No back up or Alley stop

I need a little help when working by myself getting cows in the chute. I use a pipe to slide behind the cows as they work up the alley. Has anybody used the Powder River No Back or the Filson Alley Stop? Just looking for more info or opinions, website descriptions are not the greatest.
Thanks in advance

I've seen one like this used



Should be able to make one pretty easy

SEIOWACATTLE":38fy75jv said:

I need a little help when working by myself getting cows in the chute. I use a pipe to slide behind the cows as they work up the alley. Has anybody used the Powder River No Back or the Filson Alley Stop? Just looking for more info or opinions, website descriptions are not the greatest.
Thanks in advance

Click to expand...

Make one.
Both neighbors have Behlen working pens and have the factory jobs on theirs. It sure makes one man operations a lot easier.

ez14.":3uqh2sb1 said:

I've seen one like this used



Should be able to make one pretty easy

Click to expand...

I have that one..looks like it anyway. A Prefeirt product.
My only complaint is it could be a little wider and maybe a bit longer. I've had a couple that were able to back up under it some and kinda get hung up if they can't go forward because there's another in front of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GzKeePYPgU

Pretty inexpensive & I don't know if you can make one for this.
http://www.priefert.com/products/premie ... alley-stop

I do not like the kind that stick out from the side of the alley panels.

I built my own to fit an existing round chute. Pretty much copied the one in the picture. It works very well on cows but it is calves that give me trouble and they are worthless for those as mine don't hang down low enough. Nice heavy sliding gates work for both and what I prefer.

greybeard":1ds89rsr said:

ez14.":1ds89rsr said:

I've seen one like this used



Should be able to make one pretty easy

Click to expand...

I have that one..looks like it anyway. A Prefeirt product.
My only complaint is it could be a little wider and maybe a bit longer. I've had a couple that were able to back up under it some and kinda get hung up if they can't go forward because there's another in front of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GzKeePYPgU

Pretty inexpensive & I don't know if you can make one for this.
http://www.priefert.com/products/premie ... alley-stop

I do not like the kind that stick out from the side of the alley panels.

Click to expand...

I'm sure you (at least I (because we have a lot of scrap metal and pipes) could make one for cheaper BUT at that price the convenience of just buying it might be worth it!

Though if you made your own you could make it wider and longer (or make the length adjustable)

I hate them. When we used them I was always banging my head on them if I had to get in the alley for anything. Now I just use the pipe method.

I finally gave in this fall and bought the Priefert for our alley. After working cows the first day, I asked my 18 year old what he thought. He indicated that it was pretty handy and that if I had bought it 10-12 years ago, instead of him moving the pipe, he might actually like working cattle

bird dog":2bv6pykq said:

I built my own to fit an existing round chute. Pretty much copied the one in the picture. It works very well on cows but it is calves that give me trouble and they are worthless for those as mine don't hang down low enough. Nice heavy sliding gates work for both and what I prefer.

Click to expand...

I've thought about the sliding gate idea.Seems like a good solution when working cows and/or calves.No adjustments up or down to change.Also,do you make yours solid?I'd think it would hide the "action"up ahead from the ones behind.The way my chute is made,I'd probably be like Dun and have my head bangge a lot.Could get a broken neck if you would be following one of the right size that suddenly backed up.JMO.

The chute where I built my alley backups was solid and circular and yes I banged my head hundreds of times pushing thru small calves. I hated it. It was on a place I bought. I would never build one that way. I had to build a walkway along the sides to see over the top. My new set of pens is open view. The chute is off of a tub and is 20' long with one sliding gate in the middle. The sliding gate is made of square tube and covered with heavy wire mesh. It is stout. I can get two cows in front of the gate and two behind with the tub gate providing a stop for the back two.

