Squeeze Chute Options

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I have kind of a funny story about squeeze chutes. My buddy had a nice cow bit every time she went in the squeeze she would lay down. She did it enough that I told them to make sure and put a note on the yellow pad so I could put it in the spreadsheet. FF, he's tired of it and wants to sell her but she has a calf. So we go to weaning calves and hers is one so we put her on the truck... gone.

When we went to work the weaned calves the next day we were kind of eyeing nice heifers to keep. In comes a nice one and the B lays down. Im hollering... who has the spreadsheet... #123... who's her mom!?!

You guessed it... the calf of the cow that was doing it. 🤣

If any one thinks all those bad habbits are not taught... laying down, acting stupid, crawling fences, getting in water troughs, having calves in stupid places, etc... you are wrong. Dog people, horse people, etc all cull for brains. Cattle should be treated the same way.
 
Other than on this site I’ve never heard of the Arrowquip headgate slipping. There are several ranches in the area including this one that have ran many thousands through with no slipping.
I am hoping to upgrade to a hydraulic Arrowquip for next year. They are super quiet and I like the features.

This is the model I’m thinking on getting

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Chutes are a regional thing. I have never seen a Prieferts for sale at a supply store up here. I am sure there is probably some somewhere I just have never seen them. On the other hand I don't hear people in the south saying anything about Powder River. Up here anyone who sells chute or gates has Powder River in stock.
 
RDFF said:
@Brute 23, do you mean the bottom access doors? I kind of thought that might be a negative, although because of the larger size (longer", maybe the would need to split that door. If you only open one, (assume the rear... is that front one then in the way and in a place where you could get your arm whacked up against it by a kicker? These bottom panels are made to swing out, hinged on the ends. Will they strike the ground, if you don't have the chute "squeezed" to tilt the side panel inward? Looks to me like that panel is slanted out on top pretty good... And then if you open it, they're sticking out there in your way potentially, where with the old style, you just removed the whole thing and set it out of the way... They went to a plastic panel in that bottom door... supposedly makes it quieter... because of the frame required to support that plastic, I wouldn't think that it could be any lighter weight.

My concern with putting them in the chute first, and then catching them in the headgate is that some won't enter the chute as readily if they don't see enough daylight out front to escape... so THAT aspect might potentially slow down the flow a bit. And then beyond that, making it a "two step process" like that would also slow down the flow through a little bit. Not a "big" issue, but still, "an" issue to consider at least. That said, operating slow and quiet is usually faster than fast and noisy! SLOW is FAST! Cattle hitting that hard stop at a run can be pretty noisy, and cause a ruckus... which also impacts all those that are yet to come through... Clanging and banging, and chutes moving around from those kind of hard impacts have their own negatives to the operation, for sure!
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The side bottom doors are cantilevered so they swing out at an upward angle. Same with escape side door-it blouses by pulling the squeeze handle.
No “floating floor” to adjust size. All size adjustment done with the squeeze handle. The floor is cow-track wide. But you can widen or narrow as needed with the animal walking into the chute. Handles are designed to be all out of the way of head knocks
 
Hpacres440p said:
The side bottom doors are cantilevered so they swing out at an upward angle. Same with escape side door-it blouses by pulling the squeeze handle.
No “floating floor” to adjust size. All size adjustment done with the squeeze handle. The floor is cow-track wide. But you can widen or narrow as needed with the animal walking into the chute. Handles are designed to be all out of the way of head knocks
Click to expand...
Yup, that's what I've learned about it (the SC25) too. And I see how they've hinged those bottom doors so that they don't swing "toward the ground" if the bottom panel is sloping toward the ground... smart move by Priefert there. And I see that the escape door on the off-side is done that way as well. This is a pretty well designed chute... I just wish they had incorporated a palp cage door setup right into the chute itself, instead of considering that to be "an option"... who want's that as "an option"??? I had a discussion with Priefert about that very thing this morning... suggested that they could do like ArrowQuip, and sell the chute as "with or without" a palp cage as two separate units, but NOT with the "palp cage" as a separate ADD-ON piece, but a complete unit that includes the palp cage as an integrated component within the same mainframe... call it the SC25+ or something when built with the palp cage then.

