longhorn headgate

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I am not new to cattle but I just bought a registered herd of 50 longhorn cows. I have a calving barn but want a headgate to help with calving difficulties if there are any. Does anybody know of a headgate that will let longhorns get their horns through? Thanks in advance!

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Welcome to the fascination world of Longhorns!

You mentioned a "calving barn"...are you located in a very cold climate?

Headgate for longhorns will work if horns not greater than about 24" tip to tip...they can manoeuver their horns quite well. Longer than that, headgates are essentially useless. We use a twin gate unit based on the "Medina Hinge" concept. See our "Ranch Photos" on our website to see photo of one.

Don't worry about pulling any Longhorns calves...as it is very rare that a LH will have a difficult delivery. University research reported that LH have about a 99.7% unassisted calving rate. Ours, usually drop a 45 to 70 lb calf in about 30 minutes after bag of water breaks. If you "blink" the calf will be walking around...lol.

Be sure to walk among them regularly, talk to them, use their names, and you will be able to work them very easily, especially if you reward them with range cubes for appropriate behavior.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

It's not a barn(I messed up) it's just a 12' by 40' shed where I put cows that are going to calve. I am in northern Colorado