Head gate-chute

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mountainranch

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Hi everyone
I have about 10 angus cows that I need to contain, so that I can give them shots, worming,and ear tags. I have a used head gate,but no sqeeze chute. My plan was to build a small corral leading to a wooden chute,and bolting the head gate to 8 inch posts at the end of the chute. Would this be adequate
for handling cattle safely? I really can't afford a squezze chute.
 
That will work fine. I would suggest that you put the post in concrete and use good heavy boards for the sides and not a bad idea to put some on top too, for the ones that will go nuts from time to time.
 
Mountainranch,

That's all I have. I was just using a portable corral set up with steel posts to hold the head catch, worked alright. I have now rebuilt my corral and put in railroad ties or telephone posts and bolted the head catch to them. It will handle my 2000 pound bull without any problems. Branding calves is kind of a pain, but I get them done.

Bobg
 
I don't have a squeeze chute and don't ever intend to have one. A good headgate is all it takes.
 
Just make sure you make your alley way narrow enough. 28 to 32 inches I think is all you want.

We have a headgate we use on panels over where we run our replacements. In the spring, they are small enough that the panels are not close enough due to how they hook to the headgate, which can make it difficult to hold them real still. As they get bigger, it's not much problem though.
 
I just have a headchute with no squeeze , for bigger animals that fit in the chute tight it works real good , calves can move around more but we get by okay , I would like a squeeze but it's alot more money.
 
For many years we used a headgate mounted on 8X8 posts buried 4 ft and cemented in place. I mounted heavy duty gates on either side of the gate to form a working chute area. Had another verticle slider at the other end of the gates go close of the working area and then panels feeding into that set 28 inches apart. Worked well enough. The gates allowed me to get to either side of the animal in the headgate if I had to do something like feet, udder, and also allowed me to open the gate and get in behind her without having to climb over stuff so I could AI.

dun
 
dun":6jg5mtks said:
For many years we used a headgate mounted on 8X8 posts buried 4 ft and cemented in place. I mounted heavy duty gates on either side of the gate to form a working chute area. Had another verticle slider at the other end of the gates go close of the working area and then panels feeding into that set 28 inches apart. Worked well enough. The gates allowed me to get to either side of the animal in the headgate if I had to do something like feet, udder, and also allowed me to open the gate and get in behind her without having to climb over stuff so I could AI.

dun

I'm going to be building a chute this spring - I've gotten by with chains and gates for three years, but I'm sick of it.

Were the gates you used on the sides of your chute removable, Dun? The local vet recommended being able to get at an animal that goes down in the chute, but it seems like a lot of homemade setups I've seen have fixed sides.

Do you think they should be removable or is it alright to have fixed panels behind the gate.
 
badaxemoo":cirh09du said:
Were the gates you used on the sides of your chute removable, Dun? The local vet recommended being able to get at an animal that goes down in the chute, but it seems like a lot of homemade setups I've seen have fixed sides.

Do you think they should be removable or is it alright to have fixed panels behind the gate.

They were actual really heavy gates that could swing. The hinge was at the headgate end. They latched to more heavy posts set in concrete that had the verticle slider type gate then the panels for the alleyway and then a nother vertticle slider gate to the catch pen

dun
 
badaxemoo":2ly9rmpm said:
dun":2ly9rmpm said:
For many years we used a headgate mounted on 8X8 posts buried 4 ft and cemented in place. I mounted heavy duty gates on either side of the gate to form a working chute area. Had another verticle slider at the other end of the gates go close of the working area and then panels feeding into that set 28 inches apart. Worked well enough. The gates allowed me to get to either side of the animal in the headgate if I had to do something like feet, udder, and also allowed me to open the gate and get in behind her without having to climb over stuff so I could AI.

dun

I'm going to be building a chute this spring - I've gotten by with chains and gates for three years, but I'm sick of it.

Were the gates you used on the sides of your chute removable, Dun? The local vet recommended being able to get at an animal that goes down in the chute, but it seems like a lot of homemade setups I've seen have fixed sides.

Do you think they should be removable or is it alright to have fixed panels behind the gate.

