DOC HARRIS said:
PPRM - Terrific Post! You said almost everything that was necessary, and put it in a nutshell! Most "problems" can be solved by having the correct equipment and the right size to accomplish the job. You can't do any job right without the right tools!
One of the primary problems that I have encountered in my work revolves around "BUDGET RESTRICTIONS!" People establish a certain figure in their budget - and then REFUSE to exceed that figure in spite of the fact that a little more expenditure will usually do a lot more of a JOB for them! But they are BULL-HEADED and can't see the Forest for the Trees! But - - it is easy to say if you have the money - hard to do if you DON'T have the money! But there is usually a "happy medium" in there somewhere - you just have to find it. And accept it!
DOC HARRIS
There was a guy in milton freewater, Oregon that had struggled with an old Powder River Squeeze chute on a 600 cow outfit...for years they fought it. It was a great chute in its time, but undersized for today's cattle. Would have been a great yearling chute, but couple that undersized unit with a a wooden crowd alley thatdoes not adjust width and no Sweep tub and it was an all day fight to work cattle. Imagine doing that for 25 plus years....
They finally broke down and bought a sweep tub, Adjustable crowd alley and an XL Manual Chute. It was like night and day....They still were fighting some things and had me come out to look it over....
They did not know the bottom adjustd and for some reason the front was set narrower than the back. So it was kinda pushing the cows back and not working for them. That and a few other adjust ments and the guy said, "this will work, but it is not what I want." I started showing him the Powder River Hydraulic and he said, "Nope, this deal is so much better, I don't want to Skimp"...I sold him a Silencer (Sent him to the guy that deals them)
The Ironic thing is how long they choose to fight stuff and then once they had a taste of how easy it can be they weren't going to settle anymore....
Good equipment makes it less work for you, safer for you and the cattle, easier on the cattle and your Vaccinations and medicines work better.......
A lot of the Chute deal is regional....Stuff I am familiar with and is readily available may not be so much for others....Some of the Chutes in this thread aren't available where I am. That is why I thought it would be more help for more people to talk about features more do than brands...
I will say I can put any other brand out on a lot where I live and the Powder River will outsell it 6 to 1......Combination of features, price (Frieght s not a deal breaker here) and what people are familiar with,
PPRM