This morning (July 20) I am sorting cattle. I have said it before, but I want to say it again. I will never build another square pen.
It is too easy to do it with angles in every direction. I want a V or angles on both sides coming to the pen. If fact where I was sorting today I have three of those from different directions coming to the pen. Then in the pen the alley will be straight but all the sorting catch alleys off it will be angled.
Cattle are less nervous as they are farther away from you when sorting plus going into the alley or driving out they can see down the alley rather than at 90 degrees. Plus, they will not bump their hip as easily with angles. In the sorting alley if it is 10-feet across I want a 12-foot gate so that if hits the other side.
Plus, if your wife or kid is holding the gate where it hits on the other side and the calf jumps into the gate it might jar them a bit, but at least the gate will not bust their teeth out or kill them. They can never stand on the end of the gate because if that calf lunges and jumps into the gate it can kill them if it creases them the center of their chest. The more you sort at other ranchers places the more you realize what you like and do not like.
I hope this helps if you have any questions feel free to call. It’s not perfect, but just like this morning I had a cow that didn’t want to come into the pen so I put some pellets on the ground and backed my pickup up pushing her into the last alley.
Remember kids do not play with fireworks. Let the adults who have been drinking all day set them off.
Editor’s note: The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not represent the view of High Plains Journal. Jerry Nine, Woodward, Oklahoma, is a lifetime cattleman and grew up on his family’s ranch near Slapout, Oklahoma.
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