 

[redtailgal]

never heard of that, lol.

Of course, I've never noticed it being an issue either. But, if it works, it works!

 

[WildRoseBeef]

I'm thinking I may reconsider the north-south positioning of the squeeze and loading chutes because, in the past, the location of these where they are now hasn't affected movement of the cattle we had. Just the spots that were prone to bung-ups that are the ones that need to be fixed.

Here's the latest and I think the best possible rendition of the kind of facility I should have on the farm:

I have, as I mention on there, enough room for expansion as I will be (or try) to use the "temporary" panels (the more heavier type), and may be able to rig up something that has a curved crowding tub instead of a straight-one that I have there. AND, this one is actually to scale, unlike the other drawings I showed.



Other Updates NOT Related to Handling Facility:

I emailed the employer of the feedmill and turns out I did NOT get the position. I had a hunch that I wouldn't get it, and turns out I was right. So now I gots to do some more job searching, probably going out further a-field. There's a dairy farm out around an hour's drive away from us near another town we frequent that is looking for someone, so I may decide to take up the offer and let them know I'd be interested in an interview again, since I backed down the last time I was going to go in for an interview with them. It does say "willing to train" and does involve working with cattle, which I would like to have a job that involves doing, so we'll see. Not much for career opportunities in and around my hometown anyway, so it may be time to range further from home for a job, at least a job that I know I will enjoy.

Second update is that we got SNOW!!! We got about 12 inches of the white stuff fall over the weekend, making it fun shoveling. At least we have a good little snow blower, and the neighbor was kind enough to come up with his big loader to dig out our drive way for us: we had a 3' high drift near the end there.

But today it's cold, but sunny. And I gotsta git me arse in gear and work on my Accounting course a bit more today.