The secret behind effective beef cattle handling entails more than just able herdsmen. Mechanics and steelwork are also very important in making stock farming a pleasure. This is the third part in our beef cattle handling series, and the ARC-Institute for Agricultural Engineering in South Africa has made their manual on handling facilities available to ProAgri Zambia so that our readers can benefit from their research and knowledge.

In the third delivery of the beef cattle handling series we are looking at various crush constructions as well as separation equipment for calves. Crushes with V-shaped solid sides have the best flow of cattle and an advantage is that calves cannot turn around in these types of crushes. The sides of these crushes are usually solid to prevent cattle from getting injured by the poles as a result of the limited walking space. For cleaning purposes and easy drainage, the solid sides should not reach the ground. The opening must, however, not be too large, as the cattle can injure their hoofs. An opening of 50 mm should be sufficient.

The disadvantage of crushes with solid sides is that the cattle cannot be handled from the side. These crushes are also expensive to erect and a catwalk has to be erected, from which the cattle can be monitored or driven. A catwalk is a raised platform on which the handlers walk. A further disadvantage of V-shaped sides is that when an animal falls or lies down in the crush, it wedges itself in. The animal can then only be lifted with great effort.

Box-type crushes with vertical sides are a variation on V-shaped crushes. It has basically the same benefits and disadvantages as the V-shaped crush. Crushes with vertical, transparent sides are relatively cheap and easy to build. Cattle are handled with more ease and there is still an effective flow of cattle. Calves, however, turn around very easily in this crush.

In feedlots, crushes are used daily and a more durable crush is therefore justified. The cattle are approximately the same size and the width of the crush can be adapted accordingly. Cattle are basically only handled in the working area and the crush only serves as an inlet channel. A V-shaped crush with solid sides is therefore recommended for feedlots. Commercial and stud farmers sometimes want to handle the cattle in the crush themselves and for this purpose a crush with vertical sides is preferable. A separate calf entrance can also be built.

This simplifies the handling of calves. Where crushes are used regularly, the ground surface tends to become trampled to form a hollow ditch. Such a crush surface makes it difficult for cattle to stand, causing them to become very uncomfortable and anxious. The ground surface should be refilled regularly so that it remains level. A cement floor with a rough surface is a better alternative for a crush floor. It is easier to be kept clean and does not become trampled. The floor can be made slightly convex, so that the cattle trample the manure out themselves.

However, care should be taken to ensure that the hoofs of the cattle do not slip in under the solid sides and get stuck there. The width of a crush must be determined very carefully, as cattle turn around much easier if the crush is too wide. There are no fixed rules on the width of a crush, but normally the inner dimension should be approximately 750 mm. In the case of exceptionally large stud bulls, the crush can be constructed slightly wider.

As the cattle arriving at feedlots are fairly young, the feedlot crushes can even be as narrow as 620 mm. Figure 10 shows the measurements of a practical crush. The upright supporting poles must be spaced approximately 1,5 m apart. The question remains whether calves should be handled together with large cattle. The general tendency these days is to handle calves separately from large animals. The reason is obvious, as calves sustain fewer injuries and handling is fast and easy when they are handled separately. Two calf crush constructions are possible. The crush for large cattle must be built in such a way that it can be adapted to handle calves, or a portion of the main crush must be designed so that it can easily be adjusted to handle calves. Figure 11 shows the typical construction of such a crush-decreasing unit.

The other possibility is to erect a separate crush especially for calves. Figure 10 shows practical measurements for a calf crush. The lower 300 mm of the calf crush should be solid, because calves can easily poke their legs through the sides of the crush and break them. Calves are also not as tame as adult cattle because they are not as used to handling as large cattle.

A great problem with the handling of calves is the separation of a cow from her calf without disturbing the flow of cattle. In a V-shaped crush the calf can, however, be easily separated from the cow, because the V-shaped crush forces the calf to walk ahead of or behind the cow. The calf can then easily be headed off with a gate. Figure 12 shows such a calf drafting race. Figure 13 shows a calf drafting race in a crush with vertical sides.

Another method of separating calves from cows is to build a portion of the crush with vertical poles spaced approximately 350 mm apart, as shown in figure 14. The calf is then driven through the vertical poles to stand outside the main crush in a small pen. The separation process must be undertaken calmly, or else the mature cattle may injure the calves while they are moving out.

When a cow and her calf are separated, the calf must remain as close as possible to the cow, or she will search for her calf and this causes a delay in the crush. The calf crush must therefore not deviate too sharply away from the main crush. Where cattle are being driven into a crush, handlers should be standing on only one side of the crush, on the opposite side of where the cattle’s heads should be. The reason for this is that cattle show a tendency of moving away from people. The application of this principle will help to make the cattle stand at an angle in the crush for inoculations and gestation examinations, because each animal will tend to place its head behind the rump of the animal in front of it.

Cattle tend to strain backwards in the crush when they are handled intensively. This causes unnecessary injuries and can be easily prevented by placing a one-way gate in the crush. Figures 15 and 16 shows the construction of such a gate. The height of the gate can be adapted to the average height of the cattle by adjusting the chain. Such a gate can be affixed every three metres in the crush.

Next month we shall take a look at swing gates and mobile crushes.

Published with acknowledgement to the ARC-Institute for Agricultural Engineering for the use of their Beef Cattle Handling Manual. Visit www.arc.agric.za for more information.