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Cattle Chutes on Display at Husker Harvest Days

Russ Quinn
By  Russ Quinn , DTN Staff Reporter
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A calf is processed at cattle chute demonstrations at the 2014 Husker Harvest Days held near Grand Island, Neb. (DTN photo by Russ Quinn)

August and September are normally great months to have outdoor farm shows, complete with working demonstrations of various farm implements.

Not this year.

The two big Midwest farm shows have seen their three-day runs shortened by large amounts of rain.

Two weeks ago, the Farm Progress show in Boone, Iowa, had to cancel its last day because of wet field conditions. This week saw Husker Harvest Days in Grand Island, Nebraska, cancelling Wednesday's events due to large amounts of rain and flooding on the grounds. At this writing, Husker Harvest organizers were hopeful they would be able to reopen the show for the last day on Thursday, Sept. 11.

I traveled to both shows; hit some light rain at Farm Progress the day I was there, but managed to find the heavy rains Tuesday at Husker Harvest.

Line after line of thunderstorms made me duck into various tents and buildings throughout the day. I spent part of the morning in the DTN building and in the afternoon attended a cattle chute demonstration, mainly because it was under a roof.

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As someone who raises beef cattle and has spent my whole life around bovines, one thing I really appreciate about Husker Harvest is the focus on livestock. Cattle breeders bring in their livestock and many livestock equipment companies showcase their wares.

There were around 10 chutes ready to process calves at the chute demo Tuesday. The true and tried chutes like Pearson, Powder River and Behlen were present along with a few chutes I had never seen before.

Among the unfamiliar chutes was one manufactured by Daniels Manufacturing from Ainsworth, Nebraska, and another chute by Dodge Manufacturing from Dodge, Nebraska. This doesn't mean they are brand new chutes, but I would imagine they are on the newer side.

The Daniels all hydraulic chute features a neck stretcher which makes tagging, dehorning, etc. much simpler, according to the company's website. Two vertical bars come out from the chute and hold the animal's head out for access to the neck, an area in which most vaccinations are administrated.

I appreciate this feature -- easy access to the neck -- on the Daniels chute and other chutes. On our farm, we have an older, portable chute (I couldn't even tell you the brand name) and access to the neck is sometimes difficult as the cattle pull backwards in the head gate. These neck stretchers certainly would make access to the vaccination points easier.

Other features of the chute included removable sternum support, a built-in palpation cage with gas springs for quieter operation, hip squeeze for A-I and preg checking, mounting brackets for scales, special traction floor and a 8-bolt hub and wheel for portable models.

The Dodge Manufacturing Brute Stealth chute features an angled head gate. This innovative design makes this chute distinctive in a line of several other cattle chutes with flat head gates.

According to the company's website, the angled design was thought up after talking to veterinarians, kill plant managers and producers. This design conforms to the animal and allows for less bruising to cattle. Less bruising in cattle leads to more profit for cattle producers.

The angular design also allows the head doors to be pulled away from the animal's field of vision, according to the company. This gives the animal a sense of already of being out of the chute while still in it and the cattle will be more willing to leave the chute by moving forward and not backing up, which is fairly common.

We have had this issue over the years with our old cattle chute. Sometimes no matter how wide you swing the head gate open, cattle's natural instinct is to back up to go the same way they came into the chute. Anything that encourages cattle to move forward instead of backward out of a chute is welcome to me.

For more information about Daniels Manufacturing Co., go to their website at http://www.danielsmfg.com/… or call (800) 736-0776.

For more information about Brute Cattle Equipment by Dodge Manufacturing, go to their website at http://www.dodgemfg.com/… or call (866) 441-2555.

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