Building a New Corral

[hillbilly beef man]

Also, one more ?

We've always loaded through the alley and head gate. IMO I hate this. Seems the cattle are terrified to go through the gate and into the trailer. This results in driving them into the trailer. I absolutely hate this. But its how it has been done here for a while. Does it make any difference in a cow's perception to have a diverter in front of the chute to a load out? I'd rather them not be terrified of the chute. And would like them to think the trailer is "A OK"

I have a cut gate before my head gate in my alleyway that I load out of and it works ok. With my set up they go through a sweep tub, then out the cut gate into the trailer. For comparison dad has an 8 ft wide alley that we load straight into the trailer out of. His set up works better with calm cattle that can be pushed into the trailer from behind, mine is safer with crazies, as you have a piece of steel between you and them while loading.

A perfect set up would be to add a wide alleyway to mine to use for calm cattle, while retaining the load out of working alley option for the difficult ones.

 

[Rafter S]

I have calm cattle, and load them all through a 28" wide chute. Sometimes they're too calm because I'll get 4 or 5 of them in the chute and they just stand there. But even though I have calm cattle, I wouldn't want to try loading them directly from a wide alley. I've tried that a time or two in other people's pens and it didn't work well for me.

 

[greybeard]

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.

 

[J&D Cattle]

I have a pen that leads up to my sweep that has a gate on one side of it. Back the trailer in at a 45 and I then have a couple of gates I can use to push them up until they are essentially pushed on the trailer. I normally just get in with them and cut how many out I want in each section of the trailer and move them along with a stick. None of my setups would allow for anything else or I'd be loading out through the headgate itself which I wouldn't like at all. We're loading gooseneck trailers and not pots.

 

[kenny thomas]

Clinch Valley, come and look at mine before you buy anything or dig the first hole. Might give you some good ideas.
I like greybeards design also.

 

[Rafter S]

Here's one I built at the rent pasture a few years ago. It works pretty well.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I have never had a bud box and never will. I am sure the "concept" works MOST of the time, but...if you get 1 animal that doesn't WANT to go, you can't MAKE it go.

 

[Brute 23]

I have never had a bud box and never will. I am sure the "concept" works MOST of the time, but...if you get 1 animal that doesn't WANT to go, you can't MAKE it go.

When they show the "bud box" they show it for the low stress management crowd.

We have been using a variation for a long time as have others. I've seen some people call it a medina gate.

Basically you build what looks like a bud box set up but you dont get in the pen with them to put them in the chute. When you run them down past the chute you close the gate which makes one side of the chute. That alley they are in is solid gates you close to make the box smaller and smaller until they are in the chute. You can get behind a gate and eventually force them down the chute the entire way. I have tied ropes to those gates and pulled them from the outside with cattle fighting the gate the whole way.

For hard to work cattle I've had the best luck with that modified bud box set up.

I personally prefer a sweep because it's less walking around but when cattle bury their head in the V of a sweep its much harder to get them moving than in a bud box.

 

[bird dog]

I built a bud box to see how it would work. I was somewhat disappointed and left it when I sold the place. I had a gentle cow just flat out refuse to go into the short alley to the chute. I spent 15 minutes with her until she became ungentle. A hot shot will do that sometimes. Like Jeanne said, its hard to force them in when they get it in their mind to not go.

 

[GoWyo]

I have used both and I know how to use a bud box. The bud box is fine for most cattle. Old show heifers and gentle cattle don't work worth a darn through them. They would rather just hang out with you in the box than go up the alley. Cattle that don't want to hang out with you work great through the bud box. I have some old show heifers about to age out and half the herd is fairly gentle, so I built a tub. It has handled yearling and mature bulls fine. The real test will be the cows in 5 weeks when we start syncing them.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

Also, one more ?

We've always loaded through the alley and head gate. IMO I hate this. Seems the cattle are terrified to go through the gate and into the trailer. This results in driving them into the trailer. I absolutely hate this. But its how it has been done here for a while. Does it make any difference in a cow's perception to have a diverter in front of the chute to a load out? I'd rather them not be terrified of the chute. And would like them to think the trailer is "A OK"

Clinch Valley saith, " I've got Limo/Char cattle for the most part. Some are high headed. Some are very chilled out " Later he writes,
" But it's how it has been done here for a while" The solution to his question lies within his remarks as a problem well stated is
a problem half solved, as he so eloquently explained.

 

[TexasRancher]

Without Concrete, the cattle cannot be tied off and reeled in anywhere, they will rip them right out of the ground! Just experienced this at a friends ranch, went back with 3 feet of concrete on all poles. Mere sand will never hold a full grown cow!

I guess sandy soil would do that. If you have good hard clay soil 3-foot deep on the footings....i use four 6"/ 7" diameter posts for my head gate...no concrete. Probably get away with two poles, no concrete, to hold any cow or bull where i'm at.

 

[TexasRancher]

Not sure 5 feet is tall enough. If the cow can get her head over the top they will try and jump. I build my corral 6 ft tall and sometimes one will try and jump.

He'll need to tie up those 5' panels a foot off the ground to make 6'....or use a wide thick runner board at the top to get to 6'.

I learned to corral my cattle...in their barn/corral-load chute area....let them eat and relax. Then...best if one person...just me, walks in relaxed and slow....i can walk them around divert their flow and sort them...and then divert the few i need on the trailer. The slower and relaxed i am the easier-quicker it is to get the cattle to do what i want. I won't have anyone trying to jump over fences.