I also made some suggestions to them as to how I (of course I am the all-knowing expert :ROFLMAO: ) would design that palp cage door then... maybe they ought to just tune into our conversations here... and they'd get some pretty great ideas from all across the globe!
 
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Arrowquip makes several different levels of chutes. I've never heard a complaint about a cow slipping the complaints I hear are the chutes just getting noisy and sloppy.

My biggest problem I have when working alone at the chute (95% of the time) is the cow goes in but I can't get the back gate shut without getting beside her then she backs out. We do the back and forth several times before I catch her. The chute opens into a big trap so I hate to chance the auto headgate. Being able to run the headgate from the back would be a big plus for me.
 
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Silver said:
Other than on this site I’ve never heard of the Arrowquip headgate slipping. There are several ranches in the area including this one that have ran many thousands through with no slipping.
I am hoping to upgrade to a hydraulic Arrowquip for next year. They are super quiet and I like the features.

This is the model I’m thinking on getting

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Click to expand...
I've had conversations with ArrowQuip... they knew they had some issues with the headcatch slipping, and that's the whole reason why they've redesigned their locking system on it... to the "PowerLock" on the new ones. I don't know what the solution would be for those who bought the now "retired" locking mechanism... but what I can say is that Priefert had that all pretty well figured out already 30 years ago... their headlock just works, period. I've never seen or heard of it "slipping"... And of course, their squeeze uses the same "locking technology"... I guess the rear doors on the SC25 uses that too. And I also PREFER the style of drop down gates the Priefert uses for access to the side of the animal vs. the "swinging gates" like ArrowQuip uses... but that is obviously a personal preference.
 
Hpacres440p said:
The side bottom doors are cantilevered so they swing out at an upward angle. Same with escape side door-it blouses by pulling the squeeze handle.
No “floating floor” to adjust size. All size adjustment done with the squeeze handle. The floor is cow-track wide. But you can widen or narrow as needed with the animal walking into the chute. Handles are designed to be all out of the way of head knocks
Click to expand...
That sounds nice! I have been eyeing another chute to leave permanently at one place. Ill be watching for a price to come out on these.
 
Lucky said:
Arrowquip makes several different levels of chutes. I've never heard a complaint about a cow slipping the complaints I hear are the chutes just getting noisy and sloppy.

My biggest problem I have when working alone at the chute (95% of the time) is the cow goes in but I can't get the back gate shut without getting beside her then she backs out. We do the back and forth several times before I catch her. The chute opens into a big trap so I hate to chance the auto headgate. Being able to run the headgate from the back would be a big plus for me.
Click to expand...
You can operate the tailgate on the Priefert from the rear. Just not the headgate. When you go to get behind a cow you can take them in to the chute and close it off behind them so they dont come back. I do it all the time. I have actually found that works better than showing them an opening.

I've also never had one make it through the auto catch and I've had F1s hit it as fast as they could get up to speed. Its more likely to set premature and close before their head is even in it which is just as good, if not better.

My preferred set up is to have a section before the catch that is big enough for one animal. I do not like a chute with the ability to move backwards before a squeeze. With that set up its easier to open the head and the tail at the same time so that one cow can follow the other. One going out and one going in. Thats ideal.🤞

After that my next go to is close the head and open the tail and get behind the cow. This is very effective even with out the opening.

Lastly I'll set the auto-catch and get behind her. At that point she is going dead or alive.

My buddy has gates in front of his squeeze probably around 3-4' away. They are metal but have cattle panel welded to them. It works really well. He runs F1s also and some of them get rowdy. It slows them down at just about the right time to catch them. If I get the opportunity I will incorporate that at some point.
 
Brute 23 said:
I have kind of a funny story about squeeze chutes. My buddy had a nice cow bit every time she went in the squeeze she would lay down. She did it enough that I told them to make sure and put a note on the yellow pad so I could put it in the spreadsheet. FF, he's tired of it and wants to sell her but she has a calf. So we go to weaning calves and hers is one so we put her on the truck... gone.