See thru panels or gates has never been an issue with me. I kind of have the opposite view. The cows or calves see the one's in front going thru and being let out and it encourages them to follow. They just want to get out of the pens and back into the pasture.
When the whole herd is worked I only bring into the pens about 1/3rd of them at a time. The others are in a holding pen waiting there turn. By the time the last group goes through, they having been watching a while and see the routine. A few minutes doing something they don't want and then they are turned out with the others. Even the flighty cows are ready to get'r done. It goes pretty quick.

I've been trying to decide on how far apart to put some stops, I'll probably make sliding gates from some old tracking and rollers that we have laying around. My alley weontt bed long maybe 15-20feet. Thought about putting one at the beginning of it and calling it good. Might put a swing gate at the end like a palp cage door, itll keep next cow from running you over and give acess to rear of cow

That is pretty much like mine. The swing tub gate is at the rear. it has a spring loaded latch. A 20' alley with a sliding gate in the middle. Alley will hold four cows. This goes up to the priefert palp cage which has swinging doors on both sides that latch back for access and to keep the cows in the alley in place and away from you. The palp cage also allows passage from one side of the chute to the other.

I was going to build this palp cage set up but with the labor and materials required, buying a prebuilt unit seemed the best.
I poured a concrete curb to set the palp cage on and filled the inside of the curb with dirt. This gives a step up for the cows and they move easily into the chute from there without having to jump up. The chute is on scales so the palp cage is not attached to it but is welded back to the alley and bolted down to the concrete curb on the bottom.

The overhead one way swing "flaps" are head knockers as some mentioned. Are the side flap types mentioned any better or have other disadvantages?

Sliding gate....

I have the side stopper. I have it set up where the cow is partially into the chute. It works well when I am working by myself. I can also flip it around so it isn't working depending on what I am doing and if I have help. I have worked in pens with the overhead ones. They work well but you have to adjust them to the size of cattle you are working. Too high and they won't hold smaller ones. Too low and taller ones don't want to go under it.
If you use the pipe method always stand facing the same way as the cow with the pipe in front of you. If a cow backs up suddenly before you get it secure it will just take the pipe away from you. I know of two people who were on the wrong side of the pipe. Cow backed up pulling the pipe into their leg, breaking their leg. A broken leg isn't as much fun as you might think

ez14.":slem676k said:

I've seen one like this used



Should be able to make one pretty easy

Click to expand...

I made mine like that but longer and wider I also have a chain welded on it so I can adjust it to fit the cattle I am working. I can make it work on 2000 lb. bulls or 350 lb. calves or I can lift it up and hook it to where its not even down in the alley. stick a pipe in front of it and it will work as a stop to where they can't even go up the alley if needed

dun":9nj16fcu said:

I hate them. When we used them I was always banging my head on them if I had to get in the alley for anything. Now I just use the pipe method.

Click to expand...

Pipe works here too....or a post.

TexasBred":2tbztpge said:

dun":2tbztpge said:

I hate them. When we used them I was always banging my head on them if I had to get in the alley for anything. Now I just use the pipe method.

Click to expand...

Pipe works here too....or a post.

Click to expand...

I second (or third I guess) the pipe. We actually got a smoothed off 1 inch thick, 6 foot long fiberglass "rod" from the guy who semen tests bulls for me and I wish i had another. It doesn't shed fibers into your hand and is light enough to throw around in a hurry, but will hold if one of our cows or bulls (several over a ton) ram into it. They have tried, but cannot break it. I'm sure that eventually, it will succumb to age, but so far (3 years of nearly daily use) and it is holding up. I wish I had more of them...

dun":19o5dgh0 said:

I hate them. When we used them I was always banging my head on them if I had to get in the alley for anything. Now I just use the pipe method.

Click to expand...

Glad I'm not the only one. Broke my Oakley sunglasses in half I was wearing on top of my head.

Tbrake":2io99vqb said:

dun":2io99vqb said:

I hate them. When we used them I was always banging my head on them if I had to get in the alley for anything. Now I just use the pipe method.

Click to expand...

Glad I'm not the only one. Broke my Oakley sunglasses in half I was wearing on top of my head.

Click to expand...

Your not supposed to be in the chute the cattle are.