Cattle chute

A conventional cattle chute consists of parallel panels or fences with a space between them that is slightly wider than one animal so they are unable to turn around.

[2] It is used for routine husbandry activities such as drafting (sorting) or loading animals via ramp or loading chute into a vehicle; placing them one at a time in a cattle crush (variations also called a squeeze chute or standing stock) for examination, marking or veterinary treatment.

[4] Anti-bruise chutes do not have sharp edges, and instead use pipe with rounded edges such as oval rails; alternatively sides with sheet iron or steel can be found or built onto the chutes, which improves livestock movement and also prevents injuries from animals getting their legs or heads caught between the rails.

The concrete is also not smooth like that on city sidewalks but roughed out to give the animals more traction to prevent slipping and injury.

However alleys longer than 24 feet (7.3 m) tend to cause trouble with the flow of the animals into the loading or cattle chute.

The entrance is from a small funnel-shaped or semi-circular holding pen (or crowding tub or BudBox), where a gate is used to move cattle into the chute.

The steel transportable race and table cradle, as shown in the photo, are very popular in Australia and New Zealand, but are also found in North America.