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Info on Manual Chutes

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Pen Checker

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After some debate and some negative input we decided to purchase Prieferts Manual/Auto headgate chute (SO4). We put this on load bars/ scale, in our hospital area, and have ran a little over 200 head through. It has worked perfectly! No caught feet, as was suggested as a concern, nothing. We use the manual as it's fast and no settings for smaller or larger cattle are required. This is not a chute for processing cattle in a feedlot but is awesome for what we use it for or would be on a cow/calf farm. Found it in Alberta from the Canadian company that represents them.
 
We have ran priefert chutes for 40 years , Never had to buy a part company suppied them for free . Mine is a model 93 the header was tapered on the bottom & cow could laydown & choke but it is strait now .Good chute for the money .
 
lefty said:
We have ran priefert chutes for 40 years , Never had to buy a part company suppied them for free . Mine is a model 93 the header was tapered on the bottom & cow could laydown & choke but it is strait now .Good chute for the money .
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We have two Priefert chutes which we like very well. My only complaint is the tapered bottom, which can choke a cow if you don't pay attention. It is always a mystery to me why a chute-manufacturing company thinks they need to taper the bottom of the neck catcher on a headgate. It would be much better for both cows and cowboys to leave it straight, not to mention being easier to make. :?
 
Perhaps they want to be able to accomadate calves.

I have an SO4 on my squeeze chute also (thankyou Soapweed for the suggestion). I noticed on my last bunch of feeders that some were staggering and acting drunk after releasing them from the chute. After a few minutes they seemed to straighten out.

At first, I thought they were having a reaction to one of the vaccines. Not all were doing it, but enough for me to give my vet a call.

His first thought was to see if maybe they were getting their blood supply cut down from the head gate.

Seems that between the headgate and the squeeze I was putting their little bodies into quite a bit of tight choke hold.

Something to keep an eye on.

bart.
 
Big Muddy rancher said:
Justin said:
i have a Priefert. some days i like it, some days i don't. :? :wink:
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Some days your the windshield, some days your the bug. :D :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Some days a Diamond some days a stone.
 
I'm the Marketing Director for Priefert and I'm happy to see most of you have enjoyed your experience with our products. The tapered yoke has long been a topic of conversation. This is one of those things... some people love it and some don't. The reason for the yoke is based on hours of observation research. Most animals will take the path of least resistance and keep their neck in the widest part of the yoke for comfort. This keeps the animal standing and normally a little more still. When the headgate is straight (which we have experimented with) the animal has full range of movement up and down and tends to thrash more in the chute. Ultimately this results in more cattle balking and going down in the chute. Since the Priefert headgate has an infinate locking system instead of pre-set or fixed system, the idea is that the operator can simply move the handle a couple of inches making the cow think the gate is opening. This slight movement normally makes the cow stand to her feet and raise her head into the correct position while you finish what you are doing.

Another thing we do to try to take pressure off the animal is contour the sides of our chute. A squeeze chute is really improperly named if you think about it. It should be called a "restraining" chute. We don't want to squeeze an animal we want to restrain them from hurting themselves or the operator. Since cows are round not straight, the contour on the sides wrap around the belly and takes a lot of uneccesary pressure off of her.

I can sure see the arguement from both sides. Next time a cow appears to be going down into the tapered yoke, try taking opening the headgate an inch or two and see if that works for you. I think you'll find most of the time the cow will stand and then remain standing in the correct position.
 
Most of the time a cow will get on her knees & down on her brisket & push . This is when they loose their air . I took & chained the header on the model 93 in the middle , cut the bottom drive straps off & use a hydrolic jack to open up the pinch in the tubing & reattached the drive straps . Made things much better . A foremost header is straight . Cattle flow thrue them great . If you put a foremost header on a priefert chute you would have one good rig . I have had cattle blow the locks open on the priefert if they come in real hard & can get a little shoulder in to it .
The perfect chute isnt out there that I have seen . All have some good & bad . When you are trying to make something to fit 2500# bulls & 200 # calves its tough .
 
yesterday we started our hfrs, for AI, one was a little excited, ben says she's a chute rattler, and i said they would have to be dead not to make a powder river chute rattle. for the money these days i dont think you can get a better chute than a preifert. like chuck says they all got good as well as bad, you hang onto 1200 lbs and jab needles into it, stuffs gunna happen
 
I really like my Stampede Steel chute.It has the straight pipes for the head gate. Where I find cattle get wobbly is when the pull back hard and it shuts the blood supply off like a sleeper hold.
Our old Ranger built in the fifties had the straight pipe head gate. It has features that many news still don't have today.
 
