# Time for my own squeeze chute



## siscofarms

Looking for suggestions on brand or do's and don'ts or what to look for . Manual or these supposed automatic head gates ?????? As for whats available close to me the priefert look like they are a little heavier built then the tatar . But I need it for Bulls down to working 2 month old calves .

Thanks for any input

Dave


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## CowboyRam

We bought an Arrowquip Q-Catch 86 series chute last fall, and have been very pleased with it. We worked our bulls just a few weeks ago and it is stout enough for them. I think our vet was impressed with it. At first I was a bit concerned about it not having an automatic head catch, but it is not really all that bad. You can position the head catch bar anywhere along the side of the chute so you are behind the critter when they go through. I also like the rump bar, you ratchet it up to keep them from backing up. We did have a couple bulls pull their heads ( you know there damn thick necks) out of the head catch, but having the rump bar kept them forward and then we had no problems. we also bought Arrowquip's easy flow alley, but have not got that set up yet. That is part of our summer project; redo our corrals.

www.arrowquip.com


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## Smoothy

I have a foremost but I borrowed a real tuff. I'm now in the process to sell my foremost and buy a tuff. Really like a lot of the features and it's definitely heavy built. I would take the time to do some research on there equipment, it's built to last.


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## Trotwood2955

We have two Behlen chutes, believe the model is M1V. I'd consider it a heavier mid grade chute. Both of ours have the automatic head gate and split tailgate (which is nice). We AI all our cows, including synchronizing, plus try to keep everything on a good herd health program. So our chutes see a good bit of use. I have never used manual head gates much. We like the automatic ones for the times you are putting something through by yourself. I think newer and fancier manual head gates work a lot better with just one person than older ones I've been around. Worst thing about the auto head gates vs manual is you have to adjust them for different size animals. But on ours this only takes seconds, and we always sort off the calves to work separate from cows anyway, so you really don't have to adjust often.

Biggest weak point of the Behlens is the floor. I don't think they use thick enough steel or reinforce it well enough. After about ten years of use the floor rusted enough on one of ours that a bull punched a couple holes in the bottom. Had a machine shop put a new, much heavier floor in it though and it's now better than new.

Keep them clean and inside if possible and a new one will last a long time. We also prime and paint the floors of ours about once a year just to try to keep the floors from rusting.

A good chute is a great investment for a cattle operation in my opinion. My chutes would be some of the last pieces of equipment I'd part with.


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## BWfarms

If you can wait until a Farm Show, my best advice is to go and test out the plethora of them. There seemed to be 30 different ones at the Southern Farm Show. Have anywhere of up to $15,000 saved up and buy a show special for less. They would prefer eating some money than having to ship it back home.


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## Tim/South

I agree with Smoothy about the Real Tuff chutes. It self adjusts to any size bovine in the chute. Well thought out and a smooth chute to operate. The one I saw was 6K.

I have two squeeze chutes. Bought one then that weekend bought a complete Rohn system at a price I could not refuse, thus two chutes. The Rohn is set up under a roof. Can't buy them new anymore.

The other chute is a Powder River. We have a caddy for it making it portable. I really like the Powder River. It is a self catch. Our's does not have the split tail gate. The newer ones do and I would recommend the split gate. We have worked big cows in the PR with no problem. I wish it was the XL model which is a little longer.

A friend was chute shopping and we went to a place that handled every chute imaginable. That is where I discovered the Real Tuff.

With my friend, it came down to a Priefert and a Foremost. The dealer said those two were his best sellers for the money.

My friend went with the Priefert. The self catch is different than any other I have seen, kind of hard to get used to unless you use it a lot. We just catch them manually with his.

The Tarter looks nice but the tubing is light. The only one I have seen used much has a good bit of home wielding and beefing up.

I believe any of the name brands would do you justice. One feature I would shy away from would be the chutes that use chains rather than levers. We help work cattle for a friend and his chute has chains and cables, the chains are pulled down into a notch. I have a hard time pulling slack, then lifting up to get the chain out of the notch.

It is nice to have some sort of head restraint if you paste worm, ear tag or implant. Some have an adjustable nose bar, some have notched eyelet doohickeys where you can restrain the head with a small chain or knotted rope. Beats having to grab a handful of nose while someone else does the business.


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## CowboyRam

One thing I would add to this discussion is, go look at them, get your hands on them. We looked at several chutes before we bought ours. Play with them, get a feel on how they work. We looked at Fore-most, Sioux Steel, and one other I don't remember the name of, all I can remember is that it was brown. We wanted to go look at the Real Tuff, but we don't have a dealer all that close to us; I did talk to a dealer that sold them and he said that the Real Tuff and the Sioux Steel are built by the same company.

Oh and one other thing I like about the Arrowquip is that the palpation cage moves in with the chute, so if you are running calves through it, they don't have a place where they can turn around.


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## siscofarms

I agree with the farm show thing . When I was in the goat business I got all the handling equip at Farm machinery show in louisville and saved a bunch .

I have some internet shopping to do in these chutes . Thanks for the info .


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## carcajou

My advice is to consider a chute and a calf table. Cow/bull chute just is not workable for calves imo.


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## swmnhay

I went with a Foremost portable tub and chute.Sure is nice to use at multiple locations.Realy like how easy it is to get to transport position.

I wish it had some sort of neck bar to hold their head tighter for implanting,etc.With the auto catch gate most brands dont have a neck bar option but they do with the sliding catch gate.

The Real tough chute looks heavier built,I already had my formost before I seen them.


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## azmike

A Preifert calf table was added to our new pens. Plenty of curved alley just tall enough where you can reach a tail. We are not circus strong men but son Patrick and I can work 10-12 200+ pound calves in just a couple relaxed hours. We did flip a 470 pound heifer one time, but sure don't want to let them get so big!

