Whether you are just starting out or you are a seasoned sodbuster , constructing livestock handling facilities that meet your needs and are budget - friendly can be a daunting task . Here ’s how three small farmers with dissimilar operations from the Sequatchie Valley of Tennessee accomplished these goals and more .
Cattle
One tone at the gate latches on J.D. Vandergriff ’s Black Angus cow / calf farm near Whitwell , Tennessee , will give you some idea as to the cleverness that led to the creation of his cattle handle facilities . They are as unique as they are functional and low-cost .
Vandergriff , recently retired , has farmed his integral life , first alongside his don and later on his own . He has an affection for repurposing a variety of materials including the recycle lugworm wrenches he ’s converted into sliding gate door latch .
It ’s this same persuasion process that led to the design of his cattle - handling facility . He spent hours envision and outline out what he hoped to construct to agree with the materials he already had on bridge player . Then , he made adjustments to his design as he go away by running cows through it to test what worked and what did n’t .
The materials in Vandergriff ’s Bos taurus chute are divers and come from recycled wood , a garage room access and a oral sex logic gate . His Fatherhood bring home the bacon the latter at a Farm Bureau meeting in the 1960s ; Vandergriff found it in the pigeon loft of his barn .
Everything has been reutilized . This include the chain - inter-group communication William Henry Gates , given to him by his former employer when they were being replaced with new ace . Same with the existing b that houses his cover facilities .
“ The wood [ for the slideway ] is all repurposed lumber , ” he says . “ Part of it was from a swim pool deck for my niece and her married man . ”Hope Ellis - Ashburn
Hope Ellis-Ashburn
Vandergriff has slanted the add-in in his chute so that he has dissimilar military position options to interlace the Bos taurus in place . He translate inquiry that said Bos taurus work better with a solid wall . But he likes the Sir Henry Joseph Wood slat on his parachute .
They earmark him to reach through to the cattle and believes that the construction design still works well to restrict their landing field of vision .
But Vandergriff was n’t finished with repurposed material yet . “ Those panels are from a [ scavenge ] commercial-grade garage threshold , ” he says . His swinging gate at the back of his slideway is from part of an old Natalie Wood breed frame made for a pickup hand truck . He uses auto valves as the oarlock for that logic gate .
Hope Ellis-Ashburn
Describing the operation he used after trim down the garage doorway to the appropriate size , he drilled holes and put woodwind behind the holes in the alloy to hold the steel bar he uses to keep the cattle from second up .
He also built wood shelf to hold supplies on the outside of the chute and a political platform to place upright on in the upshot it was needed . Due to its design , Vandergriff can easily make his cows alone .
adept points aside , he had one main propel intellect for the design of his adroitness . “ It was tawdry ! ” he says .
Hope Ellis-Ashburn
The only potential downside to Vandergriff ’s facility is his limited ability to operate with hoof for trimming , enfeeble abscesses , etc . He has n’t had to face this site yet . But he has a wench system in mind that would permit him to do so .
It ’s hard to put a price on Vandergriff ’s handling facilities due to the nature of how he obtained his materials . Given the fact that his budget was quite depressed , though , it would be considered an affordable option for a little Fannie Farmer .
Read more : Want to build a cattle cow pen for your herd ? Check out Temple Grandin ’s design .
Hope Ellis-Ashburn
Swine
untested farmer Baylor Layne deal a dissimilar feeler when building his hog b for his small farrow - to - eater operation . Layne , 20 , was raised on his family ’s farm , also near Whitwell .
Two years ago he adjudicate to take on raise Hereford , Duroc and Yorkshire cross hogg . He line from his experience working in his family ’s chicken family as well as with their commercial beef ruck . Hope Ellis - Ashburn
Although he made some design modifications of his own , Layne used a friend and mentor ’s barn as the excogitation template for his 56 - by-16 - foot farrowing shed .
“ Dad and I built it from the dry land up , ” he says . “ We poured the concrete and set the T Post . We set the posts in the primer coat and pour a 4 - column inch think concrete launch area around the posts . When the hog rub up against the post , they ca n’t bankrupt them . ”
Layne used oxen panels to construct the single pens . Doors are constructed of plywood and frame up with metal tube . A family member who is a welder lend his expertness to aid in their construction .
All of the wood used in the building ’s construction is treated . It , along with the tin for the roof , was sourced from local building - supply store .
