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bigbruh

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Getting ready to build chute to load and unload my cattle. I"ll use it mostly for mature critters. I have heard measurements from 28 to 36 inches wide. Any suggestions? I am using 3" carbon steel posts with 2" welded rails so I only have one shot at it. Thanks.
 
Depends on the width of the dorr on the trailer. If it's wide you will want a tapered width to the cute starting at 32 at the start of it
 
I vote for 28". I've never had one that couldn't get through that, so I don't see any reason to make it wider. The wider it is the easier it is for calves to turn around and come back at you.
 
I measured some on a few neighbors places and they run from 28-31". I am too am building my pens and curious as to what the consensus is. Can a cow really turn that much easier in a 32" wide vs. a 28" wide? Gate on my trailer is 31", so I don't figure to go any wider than that.
 
It looks like my grandfathers were 36", but they are so deteriorated its hard to tell. We bypassed the chute many yrs ago and rigged up cattle panels and some post to make it work. What we use now is more like 48" and they turn when they want. very aggravating. For my new pens I was leaning towards 31". How high do you make the panel solid coming up from the the bottom? I was thinking around 3' with 2" pipe welded across so the hooves wont get hung up when they jump and come down. I like having slot i can wedge pipe across the "alley/chute" to keep them from backing up. Hope that makes sense.
 
Mine are 28 inches as I want them dragging hair down the chute.
Ninety nine percent of all train wrecks I have had through the years working cows was in the chute.
When I built my last pen in 2005 I went to 28 inches. I have as big of cow's as anybody.
 
Mine is at 30" and I have not had any issues. 28" would probably work just as well for me too. A few years ago the breeder I buy bulls from was loading up his A.I. bull Atlas 101N (my clean-up bull's sire) into the trailer for his annual trip to Kentucky where he spent 6 months of each year. The alley was 28" wide. Atlas started down the alley but got hung up via his hindquarters. His dang butt was wider than 28" by enough margin that he got wedged. It was an alley made out of heavy wood planks and railroad tie posts. They couldn't get him to go backward or forward. They wound up having to free him with a chainsaw. That rascal stood there in the alley just as calm as could be with a chain saw cutting just behind him.
 

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