Squeeze Chutes

[Caustic Burno]

I can rope like a vaquero. And ride like a Comanche.

Just not at the same time.
I'm as likely to rope my own horse as anything.

The days of working a cow off a horse and snubbing up to a tree to doctor are long gone.
You couldn't pay to even get on a horse today with all the cadaver bone and titanium in my back and neck.

 

[wacocowboy]

So I like watching Dr Pol very interesting show. I have noticed something 90% of the time when they go to these farms to do something with a cow they ain't got a squeeze chute. They are pushing them up in a corner with some old junk panels or a rope. The dude was palpating at a sale barn and all they had is an old wood alley with a board behind the cow. Is that how you Yankees roll? Down here every one I know has a chute and definitely every sale barn has one. Also the pens at most of these places are a joke. No offense meant just curious.

Waco I don't have a squeeze chute but do have a head gate. Never even use the head gate unless I'm doing something to the head. Otherwise we just push the cow up to the headgate, put a pipe or post behind her and do what ever needs to be done from vaccinations, doctoring, breeding, palpating, whatever. Wouldn't know how to act around a squeeze chute.....(Also did it this way when milking cows).

Interesting I love my chute. I don't catch the head when just giving shots but sure nice to squeeze to keep from moving especially young ones.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Vet here was called out to a uterine prolapse with no facilities ..other than some trees to tie her off to. At night of course,and trying to rope her..running around they could hear her uterus sloshing around... then no sound other then the cow running around..the uterus tore loose and appearently stretched and clamped the artery off like you would a testical cord.. She lived through it............though I don't think she ever bred again :cowboy:

 

[Dave]

Local vet told a story. He got a call about a cow. He asked if the cows was where it would be easy to confine her. The people told him it was. He arrived and the cow was in about a 20 acre field. After about his third loop that missed the owner said you aren't a very good roper. He replied, "I don't care and I am not going to try too hard because I am charging by the hour." He said it was amazing how fast the owner got the house was emptied of friends and relatives who quickly corralled the cow.
My vet charges by the minute. I didn't have the cow in the chute when he arrived but she would be in the sweep tub waiting for him.

 

[TCRanch]

Vet here was called out to a uterine prolapse with no facilities ..other than some trees to tie her off to. At night of course,and trying to rope her..running around they could hear her uterus sloshing around... then no sound other then the cow running around..the uterus tore loose and appearently stretched and clamped the artery off like you would a testical cord.. She lived through it............though I don't think she ever bred again :cowboy:

Pretty amazing she even lived through it. Only uterine prolapse I've had (so far - knock wood) was in the middle of the night and she was a 1st calf heifer so I already had her at the barnyard. Lucky for all of us, she simply laid in the same spot from the time she prolapsed until the vet finished stitching her up/giving shots. No halter, no restraints. Got her up, moved her inside the barn with her calf. That said, she was my bottle calf so it's not like she wasn't used to being handled alllll the time (even took out her stitches while she was standing in the pasture).

 

[ALACOWMAN]

I had one after pulling a calf... Thank God I had her in the chute.. After pulling the calf. Went over to wash up.. And the guy helping me hollered, her entrails just blew out... Their like pushing a basket ball through a keyhole...

 

[ez14.]

I had one after pulling a calf... Thank God I had her in the chute.. After pulling the calf. Went over to wash up.. And the guy helping me hollered, her entrails just blew out... Their like pushing a basket ball through a keyhole...

Putting a prolapsed uterus back in

First clean it up with warm water (above a cows body temperature) and ivory soap

Then wrap it tightly with long strips of clean cloth (like an old bed sheet cut up) starting at the bottom and working your way up. That pushes the blood back into the cow and gives you a something a lot easier to work with (kind of like a big sausage)

Then lift it up so the back (what was the bottom) is above the cow and slowly unwrap the cloth as you put the unwrapped portion back in. It helps if you can get the cow facing down hill so her insides move forward giving you more room

Then stitch her up

And another optional tip is to cover it in plan sugar the whole thing! (The sugar makes it shrink up some)

 

[Ky hills]

Kentucky producers: most have handling facilities with headgates at a minimum and most have squeeze chutes or as Ken calls them - a crush.

The cost share program has made a dramatic increase in the number of modern facilities. Depending on the county, it pays 50 % of the cost.

I agree the cost share programs are likely the catalyst for the significant upgrades for working facilities around here. When we first started using one of the little farm properties of my mother's family the head gate was wooden and secured with a rope at the top. It was positioned in a barn stall with a wooden slat gate that drug around and held them to that side of the stall. My dad made a chute out of metal pipe, with a manual head gate. They had it at the back shed door and ran the cattle down the shed and caught them with a gate behind it. One of the local vets at the time liked it so well he said he would work the cattle if he could bring his chute. :lol2: Have heard other folks talk about roping cattle in the field and tying them to a tree or post to doctor them.

 

[Bright Raven]

Kentucky producers: most have handling facilities with headgates at a minimum and most have squeeze chutes or as Ken calls them - a crush.

The cost share program has made a dramatic increase in the number of modern facilities. Depending on the county, it pays 50 % of the cost.

I agree the cost share programs are likely the catalyst for the significant upgrades for working facilities around here. When we first started using one of the little farm properties of my mother's family the head gate was wooden and secured with a rope at the top. It was positioned in a barn stall with a wooden slat gate that drug around and held them to that side of the stall. My dad made a chute out of metal pipe, with a manual head gate. They had it at the back shed door and ran the cattle down the shed and caught them with a gate behind it. One of the local vets at the time liked it so well he said he would work the cattle if he could bring his chute. :lol2: Have heard other folks talk about roping cattle in the field and tying them to a tree or post to doctor them.

