As a ranch and extension beef specialist at Purdue University, Ron Lemenager has enough cattle. From minimizing the distracting noise and the shadow to the optimization of gate setup, Lemenager has a lot of proven advice for manufacturers.
Here are 11 tips from the animal scientist and the handling experts.
1. Reduce shadows and noises
Cattle want to take flight if it cannot see what is ahead of us. You can confuse and stop shadows and strange color patterns. If you set up a work hall, take into account the sunny angles and light sources. Reduce shadows by laying solid pages on slides and audience. Artificial light directly generates less shadows. The cattle also blocks sounds of dangling chains or clattering head gates, said Lemenager.
2. Don't forget blind spots
Remember that when you work cattle in an open pen or a pasture paddock, your blind spot is right behind. From there you will not answer your commands or arm signals. Work to the side, about 30 ° to 35 ° directly behind. This is a compensation point from which cattle are more likely to react to their signals.
3. Simplify the sorting
Have at least two holding pencils with a gate between them with which you can easily sort the cows of calves.
Meredith Operations Corp.
4. Study head -Gate designs
Especially neck bars, curved poles, scissors and complete opening are several options. There is even a swinging salon door design. Everyone can work and all have disadvantages, said Lemenager. What he feels the most is to have one that safely blocks the sticks on the neck of an animal. It should be a positive engagement bar with notch curls that cannot slide.
5. Preparation for PREG checks
Add your setup a brisket rod, cow -calpation gate and palpation cage protection. The brisketable stops you from going on the front knee. A side door is a must to get into the slide. They must be protected to be overrun by the next cow.
Meredith Operations Corp.
6. Prevent turning
Make sure that the work alleys and slide are ideally wide for calves and 30 inches for cows. The walls should be 5 feet large and robust enough to curb their biggest cows.
7. Consider a bud box
In order to stop the cattle from returning in the direction from which they came, some producers have built a hold, which is sometimes referred to as a bud box and led to a work shaft. The box is 12 × 20 feet and the entrance gate is next to the shaft entrance.
They put cattle in the box and when they try to return through the same gate they enter, transport them into the slide. It uses its natural instincts.
8. Make calf pencils spacious
Calculation pins should have enough space to maneuver a calf bush. Jacks are long (for lever) and cumbersome. Create a few wide rooms or side panels that move slightly to enable the sockets.
9. Prevent slide
Give concrete floors of slides and work pens a certain traction. Lemenager said that even a heavy broom to concrete was not sufficient. If you are stuck with a smooth floor, try to screw wooden strips or reinforcement strips onto the floor with openings that are far enough for your feet.
Meredith Operations Corp.
10. Strategy of Gate placement
Place the gates in the direction in which the cattle should move in a cabbage. Lemenager likes alleys to connect pastures and paddocks. If you usually move cattle through alleys in a north direction, place the gates in the north corner of Paddocks. Moving becomes routine for you.
Take goals in the paddock 16 foot, not 12. Make the alleys 20 to 30 feet wide.
11. Just do it to drink something
On his own farm, Lemenager had 25 cow cold couples who drink from an automatic drinker with two Schülen. The cows changed alternately and then go back to grazing before the calves could drink.