Using portable equipment (some of which is not new but hasn’t been mainstream in the cattle industry) such as portable corrals or a “Bud Box” can make handling much easier when cattle are in large range pastures, says Dr. Tom Noffsinger, a Nebraska veterinarian.
Having proper facilities makes it much easier to sort and load cattle into a truck or trailer as they are put through a chute for vaccinating, AI and other treatments. But the Bud Box is simple and effective only if stockmen understand techniques for low-stress cattle handling taught by the late Bud Williams.
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With portable panels, you can take a corral to the cattle rather than having to gather them from a large pasture to bring home to a working facility.
“There are some very simple corral configurations using straight portable panels of any size — whatever you have on hand,” says Noffsinger. “Some just utilize two holding pens and a short Bud Box, and then a straight alley that goes back along one of the pens. That way you get dual use from a row of panels.”
Simple portable facilities can be used for a wide variety of things including proper timing of vaccinations.
“We know vaccines work really well if we can give them ahead of stress, disease exposure and transportation,” says Noffsinger. “I work with several feedlots, and sometimes wonder why people even bother to vaccinate cattle upon arrival because it is not very effective.”
Those young cattle have just come through a lot of stress — including transport — and have a compromised immune system unable to respond appropriately to vaccination. If the calves could be vaccinated on pasture a few weeks ahead of being shipped, this would make a big difference. Portable corrals could make this feasible for many ranchers.
“The success of portable facilities depends on proper cattle-handling techniques — how the cattle are gathered and how people influence the cattle to voluntarily move in whichever direction we intend,” says Noffsinger. “We use position, distance, handler angle, and all the other tactics of low-stress handling to move cattle out of one corner into the holding area, for instance.”
Proper positioning
Noffsinger says the handler’s proper positioning and behaviour encourage livestock to move in a certain direction and takes most of the stress and challenge out of using portable fences. Cattle don’t want to hit a fence and if they do, the human handlers are doing something wrong.
“One rancher asked Bud Williams what the best material would be for a corral,” says Noffsinger. “Bud replied by saying the best material was some loose old woven wire with a one-by-four board over the top. If the handler broke that down, you’d know you were putting too much pressure on the cattle!”
Portable corrals allow possibilities that many ranchers haven’t considered. They might not think they could vaccinate calves ahead of weaning because the cattle weren’t handy. But with portable corrals, they can take the facility to the cattle, and vaccinate calves without having to bring them home.
Similarly, some people think they could never utilize AI because their cattle are in big range pastures at that time of year. Portable corrals make many things possible. With a way to separate cows and calves on pasture, it is possible to implement two-phase weaning using nose flaps, because handlers can get those calves in and install the nose flaps and turn them back out with their mothers. Calves can then be gathered again a few days later to take the flaps out and transport the calves somewhere else.
Layout and use of the Bud Box
The Bud Box is named after Bud Williams, who promoted using a box-shaped set of gates when loading cattle onto trucks or into a processing chute. The simple design allows a producer to take advantage of the natural behavioural tendencies of cattle.
The Bud Box is about 14 feet wide and 20 to 30 feet long. Cattle enter and a gate is closed when they are in the box. The gate that closes should latch near the exit lane. The exit lane should be one animal wide.
Cattle tend to follow other cattle. They want to exit a pen at the same point they entered, and they readily respond when they can see what is pressuring them.
Using an example of moving a single cow through this system, as she is brought into the Bud Box, she will stop when she reaches the far end. By that time, you’ve entered the Bud Box and closed the gate. At this point, you are standing in front of the exit lane. When the cow reaches one end of the box, her tendency will be to turn back and try to leave at the same point that she entered. When the cow has turned, she will be facing you. When you are positioned properly in front of the gate where the cow came in, the cow will be able to see an open gate for the exit lane and leave the box.
You apply pressure to move the cow by changing your position and by the timing, angle and speed of your approach toward her. You increase pressure by taking some steps toward the cow. As pressure on the cow increases, she wants to release this pressure by moving past you and into the exit lane. When the cow moves toward the exit, you continue to walk past her.
From this position, the cow can easily keep an eye on you and can also see the opening, which allows for release of pressure.
The cow is moving in an arc around you and you are working inside a circle relative to the cow. Working inside the circle is a good stockmanship technique because it allows the cow to always see your position and watch your movements. The design of the Bud Box assists in putting the cow and the person in the correct position relative to each other and to the exit from the pen.
When more than one cow is brought into a Bud Box, your movement and position are the same. With multiple cattle, you have the additional benefit that cows tend to follow others. The key when working with multiple cows in a Bud Box is to apply proper pressure (movement) to get the first cow moving toward the exit. When she starts to move toward the exit, do not make any movements that stop her from moving forward. If you walk parallel with a cow you tend to slow her down, so do not walk with the cow. Stay inside the curve created by the cow’s movement toward the exit.
Patience is required to work with cattle in a Bud Box. You must allow a little time for cattle to understand the process. It is counterproductive to force cows out of a Bud Box; it’s safer and more efficient to allow them to initiate their own movement out.
Two things prompt cows to move into and out of a Bud Box: technique and stimulus. Proper technique involves your position in the Bud Box and the stimulus is the timing, angle, and speed of your movement within the box. The box design helps guide your position, and allows you to precisely control the level of stimulus for movement.