When we went to work the weaned calves the next day we were kind of eyeing nice heifers to keep. In comes a nice one and the B lays down. Im hollering... who has the spreadsheet... #123... who's her mom!?!

You guessed it... the calf of the cow that was doing it. 🤣

If any one thinks all those bad habbits are not taught... laying down, acting stupid, crawling fences, getting in water troughs, having calves in stupid places, etc... you are wrong. Dog people, horse people, etc all cull for brains. Cattle should be treated the same way.
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DNA matters. If you will notice people, are the same way.
 
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RDFF said:
I've had conversations with ArrowQuip... they knew they had some issues with the headcatch slipping, and that's the whole reason why they've redesigned their locking system on it... to the "PowerLock" on the new ones. I don't know what the solution would be for those who bought the now "retired" locking mechanism... but what I can say is that Priefert had that all pretty well figured out already 30 years ago... their headlock just works, period. I've never seen or heard of it "slipping"... And of course, their squeeze uses the same "locking technology"... I guess the rear doors on the SC25 uses that too. And I also PREFER the style of drop down gates the Priefert uses for access to the side of the animal vs. the "swinging gates" like ArrowQuip uses... but that is obviously a personal preference.
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I wonder if this slipping issue is climate related. It does involve a mechanism very much like a Dr. Frank’s calf puller. Which come to think of it I’ve never had one of those slip either. But maybe in the right climate the rod in the Arrowquip might get in such condition that it slips. As I’ve said before, there are a lot of them in this area that get used a lot and I’ve never heard of one slipping.
To me there are only two to choose from, Silencer or Arrowquip. I won’t have another noisy chute so that’s high on the priority list. But I realize everyone has their own preferences.
 
Hpacres440p said:
That’s about what the rep at the booth said. They are still working on the mobility aspect of it. That’s one of my biggest concerns
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As heavy as this one would be, I don't know why they don't just jack it up and slip a couple wheels onto it into a reciever, and then the same for a hitch. You're not going to be "hand positioning it" very easily like I can do with the wishbone cradle on my SO191... weighs twice as much...
 
RDFF said:
As heavy as this one would be, I don't know why they don't just jack it up and slip a couple wheels onto it into a reciever, and then the same for a hitch. You're not going to be "hand positioning it" very easily like I can do with the wishbone cradle on my SO191... weighs twice as much...
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Ironically, the rep said they are looking at a wheel system…
 
Well, I made a decision.

I ended up buying an Arrowquip Easylock 33 from my one of local Co-op's locations.

https://arrowquip.com/cattle-equipment/cattle-squeeze-chutes/cattle-working-chute

My Co-Op was a dealer, but will no longer be carrying Arrowquip, and this was a leftover unit. So, I got a pretty good deal on it. They started carrying 4 rivers equipment instead among the others they offer.

I chose it over Priefert equivalent just because of the size, it will fit larger animals easier and the controls are very simple so my wife can help when we work cattle. The manager of the location I bought it from said the Arrowquip was probably the better of the entry level squeeze chutes which is all I needed for my small herd. I saw the Priefert S04 in person next to the Easylock 33 and the size difference was noticeable; I should be able to work anything I'll have in my herd.

Now I've got some left over TAEP since I got a deal on the chute to apply to some continuous fencing panels.

I plan on putting the panels up and putting the chute on a concrete pad and hopefully covering it, that way it should last many years.
 
chevytaHOE5674 said:
Curious what size cows you have that won't fit in a Priefert? Must be some monsters.
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None at the moment, but if you could buy a bigger chute for the same money that has a bigger capacity makes more sense to me to buy the bigger one.

I do have one pretty tall heifer that will enjoy the extra height that looks to come with the Arrowquip vs the Priefert.
 
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clarkmorefarm said:
None at the moment, but if you could buy a bigger chute for the same money that has a bigger capacity makes more sense to me to buy the bigger one.

I do have one pretty tall heifer that will enjoy the extra height that looks to come with the Arrowquip vs the Priefert.
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No I wouldnt.... and I didnt.

Cow size can trickle out and be a factore for a lot of other issues in an operation.

Hope it works for you. 👍
 

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