Article: Pre-made Cattle Corrals

Cleverly designed cattle corrals of high-quality materials will make livestock raising easier as well as safer. Cows as well as cowboys will experience less stress and be prone to fewer accidents when reliable and well-designed cattle corals are used on a ranch. This is true regardless of whether you keep a smaller farm or a huge ranch with thousands of cattle. In this business, accidents create a lot of suffering as well as financial losses each year and affect cattle as well as humans. A majority of these accidents can actually be prevented by using adequate cattle corrals that insures safe cattle control and handling. Even free roaming cattle must be caught for inspections, to receive treatment for illness and when they are going to be sold, breed or slaughter.

Pre-made cattle corals offer the rancher an affordable and reliable alternative to other types of corrals. Pre-made steel corrals are very sturdy and durable, but still inexpensive compared too most other solutions. This is especially true if you look at the entire life of the pre-made cattle corals made from steel, since they are virtually maintenance free and will be able to cope with the constant wear and tear of the elements for at least 15-20 years. This will save you time as well as money in the long run. You can also count in the money you might otherwise have been forced to spend on emergency treatment for broken limbs, sick leave, and emergency vet calls for injured cattle that might even have to be euthanized. Human deaths also occur among cattle raisers due to improper equipment and handling facilities, and preventing this is naturally something that should be allowed to cost a few dollars extra. Most cattle raisers actually save money by investing in good cattle corrals from the beginning. If you choose pre-made cattle corrals you can have them up and in use in no-time; a fact that will save you time and money too.

Choosing high-quality premade cattle corrals do not necessarily mean choosing the most elaborately designed or expensive corral structures. Sticking to simple and well-functioning cattle coral design is actually a wise decision in most situations. A premade cattle corral can be either permanent or portable, but both types require a strong and reliable building material combined with a clever construction.

It is recommended to choose a cattle coral that can be easily connected to the pasture. Many cattle raiser opt for the “wing construction” to make it easier and safer to pen cattle. In a wing design, at least two pens are used. One pen is connected to the pasture and a fence and the pens (or another fence) is used to form an angle into the gate of the cattle corral. This makes it easy to crowd your cattle into the pen and the risk of stress is lowered significantly. The pen will in turn lead to an alley via which the cattle will walk until they reach the crowding alley and chute. Chute and squeeze chute can ideally be situated in the second pen, since a second pen is great for treating cattle. Letting the chute open up directly to the pasture is not a good idea.

When you erect your pre-made cattle corral it is also important to consider that a crowding alley or chute should be easy to reach for trailers and trucks that need to load the cattle. Easy and hassle free handling is of course especially important when you have sick animals that must be taken to the vet, since you don’t want to expose them to any additional stress.

It can be a good idea to avoid alleys wider than 12 feet, since a wider alley usually means that you will need at least two persons to move the cattle. When you get a pre-made cattle corral you should also avoid those with square corners since rounded paths are much easier for the cows move through. Squared corners will typically increase the risk of injury. It is natural for a cow to try and go back to where it came from, and your cattle will therefore prefer to go via curved races rather straight ones or squared corners. This makes cattle handling much more efficient and less dangerous for cattle and cowboys.

Another important factor to consider when you purchase pre-made cattle corrals it the height. Getting cattle corals that are lower than 6 feet is generally a bad idea, since most cows are strong enough to jump over a 5 feet pen. A 6 feet pen will however be too high for the cow to see over, and this will prevent it from even trying to escape. Remember this: if a cow is tall enough to hook its chin over the pen, it might very well try to jump over it. Even if it does not succeed, it might end up injuring itself, other cattle or cowboys.