Cattle Chut Built From Junked-Out Combine

1990 - Volume #14, Issue #3, Page #11

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Campbell McMaster, Douglas, Ontario, built an 8-ft. long, 30-in. wide, 3-pt. mounted cattle chute from the straw walker housing of a junked-out Cockshutt self-propelled 132 combine.
McMaster bought the combine for $200 from a salvage yard. He removed the straw walker housing and stripped away all of its internal components including driveshafts, straw walkers, and sieves. He welded on sheet metal to patch any holes, then welded three drawpins onto the side of the chute for 3-pt. hookup. He bolted a new Martin headgate onto 4 brackets that he welded on front of the housing and built his own rear gate. To form a floor he removed all of the bottom sheet metal and replaced it with 2 by 8 wood planks bolted to crossmembers. He nailed a set of 15-in. wide snowmobile tracks onto the floor to provide firm footing for cattle.
"I had been borrowing a neighbor's cattle chute, but he lived five miles away and the chute wasn't always available," says McMaster, who built the chute two years for $600. "Most commercial models cost more than mine and their sides are built from horizontal 1-in. steel tubing spaced at intervals. Unless you line the sides with tin, cattle can get their feet caught between the bars. The sides of my chute are solid, except for a triangular-shaped hole that I cut at cattle neck height into one side that lets me vaccinate or dehorn. The only drawback is that the chute is a little too wide for small calves and allows them to turn around inside."
The headgate is equipped with an opening and closing lever on each side and locks in the middle. To build the rear gate McMaster welded 30-in. lengths of 1 in. sq. steel tubing between a pair of 5-ft. long angle irons. The gate slides up and down between the end of the chute and the angle irons. A lever bolted onto the top of the chute holds the rear gate open until the animal is safely inside.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Campbell McMaster, Rt. 2, Douglas, Ontario, Canada KOJ ISO (ph 613 649-2566).

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Cattle Chut Built From Junked-Out Combine COMBINES Conversions 14-3-11 Campbell McMaster, Douglas, Ontario, built an 8-ft. long, 30-in. wide, 3-pt. mounted cattle chute from the straw walker housing of a junked-out Cockshutt self-propelled 132 combine. McMaster bought the combine for $200 from a salvage yard. He removed the straw walker housing and stripped away all of its internal components including driveshafts, straw walkers, and sieves. He welded on sheet metal to patch any holes, then welded three drawpins onto the side of the chute for 3-pt. hookup. He bolted a new Martin headgate onto 4 brackets that he welded on front of the housing and built his own rear gate. To form a floor he removed all of the bottom sheet metal and replaced it with 2 by 8 wood planks bolted to crossmembers. He nailed a set of 15-in. wide snowmobile tracks onto the floor to provide firm footing for cattle. "I had been borrowing a neighbor's cattle chute, but he lived five miles away and the chute wasn't always available," says McMaster, who built the chute two years for $600. "Most commercial models cost more than mine and their sides are built from horizontal 1-in. steel tubing spaced at intervals. Unless you line the sides with tin, cattle can get their feet caught between the bars. The sides of my chute are solid, except for a triangular-shaped hole that I cut at cattle neck height into one side that lets me vaccinate or dehorn. The only drawback is that the chute is a little too wide for small calves and allows them to turn around inside." The headgate is equipped with an opening and closing lever on each side and locks in the middle. To build the rear gate McMaster welded 30-in. lengths of 1 in. sq. steel tubing between a pair of 5-ft. long angle irons. The gate slides up and down between the end of the chute and the angle irons. A lever bolted onto the top of the chute holds the rear gate open until the animal is safely inside. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Campbell McMaster, Rt. 2, Douglas, Ontario, Canada KOJ ISO (ph 613 649-2566).

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