How to operate
A Cattle Chute
Priefert S04 Squeeze Chute Demo
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we sell a thousand products here at
manufacturing everything for horses and
even the poultry industry dog kennels
rodeo equipment or in the groomers some
three-point stuff we we build a little
bit of everything for farming ranch and
rodeo but my favorite product to sell to
customers by far is the squeeze chute we
offer five different squeeze chutes here
at pre-fit we offer actually we offer
four squeeze chutes and one cattle cage
one for the any budget if you've got a
small herd you might want a cattle cage
it just has a head gate in the cage with
no squeeze you can move up to the so1 or
the Esso 191 it's a little smaller shoot
a few less whistles and bells if you
need the biggest chute and you've got
the biggest longest cows in the world
you want to jump up to our SC thirteen
it's it's taller it's longer it's wider
it's bigger it's got a lot of whistles
and bells the one I'm going to show you
today is our most popular chute and this
is the so4 squeeze chute and and by far
our number one selling chute probably
the number one selling chute in the
country maybe even the world we ship
these things all over the world and
here's what makes preffered different
there's a there's a lot of good chutes
with a lot of good features out there in
the world I've worked a lot of squeeze
chutes in my life but here's the thing
that sets our squeeze chutes apart from
everybody else it's the head gate that's
the first and foremost most important
thing we do our head gates work a little
different than most you'll notice our
head gates open they will open wide like
a barn door come close they're not a
swinging door head gate or even a
scissor head gate and here's the reason
we like this method a swinging door head
gate the biggest problem that I have is
a swinging door head gauges the fact
that you've got to set it its width
based on the next cow that's coming in
no cow has the same size head neck and
so if you get it too loose and she's
slopping around she's going to hurt
herself she's thrashing if you get it
too tight that's bad you're cutting off
blood circulation while you're working
on the animal she goes down in the chute
so what you need is a one size fits all
application which this is no matter
where I stop on whatever size animals
that lock is going to catch
so no matter where it stops it locks so
it's literally a one size fits all
whether it's a 300 pound calf or a 2,000
pound bull I'm always going to be able
to get the perfect fit for that animal
so that's one factor the other thing is
is if you've worked a lot of cows in the
chute you know that cows like to follow
each other
one of them's head-on the one of them's
button in front of them and so a lot of
times you don't have the opportunity to
get the tailgate closed before two cows
come to shoot at the same time the
problem with the swinging door head get
is you have to it in you catch it
and then to release the cow you release
it forward and then you have to it
again to catch the next cow well if you
have two cows pound it piled up in the
chute when you flip it forward all the
chutes all the cows behind that cows is
coming out you don't have time to come
back here we don't have to worry about
that I don't even a lot of times when
I'm working cows I don't even use a
tailgate leave the tailgate wide open
and let the cow stack up in the alley
the reason for that is because I can
catch a cow release it as soon as it
goes out the next one's heads coming
through I'm just coming down and
catching that cow's neck again one size
fits all so we don't even theoretically
have to have a tailgate although we do
especially when you compound it by
putting a guillotine-style tailgate on
the back of a squeeze chute because a
lot of them will get up under that and
they're a and they will treat it just
like the no back alley stock where it
rolls down their back and then you know
you've got a mess because you got two
two cows in the chute and no way to back
them out so that's one of the beauties
of that particular head gate the other
thing I want to point out here is this
is called an infinite locking system
these locks are so good we're so
confident in them that we guarantee them
for life this literally has a lifetime
warranty of 20 years from now this lock
fails you mail it back to us we send you
a brand new one
free of charge well that's how much
confident we have in this lock and it
not only does it work the head gate it
also works the squeeze system and so
wonderful locking system we've done a
lot of extensive tests on them they're
extremely durable very very very
but the way we restrain an animal and
I'll demonstrate it for you here in a
minute is we don't the best way to
restrain any animal is with a halter and
so we don't like the one-size-fits-all
bars that go over the front we like to
use a halter and so we use a piece of 7
foot long machine twisted chain to do
that it works really good I'm going to
demonstrate that for you in a moment
this head gate is so good that it works
as good in automatic mode when I'm not
standing here beside it and Mac in fact
maybe even better than if I'm operating
it okay so this is a manual and
automatic head gate to set it in
automatic I just simply flip that lever
I engage the liver which is now going to
engage this spring I pull up I look at
the cow that I've got coming judges the
size and now I'm going to set the size
according to the cow so now basically
what I've done is kind of set a
mousetrap
all right I've put a trigger on it right
up here at the top and now when that cow
comes through what I'm going to do
especially when you're working cows by
yourself you've got to go back here open
the tailgate up and you've got to go
back here and Prader along you can't be
at the head gate because when a cow gets
shoots hour especially if you have her
up maybe medicating her every day for a
week or two she gets shoots hour she
doesn't want to come up here and if
you're alone you have no way of catching
her and moving her down the alley so
here's the theory I go back here and I
