Humane Cattle Pens, Custom Designs and Behavior Consulting
DESIGNED FOR CATTLEMEN,
BUILD TO LAST.
- Custom designs for new facilities
- Expert troubleshooting
Call Mark For More Info today!
DESIGNED FOR CATTLEMEN,
BUILD TO LAST.
- Custom designs for new facilities
- Expert troubleshooting
Call Mark For More Info today!
Comparison between a custom curved handling system and a portable pre-fab handling system
(Click to expand)
1. Are custom-built corrals better than pre-fabricated cattle handling systems?
Yes. Curved custom corrals use cattle's natural behavior to control movement. Prefab systems are not designed with cattle behavior in mind and require more force to move cattle through them.
2. Are custom corrals less expensive than prefabricated corrals?
The costs are often similar—a complete prefabricated system including sorting pens, alleys, and holding pens, shipped to the farm and assembled, often costs more than building from scratch. All the material is new, whereas custom corrals can be built with used oil field pipe and other surplus material.
The benefits of custom corrals include consideration of pre-existing site restrictions and improved handling outcomes. Custom corrals can help reduce stress and prevent injuries to cattle and people.
3. Is a completely low-stress handling system possible?
No. The stress during restraint in a squeeze chute is often unavoidable. However, reducing stress before entering the squeeze chute can reduce stress during the squeeze.
Custom facilities use animal behavior to control movements, reducing stress before the squeeze chute. This makes the entire experience less stressful for cattle and people.
Force is necessary in most prefabricated systems. The solid portions of the fence do not block vision, the single-file chutes are dead-ended, and the facilities' portability makes them noisy.
4. Are solid sides on fences necessary for low-stress handling?
Yes, but solid-sided fences need to be at least 5 feet high to completely block outside distractions. Cattle cannot be afraid of what they cannot see. Most prefabricated systems have only partially solid sides (up to 4 ft.), allowing cattle to see people in their flight zones and to be distracted by objects outside the fence.
5. Are curved fences necessary to lower stress during handling?
Yes, but curves must be laid out correctly to be effective. Curves take advantage of cattle's natural tendency to want to go back where they came from. They know it's safer where they were than where they're going.
Curved fences must be smooth and have no dead ends. To encourage cattle to enter the single-file chute, they must be able to see two to three body lengths ahead. Abrupt openings to the single-file chute, common in most prefabricated systems, require people to force cattle into it.
6. Are floor surfaces important for reducing stress during handling?
Yes. Cattle have poor depth perception and balk at changes in floor surfaces.
Custom-designed facilities use concrete floors that look the same in all curved fence areas. No drain grates or other floor differences. Prefabricated systems come in parts. Prefabricated systems are mostly installed on dirt floors. Each part bolted to the next, with a metal floor and overhead braces to hold each section together. Cattle balk at the floor braces because they "appear" as holes in the ground.
When forced to cross the braces, cattle tend to jump. Because concrete floors are rarely used, mud builds up in wet conditions, making it hard for cattle to walk.
7. Are grooved concrete floors necessary to keep cattle calm?
Yes. Slippery floors cause fear. Falling onto hard concrete can cause injuries and damage to muscles and bones. Even after healing, the muscle damage makes the meat tough to chew.
Custom cattle systems always recommend grooved concrete floors in high-use areas, such as the single-file chute, the crowd pen, and the exit area from the squeeze chute, where cattle often fall.
8. What's the most important feature that distinguishes custom corrals from prefabricated corrals?
The custom curved corral system, originally designed by Dr. Temple Grandin, encourages cattle to move forward through the system without the use of force.
As cattle move through each curved section, they can clearly see a place to go and are "tricked" into thinking it's the way out, when in reality it's the way we want them to go.
The curve in the single-file chute prevents cattle from seeing the squeeze chute until they're right behind it. Preventing cattle from seeing the squeeze chute reduces stress, as they remain calm until just before the squeeze.
Prefab systems lack these defining features.
