Built in cattle chute almost complete and a mini vacation!!!

Last year we started a new family tradition.  Between Christmas and New Years we decided to take the kids for a one night mini vacation to a hotel with a pool.  Last year was a nice break but there was not much for them to do with a normal pool and no hot tub for me!  So this year my wife found an awesome deal in Sandusky Ohio at Maui Sands Resort.  The this picture is the view from our room of the pools.  It was fun and we all had a great time!  Wonderful break to have to try to forget about winter for a little bit.  

Maui Sands Resort

 So, yesterday was my first actual productive day working on my winter break list.  It was also a phenomenally beautiful day!  Bright sun all day with zero clouds, 45 degrees out and no wind.  I got the barn all cleaned and spread on the field and after bedding I went to work on finishing up the gates and stuff to prepare for the herd check on Monday.  Here is a picture from up high looking down on the corral so you can see how it is set up to be able to catch the cows.

I grew up on a dairy farm and one of my first jobs was bringing the cows in to milk.  You can chase a dairy cow any where you want.  I quickly found out after starting to raise beef cows that they are very different from dairy cows in more ways than I thought.  One of the most important is that they will not be chased.  Instead you have to get them to want to go where you want them at.  So, I have gotten very good at getting them to be where I want them when I want them there!

To do this I will start a week or so ahead of time putting the gates how I need them to be able to quickly close them in without them knowing what is going on.  So starting last week I have been keeping the gates where I need them so they get used to them being there.  Then after I finished bedding the corral and putting hay in the feeder I set chained the other big gate to it so that they now have a narrow tunnel to get in and out of the corral.  I will let them eat all the hay today and tomorrow morning early I will put a new bale in the bunk feeder so they will be distracted when I go around the other way to shut the gate for the exit to the corral.

Corral set up to catch the cows for the herd check.  

Once I have them in and penned up I then shut them into the area you see gated in below.  This is the section that leads into the built in chute along the pig shed wall.  After I have some of the cows done and there is not that many left I will shut the cows into a smaller area, and then smaller and smaller until they all go through the chute to the headlock.

Corral showing the gates making a holding pen to send cows through the chute.

 Here is a picture of the headlock with the exit gate open so the cattle can exit after being checked and vaccinated.  Before the headlock was on the pig shed wall and the cows had to stick their heads in the pig pen and then after being checked had to back out of the headlock and turn around to leave.  If you look closely at the top of the headlock you will notice that I added a door spring to the handle.  I was having problems in the past with the latch not catching.  This will make sure that doesn't happen again.  I will take pictures of it from the view of where the vet will be standing so you can see how I have it set up better.  

Built in headlock for the cattle chute.

I also had a chance to take a pic the other day of the area I graded out for a future loafing pad and manure storage pad.  To the left are the pig lots.  To the right is where I am planning on extending the corral fence out so the cows have to come up where I am standing to get to the shed.  This will keep them from eroding the hillside down so I can keep this area flat.  I also plan on creating a buffer strip along the right hand side of this picture on the hill so that any manure runoff or water run off will be caught by the plants there and turned into feed for the animals instead of turning into pollution.  I haven't decided what I am going to grow there yet but whatever it is it will be much better than the mud that I have now! 

In addition to a Manure storage pad I also mentioned a loafing pad.  When the weather is bad and the pasture is pure mud I would like the option of keeping the cows on a concrete pad so that they do not completely destroy the pasture and make more mud.  This would only be after extremely heavy rains or during a thawing period in the early spring where everything is very very wet and muddy.  I doubt I would ever have to pen them up as they usually do not leave the barn area when really muddy other than to get a drink.  So, to make this an option I would also need to install a waterer for the cows to drink from so they can get a drink without going clear to the creek during bad weather.   

Future loafing pad and manure storage.  

Well, hopefully we don't get a lot of rain today.  I would like to work on some wiring in the barn.  I am going to head out and see if I can mark off another item on my list of to do items.  Talk to you all Monday night after the herd check is done!!!

Kenny