open the tailgate I pushed that cow down
the alley she's going to see that
daylight and then her cow brain she's
going to think man I can get through
that no problem I can squeeze my whole
body through there so she sticks her
head through and of course her shoulders
are wider than her head and what she's
going to do is separate these yolks just
a little bit enough to make this gravity
latch fall and then the spring will pull
the head gate quietly and comfortably
right around her neck so I'll show you
how that would work Cal sticks her head
through her shoulders trip the latch
then she can't go forward so when she
takes a step back the screen pulls the
head gate to the the part of her neck
and it's a one size fits all and so this
is one of the only head gates that I
know of that you can work man
and automatically at the same time even
when it's in automatic mode I can still
work it manually so the head gate is
probably one of the best features we
have in fact we have a lot of our
competitors that buy this head gate and
put on their chute bodies it's a great
head gate works great best concept in
the world the other thing is is it's so
easy to operate this entire chute
literally I can catch cows today and
I'll demonstrate this for you with two
fingers you literally can can pull that
that head gate up then you can catch a
cow because the lock is doing all the
work not you moving back here to the
rest of the features of this chute
there's a lot of stuff built in here we
obviously have safety features like a
side exit you pull that rope the side
exit comes open out at this point a lot
of them have a rope that you pull or you
have to go around the other side to
close it if you're sorting animals that
gets to be a pain and so what Bill
preferred did when you design this chute
is he wanted it to be kind of a one-man
band I don't want to have to take any
step so then right where I'm at and I
want to be able to operate everything on
the chute you notice how sleek and clean
it is there's no ropes and pulleys and
head-knocking levers sticking out
everywhere for me to dodge around and
have to walk around everything is sleek
down the side of the chute and so for me
to be able to close that over there I'm
going to reach up here grab this lever
pull down slam it shut and then tuck it
away safely out of my way the next thing
I want to talk about is the squeeze
itself the squeeze works on the same
style of lock as I mentioned earlier as
the head gate does so when I'm squeezing
an animal down literally all I have to
do is pull that lever down and now it's
locked so no matter how far I go in on
the animal it's going to lock and the
best part is when I'm done and ready to
release the animal I literally can take
a finger
and throw it up out of the way and
release it you know that a lot of those
shoots that have the ratchets you have
to press down on it reach up on the
other hand throw the lock release and
then let the handle fly up you don't
have that problem here you literally can
catch and release cows with two fingers
so very simple
ladies like to operate this shoot people
fight over who gets to work the shoot my
kids help me with this shoot my
ten-year-old operates this shoot and we
don't necessarily endorse that but under
our supervision we're experts our kids
actually help us here on the ranch and I
know a lot of you probably do that as
well
the other features of this shoot are
found on the side of it the one of the
main ones is the contoured drop down
side you notice that we don't use a
straight side we use a contour in the
sides and the reason is because cows are
round they're not straight so we want to
actually cut around the cow we want to
we want to cocoon them we want to wrap
around them and hold them better that
way that way they don't tend to slide
down in the chute go down their knees
because we've got up under them and
we're wrapping around them so that's an
important feature you notice that we
have five on each side all of them have
slam latches and the reason is because
normally I have a tool I want to be able
to shut that without having to mess with
any kind of lock we do the same concept
on the bottom this whole bottom panel is
removable I can totally take it away I
can check for foot rod or mastitis I can
let a calf nurse whatever I need to do
on the lower extremity is this animal
and you notice that we do it in one
panel not too a lot of shoots have two
panels the reason we don't do that is
because if you had another panel right
here and you reached under this cow and
she kicks forward she's going to jerk
your arm back and break your arm right
here above your wrist a lot of injuries
happen that way and shoot so we want
this to be completely open so that we're
not in any danger there when I'm done
I just simply shut it and gravity
latches do their work and there are two
of these one on each side of the chute
the tailgate one of the best features of
the entire shoot we use a split tailgate
just works the same way that our head
gate does opens up like a barn door and
so very important that we do that and we
also have I failed to mention that one
of the most important side one of the
most important aspects of the side of
the chute one of the biggest problems
that we face when we're using the chute
is pulling the sides in you know for
working different sized animals so if
we're working calves or working mama
cows or bulls or whatever we're doing we
have to move the sides in and out and
it's very inconvenient most of the time
you have to pull pens beat it in with a
hammer you've got blood mud and poop
down in the bottom of it that you're
dealing with and you usually need a
hammer and crowbar to get that done
bill proofer came up with an ingenious
floating floor system I can literally
adjust this floor in seconds not minutes
by simply pulling the lever so I'm going
to reach up here pull the lever now I've
adjusted the floor all the way in for
calves okay if I want to adjust it back
out for his mama simply pull it set it
down now I've adjusted the floor back
out now here's something here's a good
reason we talked about the tailgate