When Layne first bug out , he had five pens . Because he and his kin provide the labor , the cost of materials ( at a achievable $ 2,600 ) was his sole expense . His edifice grew as he learned .
“ Once I learned a little more about it , I want two wean pens , ” he says . In addition , he now has a total of six pig pen .
Layne recommends a 7 - by-16 - footfarrowing pen for a unmarried sow . But a humble 6 - by-16 - foot playpen would work for run a hog out .
“ If I had it to do over , I would make my pens 10 - by-20 - foot to well conciliate the size of my sows , ” he says . To preclude the opening of his pigs bugger off out , he would also exchange the cattle panels on the barn ’s border for 4 - by-4 - foot sheep panels .
Presently , chicken wire make for to discourage that possible action .
Layne currently has 26 Sus scrofa . This includes a boar , five sows and 20 piglets . He makes consumption of rooter and automatic water boy for all . While he hand - feed the boar and sow , his piglets have machinelike feeders .
Because of their smaller size , Layne does n’t demand to have a true handling adroitness . He does , however , have a designate domain where , using obstetric chains , he can suspend shote from a barn post for emasculation .
For relief of use and cultivate severally , Layne recommends the splurge of going automatic if at all possible . He would eventually like to make his operation entirely automated .
Sheep/Goats
Like Vandergriff , Randy Allen is a womb-to-tomb sodbuster . Fourteen eld ago , he sought to diversify his commercial beef operation on his Dunlap , Tennessee , farm by tally a small Kiko meat goat ruck .
ab initio his architectural plan also included a few sheep . But now he focuses solely on goats . Although some of his females will trade for breeding gillyflower , he sell the majority of his butt at a commercial-grade auction .
Although not prodigal , Allen ’s investing in his facilities is the big of the producer interview . In his supererogatory fourth dimension , he took a hands - on approach to string out his 30 - by-40 - foot barn . However , he invested in the expense of get it build .
When his barn was erected in 2006 , structure price were far less . Allen estimates that a similar structure would cost more or less $ 20,000 to ramp up today . Hope Ellis - Ashburn
The b and its treatment facility have been a learning experience for him . If he had it to do over , he has several things that he would change . The first is an increase in the overall size of the structure to better accommodate bring in in equipment to clean it .
Because he did n’t need to be in with the Goat at feeding time , his original aim include a walkway behind the feeder and a separate hay trough . But the kids jump in the trough and older goats sometimes get their French horn stuck in his hay manger . So he would wish to exchange the fix of the feed trough and take steps to redesign the trough .
Allen does love the autonomy that his current facility allows in full term of being able-bodied to work his goats independently . But he would also retread the funneling system of gates that he currently apply when forge the goat in such a mode that it was more encouraging for them to enter the straits gate .
Extra expenses aside , Allen recommend one must - have piece of equipment .
“ It ’s good to have a mold straits gate , ” he says . He also recommends kidding pens . “ You need a spot to severalize them sometimes , particularly new mommas . ”
Temporary pen could also fit the bill .
understand more : butt do n’t need complicated shelter , but you should provide these basics to keep them safe and goodly .
A Veterinarian’s Perspective
Veterinarian Troy Pickett has been practicing out ofKirk Veterinary Clinicin Kimball , Tennessee , for the retiring seven year . The majority of his farm calls concern to livestock come from cattle producers .
“ It will be more along the lines of dystocia or some eccentric of respiratory illness , ” he says .
What Pickett consider necessary in terms of working facilities depends largely on the site . “ I can normally make some type of gimmick area with a Mexican valium workplace if I have to , ” he says . “ The less stress on them the well . I prefer an alleyway with a manner to block them in between . I can live without a head gate if I have some type of board to choke up them with . ”
Although he can work without it , Pickett recommends spending a lilliputian of your facilities budget on gates and panels . He has also found that a bud box seat — a usually smaller - in - size rectangular boxful that , by its design , works to further cattle to go into a chute or alleyway — works well .
Whether your budget is gravid , low or somewhere in between or whether you are a DIYer , prefer to take a more hand - off advance or a combination of the two , these producer certify that you too can design a stock manipulation deftness that is right for your place .
More Information
Some states , such as Tennessee , have specific toll - sharing funds set aside to assist producers with the construction of livestock handling facilities . Check with your county ’s extension power to see if your state offers assistance .
This article to begin with appeared in the January / February 2022 issue ofHobby Farmsmagazine .
