twabscs
Well-known member
Hi All,
I've finally got started in the business by purchasing 10 pairs in early March. The pairs were already on my farm as I purchased them from the farmer that rented my pasture last year. He had 36 cows on my place and I picked out 10 that calved in January and February. The youngest calf was born the third week of February. Most were born in January.
Anyway, everything is going well and it's now time to work them up for the spring and get the cows ready for breeding. My questions is this: I have a good coral system, but need to purchase a squeeze chute. I've looked at the Prieferts and read several good comments (here). My local co-op has the Big Valley M1 chutes that I've looked at as well, but they are a bit pricey ($3500), though probably worth it.
My long-term goal is to get up to around 40 head on the home place (130 acres) and am looking hard at the Priefert Rancher model (S01), which I can get for $1750. Can I use this chute to effectively work my 2-4 month-old calves? They weigh in the range of 200-300 pounds. I'm going to worm, tag, vacinate, and band in the next two weeks. My neighbor says I should just "throw" the calves, but I'd rather not do that as a it will just be me and my son who is bit new to this. (Plus, I've read the stories and I can't imagine tackling a 250 pound calf at my age and not getting hurt.)
Thanks,
Tom
I've finally got started in the business by purchasing 10 pairs in early March. The pairs were already on my farm as I purchased them from the farmer that rented my pasture last year. He had 36 cows on my place and I picked out 10 that calved in January and February. The youngest calf was born the third week of February. Most were born in January.
Anyway, everything is going well and it's now time to work them up for the spring and get the cows ready for breeding. My questions is this: I have a good coral system, but need to purchase a squeeze chute. I've looked at the Prieferts and read several good comments (here). My local co-op has the Big Valley M1 chutes that I've looked at as well, but they are a bit pricey ($3500), though probably worth it.
My long-term goal is to get up to around 40 head on the home place (130 acres) and am looking hard at the Priefert Rancher model (S01), which I can get for $1750. Can I use this chute to effectively work my 2-4 month-old calves? They weigh in the range of 200-300 pounds. I'm going to worm, tag, vacinate, and band in the next two weeks. My neighbor says I should just "throw" the calves, but I'd rather not do that as a it will just be me and my son who is bit new to this. (Plus, I've read the stories and I can't imagine tackling a 250 pound calf at my age and not getting hurt.)
Thanks,
Tom