Setup for catching beef cattle?

[WSU]

I had a fun rodeo at my house this weekend.  I had a steer (roughly 800-850 lbs) that needed a shot.  Instead of paying the vet, I got a rope on him and used a tree to hold him still.  I got it done, but it got me thinking about better options for the future.  I'm thinking of building something to allow me to AI and give shots easier.

What is a setup I could build cheaply (no more than a couple hundred bucks)?  Currently there are no structures in my pasture, but I am planning to build a loafing shed this summer.

[jackmaster]

a simple squeeze chute is the easiest way

[Woodchuck]

 

[TheHunt]

 

Used many of them.  They even have them which squeezes the animal then it rotates either way so you can get the animal on it's side.  Pretty cool when you are lopping off horns of cows. 

[WSU]

Some sort of chute/head catch was my thought, but where can I buy something like that in my price range?

[jackmaster]

it depends on how much you want to spend, i have built them out of alder trees, because they were on the property. or 6x6 posts and 2x8 pressure treated, or if ya got the cash they sell them already made at feed stores

[Huntboy]

a simple squeeze chute is the easiest way

[HORSEPOWER]

You should be able to find an old squeeze chute easy enough for not much $.  I have welded square tubing about an inch wide to the back of one the chutes to pin the panels to in order to form an alleyway (if you have that type of connecting system).  Works well in a pinch, easy to unhook the panels to AI, preg, whatever.  Just make sure you anchor them together somehow so they don't spread and allow a cow to get turned around. And you can use a fence post horizontally through the panels behind them to keep them from backing up.  Even works for haltering horses/mules on the wild side.  But if you are going to do that- hang plywood inside of the panels so they don't break a leg. Then you just unpin and let them out behind the chute.

[PolarBear]

I bought a Powder River auto catch head gate a few years ago and it was one of the best investments that I have made.  I think I only payed around $400 for it.  I have it set up in a corral with an extra panel hooked to one side of the head gate as a sweep.  All I have to do is get him in the general direction. close the panel behind him and he has nowhere to go but to the head gate.  It works like a charm.

[Slenk]

You younger fellers would not believe some of the ways we had for doctoring and branding cattle in the 40s & 50s even.
You can make your own shoot & headgate out of 2x planks & a little strap iron, that will work great.

Nothing else a damn good horse and stout rope works too.
Been there done that too.
Doctored lots of cattle using a stout panel as a gate inside of a one ton truck.

[HORSEPOWER]

 

[BAR C3]

You will be wasting a straw of semen if you don't have at least a head catch. If the cow is stressed, it won't take. AI'ing already has a high unsuccessful rate. But then again it depends on the cattle. Mine are western! Mine are high bred rodeo cows! 

[rasbo]

              here is a tool I have never heard of,

[PolarBear]

I've seen a friend use something like that to shock semen out of a bull before.  No thanks!   
We use to do the rodeo/roping thing, but as was said before, with a chute or head gate/catch they are much calmer and easier to work with.  The way I have mine set up, the sweep panel acts not only to corral them into the head gate but also as a squeeze to keep them calm and not wanting to try and back out.   Plus it is more economicl than a squeeze chute/table.