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Adjustable alley

B

badroute

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 22, 2005
Messages
147
Location
Eastern Montana
Just wonderin everyone's thoughts on adjustable alleyways. My neighbors are getting older and fewer and we are gonna need something to make life a little easier in the back.

we want something primarily for pre-conditioning calves in the alley without having to catch them one at a time. We are a young couple and wouldn't mind spending a little money on something since we plan on using it for many years. The brand we a considering are a stur-d and a daniels mfg, leaning heavily towards a daniels mfg.

Just a little note we will be using the alley way in conjunction with a bud box and not a tub.
 
Adjustable alleys become necessary equipment once you've had the chance to use one. For the very reason that you described. Different sizes of cattle. Daniels makes good stuff. Don't know anything about the stur-d. I like the bud box too, so I'd probably like your overall setup when you get it in place. Best to you.
 
Here's ours. The Bud box is sheeted now. The Adjustable alley is FANTASTIC!!! Ours is from Lakeland Group http://www.lakelandgroup.net/ and the alley itself is 26' long in front of a 3 way sorting gate, double alley and a bud box. We have a Q catch squeeze on the front. There are 2 drop downs at the back of the double alley and 3 rolling gates in the alleyway.
558416_400962866633127_1209911448_n.jpg
 
i have a Stur-D adjustable alley that works very well. with a quick pull of four pins the middle section of one side folds down which makes it very easy to vaccinating calves. no standing on a catwalk and bending over reaching down in the alley. just walk along the side and bang, bang, bang. :D and as the name implies, Stur-Ds are very sturdy :wink:

Stur-D sells the alley separate from the tubs.
 
Hey guys thanks for the replies. Justin I have seen the stur-d at the stockyards in Miles City. The yard has one in use and also sells the equipment. they have had no problems with the setup and that place probably processes as many cattle as anywhere in the state except maybe PAYS or BLS.

Part of the reason we are looking at a Daniels is that they have a double lead up. Does anyone have any experience whether it be good or bad with a double lead up.

There is lots of good equipment out there it's just finding what works best for you.
 
badroute said:
Hey guys thanks for the replies. Justin I have seen the stur-d at the stockyards in Miles City. The yard has one in use and also sells the equipment. they have had no problems with the setup and that place probably processes as many cattle as anywhere in the state except maybe PAYS or BLS.

Part of the reason we are looking at a Daniels is that they have a double lead up. Does anyone have any experience whether it be good or bad with a double lead up.

There is lots of good equipment out there it's just finding what works best for you.
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I have worked lots around the Daniels set-up since my boyfriend is a vet, and processes a lot of cattle through his every year. You can back that thing up into questionable facilities, (trust me, he has seen it all), and still get the job done. The double feed works great since they walk in together. It is easily adjustible. I don't think you would go wrong with one.
 
I've got a portable Daniels double alley. Bought it to work cows in the fall and it works great, the vet never has to wait for a cow. We also used it this summer to work calves. My calves weren't very old at the time so I wasn't sure how we'll it would work but it worked real nice.
 
badroute said:
Hey guys thanks for the replies. Justin I have seen the stur-d at the stockyards in Miles City. The yard has one in use and also sells the equipment. they have had no problems with the setup and that place probably processes as many cattle as anywhere in the state except maybe PAYS or BLS.

Part of the reason we are looking at a Daniels is that they have a double lead up. Does anyone have any experience whether it be good or bad with a double lead up.

There is lots of good equipment out there it's just finding what works best for you.
Click to expand...

Some friends of ours who runs a registered outfit in Kansas uses the double feed Daniels and they love it.
Said it cuts the work in half, because the cows feed through it so much easier. He bought the Daniels because when he was the manger of a big feedlot, that's what they used and he really liked how the cattle worked through it.

Stur-D is sold right here locally. I assume you know that. :D

This forum is a great place to get valuable feedback.

You'll have to let us know what you decide. Good luck!
 
PureCountry said:
You go with what works hey Jody? Nice setup. Simple and straight forward.
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got the telephone poles at a $1/ft. the 2x12 were left over from building head gates. Ruff cut 2x6 came from a couple saw logs I took to the mill , sawed my share for the logs. The steel roofing I got a deal on, and the pipe and angle iron came out of the metal pile :D
 
For what it's worth, on the overhead alley stops (for lack of a better name) with hanging and rattling chains, Temple Grandin promotes a very good idea (not sure who originated the idea). She extends the overhead alley stop beyond the pivot point and attaches a counter weight. With this set up, the gate raises and lowers with ease with no noise. I thought it was an excellent idea. I think a piece of rope was used to adjust the height. FWIW.

~SH~
 
Double alleys rock. Built right, the opening looks larger and less intimidating to the calves. I sold a Powder river setup to some neighbors. Their "Wild Cattle" walked out of their Squeeze Chute like dairy cows out of a parlor. I feel it was a combination of Double Alley and adjustable replacing old wooden Crowd Alley
 
~SH~ said:
For what it's worth, on the overhead alley stops (for lack of a better name) with hanging and rattling chains, Temple Grandin promotes a very good idea (not sure who originated the idea). She extends the overhead alley stop beyond the pivot point and attaches a counter weight. With this set up, the gate raises and lowers with ease with no noise. I thought it was an excellent idea. I think a piece of rope was used to adjust the height. FWIW.

~SH~
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Nice idea
 
I just loaded out 100 head of big cows through a Formost double alley. Only thing good about it I saw was its heavy enough that the cows don't move it around. I AM NOT IMPRESSED with how they load into it. Soapweed's sorta makeshift Bud box worked a whole bunch better.
 
LazyWP said:
I just loaded out 100 head of big cows through a Formost double alley. Only thing good about it I saw was its heavy enough that the cows don't move it around. I AM NOT IMPRESSED with how they load into it. Soapweed's sorta makeshift Bud box worked a whole bunch better.
Click to expand...

I'm not doubting on that day what you describe isn't true.

I can show you cases where they have loaded really well from a double alley. I haven't seen a Foremost to say what may be different than the Powder River. So, I am going to assume many similarities? With that, I have been brought to places where people say something isn't working that has worked well elsewhere. I generally find something in the layout outside of the piece of equipment that makes it not work as well as it may have elsewhere....

Long winded way of saying, I haven't had anyone with one that hasn't loved it.. I have set them up with both sweep tubs and bud Box configurations. i can show a video of cows off the range that were fully loaded in both sides before the Ranchers got up to close the sweep gate.

I like them a lot
 

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