What kind of equipment do you use to handle a cow?

Answer 1

It depends on what type of cow you are talking about. Dairy cows are docile enough that they can be restrained in a head gate to be needled or age verified. They are also kept in stalls when milking time comes around. The usual fences and gates are used to move cows from one corral to another.

As for beef cows, a more complex system is needed to handle and restrain them. They have to be herded down a fenced laneway to a holding pen, and then are herded down another alleyway into a crowding tub or crowding pen where they are moved, through the use of a gate, into a narrow alleyway where only one cow can pass through at a time. This leads to a head gate or squeeze chute where their head is restrained and their bodies squeezed enough so they don't move much when vaccinations or rectal palpations are given. Gates are used to prohibit too much movement from one area to another, and to allow so many animals through at a time. The working alleyway is designed so that the cows can't turn around and only have one way to go through. Fence and gate height vary according to the temperament of the animals being handled. Most of the handling facility, except for the squeeze chute, have solid sides to calm cattle and to keep them moving without any unnecessary distractions.