Pen Designs

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customcattle

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In my spare time I spend a lot of time designing working pens and corral systems just for fun (maybe a little weird). I'm always interested in seeing pen designs that other people think are the best/most efficient/most cost effective etc. Here is one I did today. Figure it would work good as a weaning pen out in the hills or something.

Anyway, I'd like to see some of y'alls pen designs. Read some critiques and share some thoughts.





 
I don't like a pen where the squeeze chute is out in the middle of the pen. An angry cow decides to come back for a visit it leaves you in a bad position. At the very least she spills you vaccine. I have a friend who got a broken leg because a cow came back for a visit. I build a seperate area along the chute and alley for people with a man gate to the side of the front of the chute.
 
Here is another I designed. Calving barn, bud box, working alley and squeeze chute are not in any pens.





 
They are interesting designs and I think they would work well. I love those perspective views.

How about some designs on a smaller scale like for 20/30 cow/calves.

Ken
 
ALACOWMAN":3k1yuq3v said:
Those are nice,,but would cost a small fortune..

Yeah those would be for guys producing 500+ head probably. Or in a feedlot situation for the second. I do however think some people should put a little more time and money into their working facilities. I have been to some places where they are falling down and/or not well planned out. Cattle don't flow and it makes it hard on your help. Not to mention not being safe. I enjoy working cattle and like day working, but have turned down some guys wanting help pre conditioning or preg checking because I didn't want to fight their cattle, be stressed out, and get kicked all day.

The short of it is, good working facilities are something that are often overlooked, but should be something that is on the top of the priority list.
 
Here's one that would be for the smaller producer. 32x40' pens. 10'x 64' alley way, 20'x20' sorting pen, 10' tub, 16' alley way behind a squeeze chute and palpation cage.
 
Here is one that I built. The two pens in front of the shed were there and I added the alley, tub, and big catch pen. I really like the way it works. We use it for working cows in the spring when we brand. Only thing is cattle don't want to go in the tub very bad, and I need to add a gate to help load them there. Once in the tub, I haven't had use the swing gate at all. They really flow down the alley to the chute.


 
Dave":388njsej said:
I don't like a pen where the squeeze chute is out in the middle of the pen. An angry cow decides to come back for a visit it leaves you in a bad position. At the very least she spills you vaccine. I have a friend who got a broken leg because a cow came back for a visit. I build a seperate area along the chute and alley for people with a man gate to the side of the front of the chute.


Same here Dave, I have had too many come back for a visit, like you said. Even if they don't get you, they will leave everything in disarray.
 
I'm getting ready to redo the corral at a lease farm. Owner had a bunch 2x6's sawed so I'll be using them for the boards but are 6x6 post over kill, 4x6 post aren't that much cheaper and I'm afraid 4x4 is to weak. Probably going 10 length(4 in the ground 6 up) what's your thought
 
Ky cowboy":2s8o3v11 said:
I'm getting ready to redo the corral at a lease farm. Owner had a bunch 2x6's sawed so I'll be using them for the boards but are 6x6 post over kill, 4x6 post aren't that much cheaper and I'm afraid 4x4 is to weak. Probably going 10 length(4 in the ground 6 up) what's your thought

I don't think that your 6x6 posts are overkill. I don't like going below 6" round posts in a corral system, and if it is in a high pressure area like an alley I go with rail road ties. I have had some ignorant cows hit 6" posts and crack them, but never break. 2x6's work well, but if there is much of a span between posts will be weak. With the depth that you are setting your posts they should be there until they rot off at ground level. I would be interested to see a sketch of your plans.
 
I'll try to post a sketch when I get a neater one done. I was going to go 10' between post except in the alley figured 8' there. I thought about ties but was afraid they'd be to short.
 
Ky cowboy":2qjkw8a1 said:
I'll try to post a sketch when I get a neater one done. I was going to go 10' between post except in the alley figured 8' there. I thought about ties but was afraid they'd be to short.

I generally set my posts for corrals and alleyways at 5' and haven't had a cow jump out of anything. We do have some at 4'6" that came with the place we are on and had a couple cows jump out. If you are wanting to go with a 6' fence I'm sure that the 6" posts would be plenty. The only thing that I wish that I had done on the 12' alleyway that I built is to put some overheads in to hold the posts together. We have some pretty sandy soil and when cattle get to pushing at the end of the alley when we are sorting they have pushed the posts out a little.
 
If I'm smart enough to figure out how to do it, I'll try to post some hand-sketched drawing of some facilities I'm considering building (as money and time allow). We just bought a new place that has some marginal-quality pens that either need to be ripped out and redone so they're more efficient for what we do (the guy we bought from mostly had stockers and a few old cows he'd coax a calf out of once in a while if he was able to get someone out to AI them). I don't like the pens and I don't like their location, but leaving them where they are (and redoing them) is probably tons cheaper than moving them where I want them (by the blacktop road for advertising, mainly).

I like thinking about this sort of stuff ... thanks for starting the thread. :)
 
When I was growing up our lot was made out of some pallets that Grandpa had gotten from some place. The things were about 6' tall and 8' long and weighed what seemed like a ton, our working shoot was a piece of and old high line pole cemented in the middle. You rope them and snub to the post, that's a lot of fun on them rank Brahman cross cattle. GOOD OL DAYS
thought this might be interesting to some while on the subject of corral building.
 
WalnutCrest":2ws9iyl8 said:
If I'm smart enough to figure out how to do it, I'll try to post some hand-sketched drawing of some facilities I'm considering building (as money and time allow). We just bought a new place that has some marginal-quality pens that either need to be ripped out and redone so they're more efficient for what we do (the guy we bought from mostly had stockers and a few old cows he'd coax a calf out of once in a while if he was able to get someone out to AI them). I don't like the pens and I don't like their location, but leaving them where they are (and redoing them) is probably tons cheaper than moving them where I want them (by the blacktop road for advertising, mainly).

I like thinking about this sort of stuff ... thanks for starting the thread. :)


I don't know about your area, but around here if you put it by the road you're asking to get them stolen. Easier access for you = easier access for cattle thieves.
 
Here's one I built a few years ago at a rent pasture. If I was doing it over I'd make the alley 10' instead of 12', but other than that I like it. I have about 20 cows there, but it would work fine with more.


 
BRYANT":1eilhovx said:
When I was growing up our lot was made out of some pallets that Grandpa had gotten from some place. The things were about 6' tall and 8' long and weighed what seemed like a ton, our working shoot was a piece of and old high line pole cemented in the middle. You rope them and snub to the post, that's a lot of fun on them rank Brahman cross cattle. GOOD OL DAYS
thought this might be interesting to some while on the subject of corral building.
Ours was a tree for the 1st couple-3 years, then we graduated up to the post. Glad we started off with polled herefords...
 

Like I said it'll be 10' between post on corral and 8' in the alley/tub area. I plan on putting a 8' gate in the alley before the chute that opens in and will turn an unwanted cow back in the corral. I'll also probably angle the corners so as there's no pinch points.
 

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