Description
Limited in space, this small beef plant in the center of Chicago used a combination of concrete wall, steel gates, and a prefabricated steel single file chute mounted to the concrete floor. The 2200 square feet of holding space allows for 100 cattle in three pens, and the two alleys can also be used as holding space. A raised concrete handler walk-way around the crowd pen, and the platform around the single file chute are 42 inches down from the top of the 66 inch high solid fence. The height of the raised walkway is ideal for the handler of average height. One backstop gate in the single file chute is used only with cattle that refuse to go forward. The large truck unloading ramp has a level dock extending 10 feet before the steps of the ramp. This allows fast moving cattle to slow down after coming off the truck so that don’t fall down the steps. Next to the ramp is a back up stock trailer unload at ground level. Deep grooved concrete was used in all curved fence areas and in the holding pens. The three most important principles when designing facilities for cattle are; Solid sided fences in high use areas like the curved lane and crowd pen. Blocking vision with solid fences keeps them calm. Deep groove concrete floors also keeps cattle calm, and gives them confidence waking through the facility. Curved fences promote forward motion and make cattle think they’re going back where they came from. Curves also prevent abrupt corners or chutes that appear dead-ended.