I will add that we drilled and anchored the table to the concrete for much more stability. I made up several heavy cord rope loops that we just quick tie the legs and pull to reveal the jewelry for working the bull calves.


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## vhaby

Our Sundance ranch had an older Priefert squeeze chute set on the ground at the end of the channel when we purchased the place. One of the first times we used it, a pregnant but wild Brangus cow climbed out of it as we were attempting to vaccinate and ear tag her (didn't keep her long after she calved.) We made do over time, even setting the old thing on a 4'x10'x6' concrete base to stabilize it and welding three iron bars over the top at the head gate end to prevent animals from rearing up. This chute had gotten quite difficult to use and had to thoroughly be lubed before each use with WD-40. The decision to invest in a new squeeze chute was made for us by a new, 28-month old Brangus bull when I put him into the chute. He pulled his head out of the head gate and there was no use retrying to head catch him. Since the back scissor gate was closed, I was able to vaccinate him, but when I attempted to put a new tag in his ear, he jerked and the tagger dropped to the chute floor, so I had to let him back up in order to retrieve the tagger. Having retrieved the tagging device, I dropped it on the ground outside the chute and turned my back to the chute to grab something when I heard a banging noise, looked up and the very athletic bull was climbing out of the chute. Something moved me very quickly and he landed on his feet right where I had been standing. Darn bull had to land on and completely demolish my tagging device. I now am a firm believer that we are in one very dangerous profession.

Needless to say, I began searching for a new squeeze chute. After looking at demo's on the internet for a week or so, and pricing various chutes, I purchased a Priefert SO4 at a price I couldn't beat on any other comparable make of squeeze chute. We put our Priefert calf working table in front of the SO4 and used it to vaccinate, implant, and castrate the bull calves. We used the SO4 to worm the cows and injection worm and vaccinate heifer calves. We put the cows in the channel, put the Cydectin on their backs and let them go through the chute and out the side gate. For the calves, we moved the side of the chute inward to accommodate smaller animals. The heifer calves were caught in the head gate, vaccinated, and let out the side gate so that they didn't have to jump through the calf working table. After using this new Priefert squeeze chute, I wonder why I tried to make do with the old one for so long. We made the right call when deciding to purchase this Priefert chute. It is quite a well-built and designed piece of equipment. The demo in the following link helped make our decision and quickly taught me how to use it.

https://thexvid.com/video/OsMSQQMkgxs/priefert-chute-showdown.html


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## siscofarms

I appreciate all the input . I'm a look at and study person and have not bought one yet . But I am leaning toward the arrowquip . It is a little more in the $$$ , of course Im checking around on that also , maybe just the dealer Im dealing with . But with the real possibility of starting to use AI and just general care of the cattle , It looks like it would be the trick for me .

Still taking suggestions tho .


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## terryreynolds2

CowboyRam said:


> We bought an Arrowquip Q-Catch 86 series chute last fall, and have been very pleased with it. We worked our bulls just a few weeks ago and it is stout enough for them. I think our vet was impressed with it. At first I was a bit concerned about it not having an automatic head catch, but it is not really all that bad. You can position the head catch bar anywhere along the side of the chute so you are behind the critter when they go through. I also like the rump bar, you ratchet it up to keep them from backing up. We did have a couple bulls pull their heads ( you know there damn thick necks) out of the head catch, but having the rump bar kept them forward and then we had no problems. we also bought Arrowquip's easy flow alley, but have not got that set up yet. That is part of our summer project; redo our corrals.
> 
> www.arrowquip.com


Very sorry I ever heard of Arrowquip. You generally get what you pay for, but Arrowquip has shown otherwise. Bought their calving/maternity pen at MSRP. Made 2 six-hour trips to pick it up, and some panels, since I needed them in a hurry. Spent a full day yesterday attempting to assemble it from what turned out to be the wrong manual that they had sent. Unbeknownst to me, I had received the older model pen and the manual I received was for this year’s. I figured that out yesterday and printed the older model directions from the internet. Either way, their directions were worse than the worst Chinese or other 3rd world directions I have seen. Figuring maybe it was just me, I hired two smart guys this morning. After a morning of frustration, they gave up. Several people with fine-sounding, mellow voices called, spouting BS of how they wanted to make me happy, but not one iota of real help. Save your money and extreme aggravation and buy from any one of the other manufacturers that make virtually identical calving pens. Certainly wish I had.


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## CowboyRam

terryreynolds2 said:


> Very sorry I ever heard of Arrowquip. You generally get what you pay for, but Arrowquip has shown otherwise. Bought their calving/maternity pen at MSRP. Made 2 six-hour trips to pick it up, and some panels, since I needed them in a hurry. Spent a full day yesterday attempting to assemble it from what turned out to be the wrong manual that they had sent. Unbeknownst to me, I had received the older model pen and the manual I received was for this year’s. I figured that out yesterday and printed the older model directions from the internet. Either way, their directions were worse than the worst Chinese or other 3rd world directions I have seen. Figuring maybe it was just me, I hired two smart guys this morning. After a morning of frustration, they gave up. Several people with fine-sounding, mellow voices called, spouting BS of how they wanted to make me happy, but not one iota of real help. Save your money and extreme aggravation and buy from any one of the other manufacturers that make virtually identical calving pens. Certainly wish I had.


I have not looked at their maternity pen, so I don't have any experience with it. I am happy with their squeeze chute.


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## terryreynolds2

Not to say the calving pen won’t be fine if and when it gets assembled. It’s the ridiculously worthless assembly manual, sent the wrong model manual - I could go on - and the ineffective customer support that are really poor.


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