Portable Corrals

[marksmu]

I did a thorough search of this forum before choosing to post a new topic - and I have read everything, but it seemed more questions than answer before so maybe we have some answers now. - here we go. I am going to buy a portable corral and I want opinions on them. I am looking for input from anyone has one, has used one, or has thought about it and decided against it.

I decided portable b/c of how low we are at or a few feet above sea level & very wet, and how close to the ocean and the hurricane problems we have. My neighbor had an incredible set of permanent corrals that I could use until hurricane IKE destroyed it - and I along with almost all my neighbors are going to go portable b/c its just not worth losing them when a storm comes, and its very nice to have a set when you need to get them out of a storms way quickly.

I have researched them pretty well and I have found there are only a few brands -

Titan West - Ok Corral -
GO Bob
Wilson & W-W (I think they are the same)
Rawhide

those are the ones I could find. I am leaning pretty heavily towards the Rawhide for its diversity, and the working alley. They are all 14ga steel, and their construction all seem to be pretty similar. The biggest thing for me is I intend to use it as my only corral - so I need the working area, and I am pretty sure I am going to just chain a squeeze/head gate to the exit. They all have their good/bad points, but I want to see what others think. I also strongly prefer the ability to travel at highway speed with them.

Any opinions, comments, etc?

 

[dun]

Just a suggestion. When you have it layed out the way you want it, drive a T-post on the outside at the junction of each panel and chain (with a dog snap as a connector) the panels to the T-post. Keeps the cows form moving them and allows you the flexibiliyt to change things if you decide you want/need to.

 

[Busterz]

I've been looking at these type of corrals too.

I like that the titan has a gooseneck, which would probably pull the best and be the easiest to transport and the set up with the two sides may make it easier to work cattle.

The other three seem similar in their set up so construction may be the biggest differnce, those are all good companies. This design seems like it would be easier to gather cattle.

I like the hydraulics on the rawhide.

The one from go-bob, I think diamond w makes it, looks the heaviest and has nice sized wheels. They also have an adjustable alley you can put on their system which looks really handy (they had it on The Cattle Show the other night).

WW makes good stuff so you probably couldn't go wrong with them either.

I haven't compared prices on them.

 

[STARSIX]

i have prefiert , have moved them several times till i got them the way i wanted.
Also have a prefiert squeeze chute, like dun said once you get it where you want it a few t posts keep everything where it stays. not real cheap but they last. the panels all have a chain on them and the chute chains right up to them.

 

[Busterz]

I am assuming but the companies he listed he's refering to the portable corrals that are mounted on a trailer or can be towed then folded out with panels that are hiinged together and roll on wheels. As opposed to a system of prtable panels that are assembled individually.

Like this:
http://www.titanwestinc.com/okcorral.html

 

[marksmu]

Yes - I am referring to the fold out trailerable corrals. The Titan West is a good looking portable but I think it is too small for what I need. It has the unique front storage, and it has a good working alley. The Go BOB is very heavy - but it doesnt have the working alley, and its not highway speed. The Rawhide's only drawback I see is that its not gooseneck and the wheels are pretty small - it could be difficult to roll in soft grass or mud. So putting it up if it was wet after it was used could be a problem.

Does anybody have a set they have used, liked or disliked, etc?

The websites are as follows:

Titan West - ok Corral - http://www.titanwestinc.com/okcorral.html
Wilson - I cant find a web site
WW - http://www.wwmanufacturing.com/express.html - looks just like the rawhide to me but solar powered instead of off the truck
Go Bob - http://www.gobobpipe.com/portableWheeledCorrals.htm - doesnt have a working alley
Rawhide - (also made by Linn Pipe) http://www.rawhideportablecorral.com/

I just am looking for input and other peoples experience with these. The people in my area tell me they like them, but nobody has had them for long, and sometimes people dont always tell the truth on something if they just spend a load of money on it - not wanting to look foolish.

 

[dun]

Friend of mine has a setup that he's had for 5-6 years, don;t know the brand. He was really tickled with the idea of T-posts at the joints after his got reloated into an unuseable shape by a bunch of cows.

 

[Angus Cowman]

Yes - I am referring to the fold out trailerable corrals. The Titan West is a good looking portable but I think it is too small for what I need. It has the unique front storage, and it has a good working alley. The Go BOB is very heavy - but it doesnt have the working alley, and its not highway speed. The Rawhide's only drawback I see is that its not gooseneck and the wheels are pretty small - it could be difficult to roll in soft grass or mud. So putting it up if it was wet after it was used could be a problem.

Does anybody have a set they have used, liked or disliked, etc?


I just am looking for input and other peoples experience with these. The people in my area tell me they like them, but nobody has had them for long, and sometimes people dont always tell the truth on something if they just spend a load of money on it - not wanting to look foolish.

I Have used the w-w and they work alright but in our terrain finding a relatively flat place to set them up is hard and they don't work on uneven ground very well other than that I like them

 

[alftn]

Ilove the Prefierts . In the Tornado of 03 that hit Jackson I believe May 5 Got The Barn, the green houses, the mobil home, left most of the house. Blowed the prefiert panels 15 or so, plus two fat 1200 lbs. black steers 150 feet , the panels and calves can through remarkablely. Bent 3 of the panels into half circles,( still use them) great product.. My son saies they are a little light weight and not tall enough for his cows, my cow are not wild and the panels have served me well for years.