9. Are there differences in materials between custom and prefabricated cattle corrals?
Yes. Prefabricated corrals use lightweight tubing and 14-ga. or 16-ga. steel. They rely on complicated overhead and ground supports to hold the parts together. These materials are prone to rust or bending when cattle hit the gates and fences.
My custom-designed facilities recommend using surplus oilfield pipe for fence posts and 10-ga. solid steel sheets for solid sides on the curved fence. Used oilfield pipe is available nationwide or can be shipped from large surplus yards in Texas and Oklahoma—the 10-ga. steel sheets and the 2-in. tubing for the top rail in the curved portions of the fence are bought new. The 2-in. tubing bends easily around the curves.
10. Are catwalks necessary?
Yes. To keep cattle calm, custom facilities have 5 ft. high solid fences with catwalks 32 in. down from the top of the fence. Cattle cannot see over the fence, and when people are on the catwalk, they can bend down behind it as cattle enter the facility, remaining unseen.
Prefabricated systems do not have catwalks, and the solid portion of the fence is only 4 ft. high. Cattle can easily see over the fence and tend to react to people standing outside the fence or other distractions.
Final Thoughts
All the large meat plants in the U.S. and other countries that handle 2,000 cattle or more each day understand the importance of solid-sided fences, curves, and deep-grooved concrete floors. The same can be said for the large commercial feedyards worldwide.
Large ranches, especially purebred cow-calf operations, also value custom designs for their ability to reduce stress, an important consideration for expensive breeding stock.
Large commercial cattle operations rarely, if ever, use prefabricated equipment. It doesn't hold up to day-to-day use.
“Humane Livestock Handling” authored by Temple Grandin and Mark Deesing
$29.95
Learn how humanely handling your livestock can improve your farm’s day-to-day operation and profitability. Stressing the importance of understanding livestock behavior, Temple Grandin and Mark Deesing show you how to develop a respectful working relationship with your animals to promote their health and productivity. The book includes dozens of detailed construction plans for ranches, feed yards, and large and small meat processing plants. The book contains animal-friendly facilities for low-stress handling and tips for moving your livestock on pastures, padlocks, and feedlot pens. This guide has everything you need to know to create a comfortable atmosphere for thriving, happy livestock.
Other books by Temple Grandin and Mark Deesing available on Amazon.
Featured BOok
Humane Livestock Handling
understanding livestocks behavior and building facilities for healthier animals
Learn how humanely handling your livestock can improve your farm’s day-to-day operation and profitability. This practical guide includes construction plans, facility design tips, and proven techniques to reduce stress and promote animal health and productivity.
Reduce Stress and Injuries
Improve Efficiency & Probability
Promote Animal Health & Welfare
Plan and Tips You Can Use
By Temple grandin and Mark deesing
$29.95
“A must-read for anyone who works with livestock.”
-RANCHER & READER
MORE BOOKS BY TEMPLE GRANDIN AND MARK DEESING
Genetics and the Behavior of Domestic Animals
Understand how genetics influences animal behavior and how that knowledge can improve handling, breeding and management.
Genetics and the Behavior of Domestic Animals (Second Edition)
An updated edition with the latest research and real-world applications to help you build better livestock operations.
Genetics and the Behavior of Domestic Animals (Third Edition)
The most comprehensive resource for understanding animal behavior and applying it to everyday livestock management.
Deesing Cattle Pen
& Corral Designs
Deesing Livestock Handling Systems, is an international design and consulting company specializing in handling system design and animal behavior consulting based in Utah, USA. We combine construction engineering and principles discovered by animal behavior research to ensure the humane treatment of all livestock, wildlife, and zoo species. Our specialty is corral pens for cattle, bison, and pigs.
Animal welfare has “come of age” recently as one of the worlds great movements of social change. In cattle production systems, attention to animal welfare, and specifically humane handling methods are known to improve weight gain, reduce sickness and injuries, improve meat quality, improve food safety, and increase economic returns. In order to increase consumer confidence, a proactive approach to animal welfare concerns should be forefront in your planning and management strategies.
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