Loading Cattle How Easy Is It For You?

[Suffolksucklers]

We just have a pen with two gates out the front which go to the side of the trailer, just get what we want in to that pen then bring a backing gate round, if the trailer is the only option they usually go on no problem.

Our most interesting loading experience was some cattle dad bought off a nearby place. Went to load one Saturday morning, cattle went straight on only to come flying back off through the loading gates as we about to lift the tailgate. Couldn't get them near after that (they were pretty flighty). Ended up leaving the trailer there for a week and the farmer kept feeding them on the front of it. When we went back the cattle roared up the trailer to get away and it was job done. Appreciate that taking a week to load cattle isn't always ideal though

 

[Paddington]

Never actually loaded cattle by myself, but an administrative cock up meant that I now have a City & Guilds certificate to say I am fully competetent in all aspects of cattle transport, if that helps ?

 

[Raider112]

We load most off the race which works really well but can’t get a decker there so have to load fat cattle from a passage way heifers load well but young bulls are dangerous so we let a compartment full so 4 or 5 at a time and follow them up with 2 square bales on the front of the loader because they won’t step onto the lorry and if a 700kg young bull doesn’t want to go it won’t and a big wall behind them makes them just go forward we don’t push them they just walk where they would stand still if you walked behind them

Bulls either walk right in or just stand in a bunch, we sometimes use a tractor to give them a nudge but the bale idea sounds better.

 

[JP1]

Cattle run in to a handling pen with a smaller pen behind. Close gate in to smaller pen which has a side gate that opens in to a handling race.

Back up trailer. Open gate "tapering " in to race. Let cattle go up one by one




Trucks, straw on tailboard. Rear gate behind. Let them circle and look. Eventually one will start to go up tailgate. Make sure others follow. Have good slam gates on the wagon

 

[Raider112]

One of the problems selling deadweight is the time they want them in and being a couple of hours at least from the abattoir we are often loading in the dark. Lights aren't as good as daylight and if they are a bit flighty you need your wits about you.

 

[Jerry]

Switching to a nugent trailer with a fold down front panel has made a big difference to beasts that only ever make one trip in their life on a trailer, plus a load of straw on the tail gate.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

There are a number of points to help with loading any livestock.
Livestock will not load into the sun but will always go from dark to light.

Always try to have a loading ram around a corner as they will keep running.

Keep ramp levels as shallow as possible.

Have a pen the same size as the truck or trailer pens, so you have the right number for each section.

 

[JCB_JCR]

Load our cattle out of collecting yard through a short 5ft wide alleyway between buildings then 90deg into trailer/wagon against building. Generally load easily.
Try to load a bull with a cow going in ahead.
Don't like straw on tailgate cause it jams and makes it difficult to shut and a right pain to washout. Just give cattle a sec or two to put head down to judge the tailgate slope and they generally step up and in.

 

[ridger]

Never seen straw making much difference on tailboard, if they don't go on handy put them in a small trailer and run them across

 

[kiwi pom]

Stock trucks don't have tailboards here, so all loaded out of a ramp/race.
Wouldn't be a lot of messing about, if you don't have decent facilities, they wont get picked up.

 

[Pan mixer]

Getting cattle to turn left onto the truck is much easier than straight on or turning right.

We have one loading bay that does left and one that does right turn, left is best.

 

[flywheel]

Bought a load ramp 20 Yr ago & it works excellent.. Animals away from home get loaded by a race.

 

[Gulli]

Worst place I’ve had to load a stock trailer is Shrewsbury market, there’s quite a hefty step with the floor rising from there. With my tractor drawn stockbox the tailgate is about level into the trailer but with ordinary cattle trailer they’re heading downhill into the trailer with the ground level where the trailer is parked rising away from the loading pens.

So whilst a step is a good thing, probably best if it isn’t any higher than the floor height of a standard cattle trailer if you want to use it for that too.

I hate loading cattle out of market into a cattle trailer. Sheep always run fine but cattle don't like the downhill bit and it always feels like they are a gate or two short

 

[unlacedgecko]

Why do so few UK farmers use cow dogs?

 

[Sid]

Livestock will not load into the sun but will always go from dark to light

This

We load out of shed, with a gate to come around behind them. Never an issue.

 

[tinsheet]

Why do so few UK farmers use cow dogs?

Cause certain continentals are fudging wild enough without sticking a dog on them!
Natives here couldn't manage without dogs.
once cattle respect the dogs, There's very little work required of them.

 

[unlacedgecko]

Cause certain continentals are fudging wild enough without sticking a dog on them!
Natives here couldn't manage without dogs.
once cattle respect the dogs, There's very little work required of them.

I've seen some amazing videos from US and Australia.

I've a friend in Durham who uses dogs on her sucklers. And in the shed of the dairy barley beef unit. She wouldn't be without them apparently.

 

[Cowabunga]

I find that the truck design makes a big difference. When we move cattle by truck we have a local livestock haulier specialist who has state-of-the-art trucks that the cows seem to accept much quicker than the older trucks with steep ramps and dark interiors.

 

[Whitepeak]

I hate loading cattle out of market into a cattle trailer. Sheep always run fine but cattle don't like the downhill bit and it always feels like they are a gate or two short

Bakewell have had to put in 2 special ramps for loading trailers. It's a metal gantry that makes the angle off the loading Dock far less steep.
Remember years ago before they put it in we bought an old pedigree cow and she would not go down the ramp on the Dock! Ended up loading her at a side door on the level, walked straight in!

 

[Gulli]

Why do so few UK farmers use cow dogs?

Numbers and distance mostly. Good cow dogs are great but mostly unecessary if you're only moving cattle 100 yards