I know when i do a good job after....because the cattle quickly return to the barn corral area in 30 minutes....probably seeking a treat. When there's two people and cattle are running stressed....they aren't coming back to the corral.

 

[Brute 23]

I guess sandy soil would do that. If you have good hard clay soil 3-foot deep on the footings....i use four 6"/ 7" diameter posts for my head gate...no concrete. Probably get away with two poles, no concrete, to hold any cow or bull where i'm at.

You do not have to use concrete in sand. You need at least 50% of the post in the dirt. A cow is not going to roll 5' or 6' of post out of the dirt. I have places that are so sandy that you dig down about 2' and hit salt water.

 

[pnw-farmer]

When they show the "bud box" they show it for the low stress management crowd.

We have been using a variation for a long time as have others. I've seen some people call it a medina gate.

Basically you build what looks like a bud box set up but you dont get in the pen with them to put them in the chute. When you run them down past the chute you close the gate which makes one side of the chute. That alley they are in is solid gates you close to make the box smaller and smaller until they are in the chute. You can get behind a gate and eventually force them down the chute the entire way. I have tied ropes to those gates and pulled them from the outside with cattle fighting the gate the whole way.

For hard to work cattle I've had the best luck with that modified bud box set up.

I personally prefer a sweep because it's less walking around but when cattle bury their head in the V of a sweep its much harder to get them moving than in a bud box.

Brute 23, How many gates do you use in your modified bud box to make box smaller and how small do you make it? Thanks

 

[gcreekrch]

I have never had a bud box and never will. I am sure the "concept" works MOST of the time, but...if you get 1 animal that doesn't WANT to go, you can't MAKE it go.

Oooooooooooooooooohhhhhh yes you can! Some just need an electrical incentive. Only used as much as needed and not abused mind…….

 

[Brute 23]

Brute 23, How many gates do you use in your modified bud box to make box smaller and how small do you make it? Thanks

One side is set up for more problems animals with 2, 10×12 compartments with 10' gates. When you run them down the alley they go to the farthest point. Then you close one gate and it forces them to the next compartment. When you close the next gate it makes the chute and they are lined up facing out.

Most the cows that stay there don't require all that. They know where the hole is and go. When there is some thing stubborn like yearlings or some thing it's nice to force them.

It needs to be set up for the size of the chute, how many cows, and if you work on foot or horseback. I would say your cows flight zone would also effect the size.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Oooooooooooooooooohhhhhh yes you can! Some just need an electrical incentive. Only used as much as needed and not abused mind…….

If you mean a hotshot, I have no problem with that, BUT, a bud box is a box. Not an alley. If you have a box, no hotshot is going to make it go into a hole they don't want to.
Well, I guess if you have a long wand and you are able to get close enough, you could harass them enough to FLEE YOU.
Not the kind of situation I want.
A sweep, or gates don't harass anything and sure doesn't take as long.
I would NEVER recommend a bud box.

 

[gcreekrch]

If you mean a hotshot, I have no problem with that, BUT, a bud box is a box. Not an alley. If you have a box, no hotshot is going to make it go into a hole they don't want to.
Well, I guess if you have a long wand and you are able to get close enough, you could harass them enough to FLEE YOU.
Not the kind of situation I want.
A sweep, or gates don't harass anything and sure doesn't take as long.
I would NEVER recommend a bud box.

I have never incorporated a Bud box into our systems but do appreciate that they work.
When you stated some cows won't go into the alley I had to respond. We have traded hundreds of cows over the years, sometimes I wonder what people do to them at their former addresses. Cows that get on their knees and start bawling 50 feet before the squeeze etc.
The only times we catch them is for a brand when first acquired, preg test, and if by chance we need to treat them or mother up a calf. All other times through the alley we vaccinate or pour in groups of 8 or 10 and the chute is the escape route. Cows are handled quietly but firmly and they ALL go. Those that need more assistance Definately get it.

 

[ClinchValley86]

I ended up building a 6 foot tall corral. Has one central 40x40 pen, with a 20x60 pen off to the side to catch them all.

From the 40x40 I have a 10 foot wide alley that starts between the 40x40 and the 20x60, it runs around the 40x40 like a U shape, 2 gates along the way for keeping pressure off the squeeze alleyway.

The alley goes straight to the chute. Just before the chute alley starts, I have a wooden gate that I can open and send the cattle down an 8 foot wide walkway, between the chute and the 40x40 pen, I use this 8 foot walkway to load from. It's also the walkway we use when working cattle.

It's like a U inside a square with a 40x40 in the middle. With a larger pen right beside to catch them all in. There is also a 6 to 7 foot tall wood and chain link fence surrounding the whole thing. So if we miss one in the chute, we can run it right back in. Have about 13 gates in and around it I think.

Can comfortably hold my 50 to 75 is head and allow me to sort and work them solo. Although help is always preferred.

There are definitely things I would do differently. But it works great. The only concrete I used was under the chute. Reinforced with plenty of metal.

Lots of design help was had from my neighbor as well.

Still haven't had the funds to put a roof over it. Really need to do that. It'll have a water spigot this spring.

Everyone's help here was very much appreciated and used.

Sidenote: I'd like to redo the area where the chute alley starts. It goes from 10 feet down to 28 inches. Its a triangle. Would like to incorporate some sort of swing gate that forces them down he narrow way. I've culled all the high heads but one Limo cow. And she has gotten better. She's the last of my frandfathers genetics, so some sentimental value in her.

Have since been focusing SimAngus and Limflex cattle. Probably the last year I use a black Angus bull. Going Sim or Lim next year.