I remember a couple farmers in Pendleton County where I was raised. They would get the calves in a pen in the barn. Get in with them and give shots while they were running around. Doubt it worked very well.

Dr. Stanfield out of Maysville said his days of tying to a tree are over. He will not do that anymore.

 

[Ky hills]

Kentucky producers: most have handling facilities with headgates at a minimum and most have squeeze chutes or as Ken calls them - a crush.

The cost share program has made a dramatic increase in the number of modern facilities. Depending on the county, it pays 50 % of the cost.

I agree the cost share programs are likely the catalyst for the significant upgrades for working facilities around here. When we first started using one of the little farm properties of my mother's family the head gate was wooden and secured with a rope at the top. It was positioned in a barn stall with a wooden slat gate that drug around and held them to that side of the stall. My dad made a chute out of metal pipe, with a manual head gate. They had it at the back shed door and ran the cattle down the shed and caught them with a gate behind it. One of the local vets at the time liked it so well he said he would work the cattle if he could bring his chute. :lol2: Have heard other folks talk about roping cattle in the field and tying them to a tree or post to doctor them.

I remember a couple farmers in Pendleton County where I was raised. They would get the calves in a pen in the barn. Get in with them and give shots while they were running around. Doubt it worked very well.

Dr. Stanfield out of Maysville said his days of tying to a tree are over. He will not do that anymore.

When I had sheep, I would pen them up pretty tight to work them, I don't want to try that with calves.

 

[TCRanch]

When I had sheep, I would pen them up pretty tight to work them, I don't want to try that with calves.

That's how we work the calves when they're appx 3 months - on a much smaller scale: cram about 5 of them into the chute, administer shots, etc, open the side gate. It's a lot easier and less stressful (on the calves) than trying to catch each one in the head gate or having one of my crew stand behind/pen each calf.

 

[TexasBred]

Vet won't even come out if you don't have a good working facility. I don't know what the state would have made me do to release my cattle if I couldn't get a vet out. The State Vet was backed up for over six months.
I got lucky and was one of the poor SOB's that got drawn in the TB lotto and had to quarantine the herd until tested and certified TB free.
Bangs quarantine got me the first time in the 70's so I am a little anal on herd health.

Had a friend once that was a dairyman (now deceased) who use to buy dairy catgtle from out of state and bring them in without going through all the required paperwork. Had one bang out at sale barn one day and got quarantined. Til the day he died he had a cow ear with that bangs clip in it nailed to the front door of his office as a reminder. :nod:

 

[TexasBred]

Several years ago a member (Northern Rancher I believe it was) posted a pic on her of a guy on horse with a cow roped and way out on the end of the rope....Vet was behind her AI'ing her on the end of that rope in the middle of a thousand acre field.

 

[Ky hills]

[/b]
That's how we work the calves when they're appx 3 months - on a much smaller scale: cram about 5 of them into the chute, administer shots, etc, open the side gate. It's a lot easier and less stressful (on the calves) than trying to catch each one in the head gate or having one of my crew stand behind/pen each calf.

I misunderstood the situation, that's how we work our small calves in the chute too. Our head gate won't go down small enough to catch small calves so we do the same get several in and I get in among them to work them. I was picturing larger 4-5 wt calves in like a 12 x 12 barn stall, and trying to work them, I wouldn't want to try that.

 

[pricefarm]

When I was young we would get the calves in a small stall in the barn. Put a rope around its neck and tie it to a barn post and doctor it. The stall was only 12x12 and dad would put 10 or so calves in it at a time. Dad would make me stand in the hay manger in the corner so I wouldn't get runed over.

 

[dun]

Time to get a priefert, without adjustment we catch from new born to grown bulls.

 

[Ky hills]

Time to get a priefert, without adjustment we catch from new born to grown bulls.

Thanks for that suggestion, will definitely keep it in mind for future. Will probably have to work with what we have for a while though, got a Formost and like a lot of the features about it but it does give us fits with small calves. We had an old Filson squeeze chute that would work for baby calves up to bulls but some of the fellers that worked with us on the heifer sales fussed about that chute and had had it for over 25 yrs so we got the new Formost chute.

 

[Bigfoot]

I have a head catcher, but no squeeze. Like others have said, unless I'm dehorning, I'm not inclined to use it. Calves under 300 pounds are roped and dragged, calves above that weight are crowded and worked. I got by with a medina for many many years. In many ways, it was better than my current facility. I'm starting to try and number brand everything. I'm either going to have to get a squeeze, or rework one side of my chute. Can't get the irons where they really need to be. I can stick a post down in beside them. and keep them from flopping. I need drop downs on the back hip bad.

 

[TCRanch]

[/b]
That's how we work the calves when they're appx 3 months - on a much smaller scale: cram about 5 of them into the chute, administer shots, etc, open the side gate. It's a lot easier and less stressful (on the calves) than trying to catch each one in the head gate or having one of my crew stand behind/pen each calf.

I misunderstood the situation, that's how we work our small calves in the chute too. Our head gate won't go down small enough to catch small calves so we do the same get several in and I get in among them to work them. I was picturing larger 4-5 wt calves in like a 12 x 12 barn stall, and trying to work them, I wouldn't want to try that.

Oh yeah, that's an arse whoopin' waiting to happen! The corral/chute where I generally work the calves is a Titan and large enough to accommodate a number of calves at the same time (with no head gate) but the chute at the barn is a Priefert and I run the fall calves through it. Don't use the auto head gate because I don't trust it (the chute is kind of on a slope), especially with smaller calves, but can easily catch them. That said, my vet has a Foremost and I really like it.