As farmers begin to look towards the winter housing period, now is the time to get your handling facilities up to standard to ensure the safe handling of cattle over the winter months. Over the next few months cattle may have to be handled during dosing, injecting, weaning and housing. It is important when handling cattle that you not only have the correct facilities in place to handle stock safely, but also that your approach to cattle is correct. Some areas around the farmyard, including the handling facilities, will be in need of repairs before the housing period and now is the time to get those jobs done and not when cattle are housed.

Movement

When designing a handling unit or upgrading your current one there are a few key points to remember. Firstly cattle will tend to move from a dark area to a more brightly lit area. One way to take advantage of this is to line the chute with stock board to eliminate possible distractions. It also means most of the light entering the chute will come from the head gate; In this way it will encourage cattle to move up the chute easier.

Pens

Over the past few years there has been a move towards circular forcing pens in order to push cattle up the chute and to keep the operator safely away from the cattle. This design takes advantage of cattle’s tendency to circle and crowd towards the outside of a curved passage and allows cattle to be pushed towards the mouth of the chute with ease, reducing the stress on both the farmer and the animal.

Circular forcing pens should be designed so that cattle make a 180° turn as they move through the forcing pen. It is important, however, that when designing a circular forcing pen there is a system in place to prevent the forcing gate being pushed back by cattle. Fitting notches along the top bar of the forcing pen will prevent the gate from swinging back.

Chutes

When trying to fill cattle into a long chute, there can often be issues with cattle trying to back out. If the chute is tightly packed, it can make it easier to inject or dose cattle. One option to make this easier is to fit an anti-backing bar near the rear of the crush.

The design shown above will allow cattle to walk through the backing bar with ease but will not allow them to back through it again. Another option is to fit the back gate of the chute with a self-locking latch (right). It is vital that cattle are safely restrained when in the chute, especially if work is being carried out that includes electrical equipment such as a clippers or dehorners for example. Cattle could easily get caught in the cables of this equipment if they are not properly restrained.

Escape gates

Escape gates or escape passages are also a must when designing a handling unit as they allow the operator to quickly get out of any danger if cattle turn back while being handled. Escape passages are the most popular option for handling units, with escape gates more suited to pens.