we're going to move back to the tailgate
I'm going to move this setting in for
calves okay I'm going to show you a
dilemma that we face in all tailgates
and all chutes that's this gap right
here because when you move that floor in
for a calf a lot of times you have this
gap that the calf wants to come and
stick their head through okay so what we
did to deal with that was
we made it where you pull one pin at the
top of shoes and now when you open the
tailgate only one side opens so now you
you've narrowed that down to the size of
a calf when you're done simply shut the
tailgate put the pin back in place now
you're operating both sides again you
notice we have two operator handles this
one back here out of the way if you have
help that's actually working the
tailgate and this one up here is
designed if you're working alone like
I'm going to be demonstrating today okay
so I'm going to go ahead and move this
floor back out to the size we're going
to need for today and now that I've
showed you some of the features on this
shoot I'm going to let you see these
features in action we're going to
actually work some cows and show you how
it works all right I told you while ago
that this is kind of a one-man band
right here so I can do everything I need
to do without ever having to take a step
so I'm going to open up this tailgate
I'm going to show a little bit of
daylight to the cow I don't want to give
it too much I just want to show about a
foot of daylight she's going to look at
that come through one a worker slow and
so I want to make her run for it I want
to make her cautiously come up stick her
head in it so I'm gonna open that
tailgate show her a little daylight I'm
gonna pull the Swedes now you notice
that I didn't even bother to shut my
tailgate right here okay if I wanted to
I could back that calf rope right there
shut that tailgate off no problem so
since I'm by myself today
I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to
pull that tailgate open to demonstrate
that you don't even need one to be able
to work the chute now let's say that
I've got this cow in here I've got her
squeezed down and if you'll come around
here and look I've got plenty of neck
access to this animal one of the most
important things we do in a shoot is
vaccinate our animals I've got total
access to this animal right here the
only inconvenience I have is this
squeeze bar in my way so what we did to
change to fix that is just made it where
it slides out of the way and now I have
total unobstructed access
front to back this animal no matter what
I need to different I've got access to
the animal when I'm done and ready to
let it go I simply release the Swedes
and again you won't see this on any
other shoot but again to release this
cow from being you notice she is
completely locked down and they're
mobile to release her one finger is all
it takes
same thing on the head gate if I wanted
to let this cow go right now I'll have
to do is take a couple of fingers open
the gate she'll step right through and
then I catch the other one right behind
her you have a swinging door tail gate
you can't do what I just did but I can
sit here all day long let one cow out
and catch the next one right behind them
and so that's the beauty of that pre
furred head gate and all the features
that go along with this particular shoot
so now I'm going to show you the chain
let's say that I need to have access to
this animal's head I need to work on her
ear maybe she's got a system of her eye
I need to do something this is the most
dangerous piece of cattle working that
we do this is one of the most dangerous
things because this head is the hardest
substance on earth I'm convinced of it
you never want to get above a head no
matter what system you're using so
here's what we like to do we like to
halter the animal so I'm going to come
around here in the front I'm going to
put that chain in the tab now I've got
leverage on this cow my push this chain
up on her nose I've got leverage I'm
going to pull her down tight I'm going
over the top and locking her in now
you'll notice that I've got complete
control now this animal she can't move
her head she's completely immobile now
that's good for me and that's good for
her because if I'm using a sharp
surgical object here to pop assist or if
I'm doing something in her ear that I
needed to do to medicate this cow she
can't hurt herself and she can't hurt me
I've got total control when I'm done all
I got to do pull the chain let it fall
she's good to go I'm done with her
I release her and she's out of there now
let's say I'm in a situation where I'm
by myself like I am today and I've got a
cow down the alley that doesn't want to
come to the shoot so I'm going to show
you now how to use the automatic head
gate the first thing I'm going to do is
I'm going to engage the automatic lever
pull it up I'm going to set my mousetrap
about right there for that size animal
I'm going to move back here open my tail
gate and I'm going to be the one to move
the cow forward we're going to see if
our head gate will do the work okay
you notice before I even got back to the
shoot that she stepped up here triggered
the gravity latch it fell down the
spring pulled it nice and tight she's
standing here waiting for me by the time
I got to the chute so now I've got this
cow caught I didn't need any help back
here to help push it forward and we're
good to go a couple of final features is
I want you to be able to see that I've
got total access to this animal right
here if I need to check her udders funny
to check her feet she's got a good or a
sore I need a doctor if I just need to
let a calf nurse I can do that right
here on the side of the shoe so it's a
great working little shoot we really had
great luck with it when you're done with
the animal you're still in automatic
mode no problem
lift it up now we're back to normal
five great shoots for you to choose from
folks no matter what your budget is no
matter what size operation you have
proofer has a shoot that's going to fit
your needs proof your shoots
they are easy on the cow and easy on the
cowboy