Our vet had one of those old portable Rangers he branded alot of cattle hauling it from place to place. The best cow choker was the 80's W-W-you just about threw a sticking knife in with the vaccine if you were doing any amount of cattle. We have a new chute coming to the Waldorf can't wait to do a review on it-the handling system in place is pretty good so far.
 
gonefishing said:
I'm the Marketing Director for Priefert and I'm happy to see most of you have enjoyed your experience with our products. The tapered yoke has long been a topic of conversation. This is one of those things... some people love it and some don't. The reason for the yoke is based on hours of observation research. Most animals will take the path of least resistance and keep their neck in the widest part of the yoke for comfort. This keeps the animal standing and normally a little more still. When the headgate is straight (which we have experimented with) the animal has full range of movement up and down and tends to thrash more in the chute. Ultimately this results in more cattle balking and going down in the chute. Since the Priefert headgate has an infinate locking system instead of pre-set or fixed system, the idea is that the operator can simply move the handle a couple of inches making the cow think the gate is opening. This slight movement normally makes the cow stand to her feet and raise her head into the correct position while you finish what you are doing.

Another thing we do to try to take pressure off the animal is contour the sides of our chute. A squeeze chute is really improperly named if you think about it. It should be called a "restraining" chute. We don't want to squeeze an animal we want to restrain them from hurting themselves or the operator. Since cows are round not straight, the contour on the sides wrap around the belly and takes a lot of uneccesary pressure off of her.

I can sure see the arguement from both sides. Next time a cow appears to be going down into the tapered yoke, try taking opening the headgate an inch or two and see if that works for you. I think you'll find most of the time the cow will stand and then remain standing in the correct position.
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Some of these theories are good, and some are just theories. :wink:

One of our Prieferts has the "shin hitter" outlying foot-operated lever to run the squeeze. The other one has a hand operated squeeze. The "shin hitter" works the best for preg checking cows. Fewer cows drop their heads and choke with this unit. On the other one, just about every cow drops her head. The chute operator doesn't dare leave his post, or a cow will go down and choke quite rapidly. Like you say, as long as someone is there to give just an inch or two of slack, everything can be made to work. A straddle bar so the cow can't go down would be a welcome add-on. I do like the quietness and overall usablility of the Prieferts, but would sure "prefer it" if they had straight bars instead of curved for the head-catchers.
 
Northern Rancher said:
Our vet had one of those old portable Rangers he branded alot of cattle hauling it from place to place. The best cow choker was the 80's W-W-you just about threw a sticking knife in with the vaccine if you were doing any amount of cattle. We have a new chute coming to the Waldorf can't wait to do a review on it-the handling system in place is pretty good so far.
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The old guillotine outfits were really bad. And then when the cow choked down, all of her weight was right on the lever that needed to be released so she could be released. Even old home-made wood headcatches were better than those.
 
I know the straight bars versus curved bars issue has been discussed at least ten years. It's just a matter of what's most important to you: no chance of choking if the animal goes down versus restraining the animal more. I guess that if you don't want one headgate, there are others that will fit.
 
Northern Rancher said:
Our vet had one of those old portable Rangers he branded alot of cattle hauling it from place to place. The best cow choker was the 80's W-W-you just about threw a sticking knife in with the vaccine if you were doing any amount of cattle. We have a new chute coming to the Waldorf can't wait to do a review on it-the handling system in place is pretty good so far.
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what type and or make are they going to try or have bought?
 
hayguy said:
Northern Rancher said:
Our vet had one of those old portable Rangers he branded alot of cattle hauling it from place to place. The best cow choker was the 80's W-W-you just about threw a sticking knife in with the vaccine if you were doing any amount of cattle. We have a new chute coming to the Waldorf can't wait to do a review on it-the handling system in place is pretty good so far.
Click to expand...


what type and or make are they going to try or have bought?
Click to expand...

refitted our old W-W with a Priefert auto head catch, worked great but the old chute finally wore out. Bought a old powder river that had a hydralic kit put on it for only $2000.
He has a custom made cute with a briskit bar, extra long with a gate in the back left side, a neck sweep, which works great ad we are in the bang servalance area, and tattos and bangs tag need to be read . Great for bang tattoing and tagging. Right side swing open if needed, but then it is all hydalic with long hoses and a honda motor. it can be coupled to a tractor too.
 
I emailed an outfit in WA about Stampede chutes. Maybe they went out of business since they haven't responded to 2 inquiries.

No dealers around me.
 
Try this link. It lists all the dealers:


http://stampedesteel.com/stampedesteel/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=24

I clicked on Washington and got a map and phone number.
This says WW but it is WW Stampede:

http://www.wwmanufacturing.com/ss-chutes.html

We have a Morand Squeeze Chute that we really like, but since then
we have heard from several that Stampedes are the best.
Same goes for the whole working system.

Good Luck!!
 

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