Hi, I'm Dave Sjeklocha. I'm the operations manager of animal health and welfare here for Cattle Empire.
Hi, I'm Tera Barnhardt and I'm the coordinator of Animal Health and Welfare here at Cattle Empire.
DAVE: We're here today because we are going to put some cattle through our newest processing barn.
We've put a lot of effort into developing processing facilities that are good for our cattle
and this is our newest processing barn. It utilizes what we call the bud box system.
We're gonna go through the system so everyone can see how a bud box works
TERA: Processing facilities are used when we bring cattle to the feed yard for the first time.
So they are ran through this facility when they arrive here so that we can give them their vaccinations,
we can give them some parasitical to get rid of any, you know, to deworm them.
We can give them their identification and any other processing protocol
that we outline as veterinarians for our employees.
So the animals are only brought through here when they they first arrive at the yard
and then they're taken to their home pen shortly after that.
DAVE: So if you'll follow us we'll take you through our new processing barn
and show you how the cattle are going to be put through the system
so we can keep our stress on our cattle at a minimum and handle them as gently as possible.
DAVE: Okay so the cattle will be held in this pen before we take them into the processing barn.
The workers will come out here and grab just a few at a time
and take them into the processing barn. So from here we'll walk toward the processing barn.
We built this facility with this gate purposefully to be in an angle.
So the cattle would not have a square corner to go into.
So that provides an angle so as the cattle come out of the pen there's a nice gentle flow around the corner here.
And of course this gate will be open will bring cattle into the bud box.
And this is what we call the bud box. it's just a big, a fairly good-sized pen that the cattle will come into.
The goal is to have them go down to the far end of the bud box. So come on step on in.
Once the cattle are in the bud box, we'll shut this gate.
So the goal is that the cattle will come in, they'll go down to this end while the worker shuts the gate
and when they go to this end they'll pause and realize there's not a way out.
So they'll be looking for another way out.
So the workers should come up along this fence and just put a little bit of pressure on them.
And the cattle will go down that wall and come up against the gate we just closed.
And they will flow down, here come up against this gate and then go up this alleyway.
This is a Daniel's alleyway. It's adjustable. These sides adjust in and this top rail can adjust up and down.
So we can literally put 300-pound calves or 1,400 pound calves through this facility.
and adjust it to the size of that animal.
TERA: So once the cattle enter the alleyway, they will come in here,
and the workers will make sure that they're moving smoothly through this part of the processing area.
The cattle will walk up to the chute, where the chute is designed for human and animal safety.
So we want to make sure that we can restrain the animals so that the animal feels safe
and so that the humans can work with the animal in a safe manner.
So the animals will enter the chute one by one. This is called a squeeze chute,
and so it will put a little pit of pressure on the animal to hold them still.
This part of the chute actually holds their neck so that we can put the ear tags in them
or administer any vaccinations that we need to do. And then this is all opened up and
the animals are allowed to exit the chute and go to a pen full of hay and water.
DAVE: This is a hydraulic squeeze chute. It's made by a company called Silencer.
It has lots of contact points here that have basically a shock absorber on them,
so it's not loud when you close it it doesn't clang; it doesn't bang.
One of the many misconceptions about hydraulic chutes is that
we can just put lots of pressure on a calf with the hydraulics,
but the fact is there's hydraulic pressure relief valves on these squeeze chutes
that when a certain amount of pressure is reached, that relief valve kicks in and doesn't allow any more pressure
to be applied to the calf. So it does hold the calf still so we can work on him
and do the procedures we need to do, but it's safer for the calf and safer for the people to have him held still.
Another unique detail that we have with this chute,
most of our other hydraulic chutes actually raise up above the floor
which makes it a little tougher for cattle flow because the calves actually have to step up to be in the chute.
It's only a four or five inch step, but it's still a step, so with this chute we've actually recessed it into the floor
so the calves come from this alleyway it's a smooth level transition into the squeeze chute.
That's going to help cattle flow and then the recess also helps us to keep the area clean
because any manure the calf may drop will not land on the main floor
it'll drop into this pit area that's that's drained with water.
TERA: You might have noticed that a lot of our concrete has these deep grooves built into it
and that just gives the cattle a better and safer footing.
Sometimes when we're working cattle it gets pretty messy in here and there can be mud and things like that
And so this just makes sure that they have something safe and stable for them to walk on
so that they're not slipping or falling.
Animal Welfare and Animal Care is a big priority of ours.
So when you're designing a facility like this you have to take all those things into consideration.
TERA: This is one of the computers that is in the new barn.
All of our cattle when they are processed go through our computer system
and it allows us to manage them more closely from the health standpoint and a feeding standpoint.
So one thing at the processing barn that the computer allows us to do is we can scan the tags
using these readers right here that are on the chute and it scans the tag that we put into the animal
and then it pops up on the computer screen all of that animals individual information is there
We can record a weight at the time of arrival
and then we can monitor that animal's weight throughout the feeding period
and so I think part of our job the computer is a pretty important part of it that helps us manage the animals accurately
and make sure that that we're taking good care of them.