The majority of people in our area only have a headgate. On my first setup, I installed my headgate between two 9"x9" posts. On the inside of each post I screwed in two heavy eye screws. I located the eyes where heavy duty corral panels could be pinned to the posts. My other panels attached to the ones at the headgate in the normal manner. I put wood posts at the halfway point of the panels for support but did not attach them. If you need access to the cow after she is caught just unpin from headgate and other panel and slide it back. I think gates would work better but I already had the panels. I recommend having the sides where they can be moved as opposed to stationary. My 2 cents worth.
 
Grandad and Dad taught me to never set wood posts in concrete. It makes them rot... For wood corral posts we just set them 3' deep. We do use 1 sack of concrete for pipe fence posts but when I had a headgate it was a 2 sack hole and a 6" diameter pipe.

I now have a Powder River Value Chute which is 10 times better than a head gate.
 
When I was young, many moons ago, only vets had the luxury of a squeeze chute, or head gate for that matter. We worked cattle through the chutes on a daily basis. All we had were a pair of nose grips. Grab them by the nose, and pull them up to a post. On the working end we would just stick a pipe behind them. For udders we had a gate that we squeezed them against the other side of the chute with. All calves under 500 lbs went to the ground to be worked on.
Today I have a squeeze chute. A guy that raises longhorns gave it to me.
I don,t have to have it but I don't think I could give it up.
 
If you already have a head gate and have not installed it yet. You might want to do a search and look under " Restraint Delivery Headgate " And i think cattle annie was the author.

I am just finishing up on my catch pens, chute and head gate. I built my head gate like the delivery restraint headgate design in cattle annies thread. It opens on both sides in case a animal goes down you can get it out. I also went ahead and built a palp cage right before the animal enters the restraint delivery head gate. It has a 2'-6" access gate on each side of the chute.

Also if you do a search you will find there are alot of different oppionions as to how wide to make your chute leading up to your head gate. So i went down and took some measurements on my vets facilitiys and their chute is 26 inches wide and it is a real nice set up. So that is how wide i made mine. I like a little being finished so i can not say how well it works yet. But i should be working cattle through it soon.

I used heavy 2 3/8" pipe to build my chute out of. and i mounted the head gate to some of that. The post holes were only 3 1/2' deep. But i also welded peaces of 2" angel iorn across connecting the bottoms of the post so that i could cover that up with about 4 inches of concrete. That way the animals weight is also helping to keep the post in the ground.

I could have probably got by without the angel iorn and concrete. But if something unexspected should happen and i have a cow take off across the pasture with my head gate arround its neck. It is not going to be because i did not try building a safe and secure set up. LOL

Good luck on your chute & head gate.
 
I ran an ad in our local paper that also prints the "Thrifty Nickle" (kinda like the Greensheet in our area) for a head gate with or without a squeeze. Wound up with a squeeze for $400 and a self catching head gate for $30. Both needed a little work, but for the money, we could not turn it down. Both came from older ranchers who were getting out of the business. You might try the same in your area. :D
 
farmerjohn":1rgb2pda said:
Grandad and Dad taught me to never set wood posts in concrete. It makes them rot... For wood corral posts we just set them 3' deep.

They don't last long enough to rot around here. Yesterday someone tossed a cigarette butt out. The humidity was something like 8 percent with strong south winds. Any wood post in the fence line was smoldering away as the firefighters were chasing the grass line.
 
I use a 24 ft. chute an headgate, works for me. A squeeze would be nice to have but costly.
 
last fall i found at an auction, the headgate and stand
(it is a preifert). the cow steps on the bottom and is caught in the head gate her weight keeps her from going forward. it works good and it can be moved with the panels from place to place. retail the stand cost $400, i bought both for $325 brand new.
 
mountainranch":3bq6ky6c said:
Hi everyone
I have about 10 angus cows that I need to contain, so that I can give them shots, worming,and ear tags. I have a used head gate,but no sqeeze chute. My plan was to build a small corral leading to a wooden chute,and bolting the head gate to 8 inch posts at the end of the chute. Would this be adequate
for handling cattle safely? I really can't afford a squezze chute.
For those who can't afford and have a lot of time.
http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/plans/5465.pdf
 

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