I've never said who I work for on a forum and never will for various reasons. Probably paranoia on my part, and it wouldn't take much sleuthing to figure out who, but anyway.
The outfit I work for is one of many companies that offer Calf Tables. Most major Cattle Handling Equipment Brands offer them (W-W, Priefert, Powder River, For-Most, Filson). I've never understood why they're not more popular than they are. If you're working larger calves (say over 250lbs), a regular Squeeze Chute will usually do. But anything smaller, and regular sized headgates start having a tough time holding the head, especially smaller headed breeds (think brahma). Calf tables will have downsized headgates, and grant more animal access for branding, castration, etc. Calves also sort of "give up" once you lay them on their side.
Cows will work pretty easy. Even in a wood alley with a head gate. But calves are usually what beats you to death. An adjustable or dedicated calf crowd alley and a calf table saves a lot of time, money, and trouble in the long term. Calf tables and calf alleys are easy to find and show up every day (unlike hired help).
The best 200 pair cattle handling facility you can buy wouldn't cover a week in the hospital. I've been plenty beat up working cattle and know a lot of folks that have been messed up for life doing it. That said, I can't understand why some folks gripe about millennials being unwilling to come out and get hurt in sub-standard (non existent) cattle handling facilities for $10.00 and hour anymore. I don't see too many Baby Boomers jumping up and down for those job prospects either........
I get that some folks think that doing it all by hand is "fun"(and it is, till it ain't) and it's part of a lifestyle. In some parts of the country, the range is still big enough that the only way to really effectively manage cattle is still on horseback (there's even a few places back east like that), but for everyone else, buy good, quality, cattle handling equipment. I've had plenty of folks cry while they wrote the check, but NONE regretted it after the fact.
