Catch pen/ working pen

[schamblee]

I'm needing to build a catch/work/feed pen by this spring..

1) how would you construct it? I'm leaning towards square 6x6 post connected with 2x6's and hog wire panels...

2) what dimensions and accessories would you have?

Would love to see some blue prints sketched out...

 

[pricefarm]

6x6 post would work good. I would make sure it is at least 6 ft tall and space the boards pretty close together and forget the pannels.

 

[DCA farm]

I'm using 9x9 post on mine but I only paid $4 each for them that's why using 2x6 boards 10 inches off ground then 8inches between boards my post are every 8ft and I'm bracing my 2x6 between post with 2x4

 

[ccr]

here's a previous discussion :
https://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=121273

how many head of cattle will you be working?

 

[schamblee]

here's a previous discussion

how many head of cattle will you be working?

Still arting out with 15-20 but have the acreage to run around 100 head. Current plan will be feeder calves.

 

[Lbass]

I work a lot of cows in other people corrals. Side money since I quit the payroll job. Most set-ups use a form of tub or crowd gate. Do your homework on that. A sweep can be great or something you hate. The quickest way I have found to make a crowd gate worthless is to have the alley on 1 side and you on the other. They just want to stand there and look at you.
Doesn't have to be fancy, I might grab a picture of a quick and dirty version that is honestly quite good. have to wait for the rain to stop though.

Chamfer corners they are likely to bunch up in to a 45. a 4ft pc of horse panel will do that, doesn't have to be nice, you just don't want them to get a leg through and injured.

I like no-backs. At this point I'ld like more than 1, From the top. The more times you have to load a cow into the alley, the less she will like the alley in the future.

You can't have to many pens, and a way to sort after the headgate is a plus whether it's a sort pen or return to holding pen. You just don't want them back out into the field.

I prefer an open side corral, if 1 balks, I can walk quickly down the side and as I get close she moves forward. Real calm cows won't pay much attention to you doing that, but beating them won't help either.

If you are doing feeders/stockers and are planning to utilize small hot wire pastures. Have a way to put what ever hot wire you are using offset on the inside of the holding pen to break them to electricity, or they will just walk through it later.

Anytime you kick a cow out of the trailer the first thing she will do is check the fence to see how big her pasture is. Yearlings are good about finding bad spots and being gone the next morning. I'ld have a pen big enough to feed and water in for 2-3 days. Then work them and kick them out. Less stress.

Most cows won't jump a 5ft corral. On a 6ft corral though, they can't get their head over, so they won't even try.

Try not to have real large pens. I have a holding pen here that is 32x 80 I think. I'ld be better off if it was cut in half. The more room to run the more worked up they can get.

A good headgate is worth the money. Most people here run preiferts. Hard to find a fault with that.

 

[Lbass]

 

[Lbass]

This was a Area she raised English Mastiffs in, I think the original pens were 40'x10ft with 10x10 inside that chickenhouse. Maybe 12 pens, maybe 14. I think she bought 3 8ft gates and scrounged a 4 and 12ft gate. We pulled the pipe we didn't need and re-drove them to make alley for the cows on the right. The alley on the left just kind of serves as an extra place to sort if you really need it, but I like to keep my table, medicine and supplies in there by the headgate. Gives me a safe walkway between the holding pen and alley. Pretty basic, but works pretty good for the money she invested. That was 8ish years ago. A lot of things that I would do different from scratch. Now that i'm running this farm, I'll probably build some pens and a tapered alley in the building. But that holding pen inside the rail is 32x80, big enough I've put 120 pairs in it. The pen around the corral is 300x70ish and I can drive them from it into the corral by myself. Work everything by myself.
My big gripes on this corral is
1) there needs to be a rail between the ground and toprail, I'm young and can hop up on the 5ft fence, but it gets sporty sometimes.
2) 6 inches taller would be better
3) At least 1 more pen, and sort pens with gates on both ends.
4) Since it has no "good" way to sort before the headgate, I'ld like tapered alley to keep cows and calves from turning in.

Maybe I can take a few more pictures of others. Already buried the truck today, so it'll wait.

 

[ccr]

these are some pics of the working area we use. usually run 3-5 head at a time.

this side of chute is kept free of cattle while working.


crowd/sweep gate partially closed.


crowd/sweep gate closes and pushes cows into alley, man gate allows worker to access alley and chute area.


this pic taken from inside the crowd/sweep area (where the cows would be). sweep is kept from coming back by these backings (keeps cattle from pushing gate back on worker).

 

[schamblee]

Thanks for all the replies, a lot of great info.. I have drawn something up and would like to post it on here but don't know how to post a picture, any advice on that?

 

[ccr]

Thanks for all the replies, a lot of great info.. I have drawn something up and would like to post it on here but don't know how to post a picture, any advice on that?

save your pic on your computer, click on add image to post



then click choose image from your computer location (where you saved pic on your computer)

 

[Silver]

Thanks for all the replies, a lot of great info.. I have drawn something up and would like to post it on here but don't know how to post a picture, any advice on that?

Join a free picture hosting site, (I have been using imgur lately). Upload your pics to that site, then just copy the link for message boars and forums (you'll see what I mean when you go there), and paste the link here. Super easy.