Kick bars help prevent worker injuries

By Gary Sliworsky
Ag. Rep.

Following from last week’s article here is the last of a 3 part series on handling facilities from Harold K. House, Dairy and Beef Housing and Equipment Engineer with OMAFRA.
The optional components will vary with each setup and a producer’s preferences and help to add efficiency and flexibility.
Kick Bars are located behind the animal in the squeeze to prevent the operator from being kicked while working there. Kick bar holes should be 12” to 14” above the floor of the crate or squeeze, and spaced 4’-6”, 5’-0” and 5’-6” back from the headgate.
Scales can be located in the main chute or close by where cattle can be easily diverted into them. Some commercial squeezes have weigh bars mounted under them to provide a scale-squeeze combination.
Man Gates and Passes are both a safety factor and a convenience. A man gate behind the squeeze allows you to block off upcoming cattle. It also gives you some room to work, and allows you in behind the animal without having to crawl over the chute every time. Man passes should be 11” to 14” wide and placed in the crowd pen, along the chute, or any place you could become trapped and need a fast escape route.
Loading Ramps can be placed coming off the working chute or out of holding pens. Cattle don’t like climbing so a ramp should not be steeper than 30o and it should have 2” cleats spaced at 8”. Cattle will move much easier up a stair step ramp with a 12” run and a 4” rise for the steps. Loading is also much easier if the cattle are in single file and there is a flat platform at the top of the ramp for them to step on or off the truck from.
How do I go about building a handling facility? Start by considering what you need and how you want to work your cattle. Visit a neighbour’s facility, and find out what works or doesn’t work for them. After all there’s no sense in making the same mistakes as someone else. Fairs, farm shows and exhibits offer a good chance to see what is commercially available. Reading publications, and the popular press will also give you good ideas. Then you move on to sketching a plan, of the facility you want (preferable to scale). This will let you find out how to fit the different components into the space you have allowed. After all, it is much easier to move fences on paper than it is to move them once the post holes are dug. When you have a plan you are happy with it is time to move to the actual site where you intend to build. There you again lay out your plan. This time however make it actual size and mark it off with spikes and baler twine. Then walk through it imagining how the gates will swing and the cattle will move. Then and only then, should you start to dig post holes. Build the fences first, and then adjust the gates to fit.
More information and plans are available on the Canada Plan Service (CPS) website at: http: //www.cps.gov.on.ca/english/