 

[EAT BEEF]

I see alot of used wilsons,I don't know if people don't like them or it's just because they have been makeing them for a long time.Anyway you might find a good deal on a used wilson.

 

[Jim62]

My corral is Priefert panels and chute, and has done very well for 10 years now. I haven't used the t-post idea to keep it in shape, but was told that the posts should be placed in the middle of each panel to allow a little bit of flexibility in crowding situations.

 

[marksmu]

So I bought the Rawhide Portable Corrall back in May intending to use it right away and work the cattle we had just bought with vacs and what not. Well, we had a death in the family, and then had alot of other work around the ranch that needed doing, so I never got to use it. Im planning on working the cattle this coming weekend, so I set up the corrall over the weekend. I must say, Im pretty darn happy with the way it worked out...They advertise 1 person, no lifting, 10 minutes....it took me 25 minutes the first time to get it set up...but it was very easy.

My cattle are all pretty tame, (I feed 1 bag of cubes per week to keep them following me) so I just dropped a bag in the middle of the thing, and in they all came without any hesitation. Got all 40 cattle 20 cows, 19 calves, 1 bull into the corral in just under 5 minutes, and that included marching them across a 40 acre pasture to the smell of the cubes in the back of my gator. Havent moved the squeeze/headgate into position yet, but its currently set up in the chute format. Real happy with it...just sharing.

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[marksmu]

Finally figured out the photos...thank 1982vet that was not intuitive but I got it now.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I build my own portable panels and prefer mine to any I have seen commercially. The wife found some lightweight 10 footers for a bargain. $10 each. We took those so I do have about 2 dozen store bought ones.

What I like about your panels is the length.

You don't have as many pics as you did last time I looked.

 

[marksmu]

Here are the ones I left out....I didnt know if there was a max I could put on there and still have it post up.

The real convenient thing about this set up is It has wheels and can travel at highway speeds, and that 1 person really can set it up in about 20 minutes..10 if you were on concrete or super level ground but nobody will be. Also, each panel can be unpinned and be a gate....I have it in corral position, but I can remove the corral sides and make a third catch pin if I wanted. Also, it has small pedestrian gates all over the place. Its also heavy, but the wheels take the weight off of you.

And it is large...each panel is 20' in length - the large pin has 10 panels each, and the small currently has 4. It can also be set up into 3 different pens with 4 panels each. They advertise it will hold 250 pairs in the configuration I have... That would be packing them in there, but they say its possible. I dont reckon I would ever put that many in, thats for sure.

 

[S&S Farms]

WW is just like rawhide but is from galvanized pipe the newer one has a solar charger on it to keep battery charged. I like the wheel on the WW better than rawhide. You do need a fairly flat area to unfold. We just finished Preg checking cows last week and you can set a chute on it and go to town.


Jeff

 

[marksmu]

The solar panel was very interesting, I looked at the WW corrals as well. The Rawhide was cheaper for a bigger one and they were very nice to deal with. The rawhide charges the battery for the hydraulics through the break system on the truck via a 7way rv plug. I park it in a barn when not in use, and just connect it to my battery maintainer though. I will never really haul it too far except in cases of hurricanes...which was a big reason I bought it. My hurricane evacuation plan from the ranch is only about 50 miles further inland, but the fencing is shoddy....current plan is to just load up some hay, and use this to attempt to contain them through the storm inside a warehouse, and then turn them out into the field once the storm has passed.

 

[KMacGinley]

Very interested in one of these corrals, does anyone have any new opinions on these. How do these work with a chute hooked in? Pictures would be nice. Thanks

 

[marksmu]

The rawhide has an alley between the two pens....there is a large catch pen which on ours has 10 panels, and a smaller sorting pen that has 4 panels...the alley is in the middle....we catch in the larger pen, work about 7-10 cows into the smaller pen, and then force them into the alley. They do not want to go into the alley as it is a 90 degree turn and they don't see the way out, even when the chute is open. We chain a priefert headgate to the end of the alley and that works well...we use portable panels after the headgate to sort left or right. ...now if you were to buy an additional alley that was longer and had a sweep that would be a lot better, but none of the portable ones I have seen use a sweep unless you buy it separate.

My opinion on these is that if you need portable because of multiple locations, weather, or any other reason that you cant use a built in place setup - then portable is the way to go. However, if you have only one property, and you dont really need portable - the flexibility of designing a corral properly from the start and making it work with your operation is better than the portability. I have quite a few pictures, but none of them are very good at explaining what I am telling you.

We have hurricanes, and the last one we had destroyed the old corrals - the portability of this system is great, but since my neighbor re-built his pens - we can work our cows three times faster in his well designed pens than we can in our portable ones....portable has a place, but well designed permanent is much better.

 

[KMacGinley]

We have several rented big pastures, which is why I am interested. I wonder if you put a bud box in the small side, if your alley would work any better?