Vern's panels are my favorite. Not terribly heavy and reasonably stout. No panels are cheap to buy anymore by any means. Vern's has always appealed to me as reasonably strong at not such an outrageous price. You are young so go at least 12'. At my age and working alone much of the time I prefer 10' panels. :wink:
Vern's also makes a loading chute that will haul panels and a panel hauling trailer. I have no experience with either.
Stur-D should be popular in your neck of the woods as they are based in ND. I have no experience with Stur-D panels but I've been around enough other Stur-D products that I'm sure they are stout. Neighbors have a Stur-D loading chute. It is a very nice well built chute and works well for loading/unloading cattle.
I realize you are not considering purchase of a tub and alley. I'm just going to mention that a local business here in the area rents a Stur-D tub/alley unit out by a daily rate. Tub rental is really becoming popular in portable setup situations by both new and well established operators. I believe it costs $150/day. Another business in another town similarly rents out a Vern's tub/alley on a daily charge basis. A similar arrangement might be available in your area.
The only thing I have to say against the Stur-D loading chute is pulling it down the highway is a ..... well, let's just say it will cause you to say a few swear words.

Don't even attempt to pull a Stur-D chute at highway speeds or you likely will end up in the ditch. For some reason when they designed this chute the axle is centered too much with not enough weight on the hitch. The axle needs to be placed rearward at least a foot for better road manners. BTW, the chute has a nice rubber torsion axle with heavy 6 bolt hubs and 16" tires. They just mounted it in the wrong place.
Here are some links:
Vern's Mfg panels/loading chute/panel trailer: http://www.vernsmfg.com/panels.html
Stur-D loading chute: http://www.stur-d.com/Products/loadingChute/tabid/96/Default.aspx
Stur-D portable cattle panels: http://www.stur-d.com/Products/PortableCattlePanel/tabid/80/Default.aspx
Shortgrass, is Stroberg the outfit that built a loading chute with a tandem axle back in the 50's? Chute and panels were an aluminum/silver color? That name sounds really familiar.