Encouraging cattle to go through the headgate?

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a buddy an i ran 2 wild as can be cows through the chute after unloading them.i was the smart 1 i got in the truck before he turned the 1st cow out,an she quickly put his 6`4 butt up on top of the chute.work the 2nd cow an she does the samething.needless to say them 2 old cows died about a month later because they was so wild.
 
opening the head gate just a tad more can help to get them catched. The hotshot is a good investment. Only thing is anybody around the chute better have all hands off. Our chute has a handle on the catch which does not conduct shocks thankfully.
 
All, thank you for your responses.

I was adverse to using a hot-shot but when I think about it logically, its worse for me to be man handling the cow through tail twisting or pushing with a bar behind their butt I think.

I have used a black cloth (the one you use to prevent weeds) wrapped on one of the sides to see if it would help but I don't think it is working too well as it will have a tendency to move around since it is in cloth. I wish chutes were made so that the sides were solid perhaps so that you could lift out sections once the animal was in there if you needed to get access to it. More correctly - I wish my chute was built that way! I'm sure someone makes more expensive ones that do.

I'm going to think about a way to get some exterior plywood on the gates / panels that I use to funnel in the cattle to the chute and to build something that will allow me say 3 pieces of plywood on hinges on each side panel so that I have solid sides but can still access any section of the top of the animal I need.
 
Did 12 head of new 5 wts. yesterday.
Left my paddles at the other farm so I went tool less.
Poured them back and forth a couple times and then had no issues.
Had to touch a couple wf with one finger to get them into the self catch headgate.
The angus hit it hard enough if you just walk past them. :D
 
Easiest way to get them through is to lock them in and only keep the head gate open, this way they will figure it out for themselves.
 
Most of ours walk up and put the head in -- because everything done there is done quickly, calmly, minimal noise, etc.

If they associate the experience of the headgate with hootin' and hollerin' (like a few that we've purchased from others) they don't like to step up... however, none of them like the sound of a sorting paddle...

a shake shake or tap tap of the paddle on the ground behind them and they tend to step up thinking "what in the heck is behind me?"... for the one that we purchased on the other hand (she only responds to a quick zap) to which she gives a little kick and then a big lunge to the headgate... moves the whole chute about 1" forward everytime we headcatch her... the nicest nickname we have for her is "jumper" for how she "jumps" to attempt to clear the chute in it's entirety versus ever touch it with her hooves...

...she won't be around for long.
 
Train them to go through before you need to use it. Pen the cattle and have all go through without ever closing it. The ones that will not go through just let them stand there. Go off and do something else. Eventually they will go through. Makes life a lot easier when you need it for real. When it is necessary to use it make it as painless as possible. Personally I do not care for a head gate or squeeze. I can usually do most anything I want in the working chute before the squeeze. At times it is necessary to use it. When that time comes they have already been trained to go through.
My experience with a hot shot. Use it in the chute to get them in the head gate. The next time they don't go in the chute. Use it to get them in the chute. The next time they don't go into the pen.
 
Something that we've been doing with the calves at weaning is first setting it up so they can go through a gate to get to their grain so they know it's there. After a copule of days we close off the gate and make them go through the alley and chute to reach the grain. Most years it only takes a copule of times and they catch on. Lasy year they never got the idea, but they never seemed to get the idea about just coming up for grain either. All it takes is a leader to get them started, some years it seems like there isn;t a leader. The heifers that we end up keeping almost fight to get into the alley. Sure makes it handy come AI time or when we need to work them.
 
This is a serious topic for me as well. I'm starting off with a VERY small operation, probably two animals, e.g. a heifer and a bred cow, or two heifers, something like that. There's no way I can economically (or afford) a big, expensive chute. I keep hearing about old timers that manage whole herds with just a head gate, sometimes not even that.

There's certainly something to be said for halter breaking and teaching them early to just quietly step through the alley and gate, like Dun talks about in the last post. This is certainly the approach I will take.
 
I gate pinched animals for a while. Worked on steins, was a real rodeo with some beefers. One disliked it so much she ran off and then stood on the highway for a while. :(
So I bought one new and one used head gate, and built a alley/chute for them on two separate farms.
Second chute is over 30' long from used rail road ties and rough cut white oak. Have about $100 out of pocket, plus $300 for the head gate, into it. Holds 6 to 12 animals for the pistol syringe. :D I can do head work on about half the cattle with out using the head gate.
 
I have said it before many times in other threads.

I give mine a cup of feed everytime they are in the headchute.

did it with the neighbors red angus who have never been in my barn when we synched them for breeding. by the third time we worked them 8 out of 12 auto loaded and two of the 12 run to my barn everytime the gate gets left open.

I do agree that judicious use of the hend held buzzer is more useful than thrashing and wailing and tail twisting. but it must be judicious. it cannot be used as entertainment.

i have not weaned my heifer calves yet but they are already used to going thru the chute and being restrained by headlocks.

a set of headlocks is a very useful investment for a beef farmer as well as for dairy. I have fed my heifers in headlocks for twenty years. I mostly leave em open but the heifers quickly learn to stand when they lock down.
 
Stocker Steve":1u9el9bs said:
I gate pinched animals for a while. Worked on steins, was a real rodeo with some beefers. One disliked it so much she ran off and then stood on the highway for a while. :(
So I bought one new and one used head gate, and built a alley/chute for them on two separate farms.
Second chute is over 30' long from used rail road ties and rough cut white oak. Have about $100 out of pocket, plus $300 for the head gate, into it. Holds 6 to 12 animals for the pistol syringe. :D I can do head work on about half the cattle with out using the head gate.
Click to expand...
A walk plank down the side, if you don't already have it, sure saves a lot of time. Sure seems to make the catle stand quiter working from above too.
 
It is, Whitewing, if you pronounce it Ben-wah. My family has always used the proper French ponunciation.
 
TobyBenoit":2bv8jqkt said:
It is, Whitewing, if you pronounce it Ben-wah. My family has always used the proper French ponunciation.
Click to expand...

I'm originally from Louisiana and hearing the "non-French" pronunciation of Be-noit always grated on my ears. Welcome aboard my friend! :D
 
whitewing":6asz9vgg said:
TobyBenoit":6asz9vgg said:
It is, Whitewing, if you pronounce it Ben-wah. My family has always used the proper French ponunciation.
Click to expand...

I'm originally from Louisiana and hearing the "non-French" pronunciation of Be-noit always grated on my ears. Welcome aboard my friend! :D
Click to expand...
I never could figure out why some folks can;t pronounce their names correctly
 
My wifes great grandfather dumped his unusual and exotic name de la vallee and took a standard swedish name. Reason: he could not pronounce it. :lol2:
 
whitewing":1zj0d53g said:
TobyBenoit":1zj0d53g said:
It is, Whitewing, if you pronounce it Ben-wah. My family has always used the proper French ponunciation.
Click to expand...

I'm originally from Louisiana and hearing the "non-French" pronunciation of Be-noit always grated on my ears. Welcome aboard my friend! :D
Click to expand...
Years ago I knew a guy from Canada that pronounced Beano (like the anti-phart stuff)
 

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