Livestock crush

Crushes were traditionally manufactured from wood; this, however, was prone to deterioration from the elements over time, as well as having the potential to splinter and cause injury to the animal.

In recent years, most budget-quality crushes have been built using standard heavy steel pipe that is welded together, while superior quality crushes are now manufactured using doubly symmetric oval tubing for increasing bending strength, bruise minimisation and stiffness in stockyard applications.

[4] Lower side panels and/or gates of sheet metal, timber or conveyor belting are used in some cases to ensure animals' legs do not get caught and reduce the likelihood of operator injury.

If this arrangement is absent, a palpation cage can be added to the crush for veterinary use when artificial insemination or pregnancy testing is being performed, or for other uses.

A crush is a permanent fixture in slaughterhouses, because the animal is carried on a conveyor restrainer under its belly, with its legs dangling in a slot on either side.

The rough-riding chutes are notably higher in order to hold horses and adult bulls, and have platforms and rail spacing that allows riders and assistants to access the animal from above.

Such crushes range from simple standing frameworks to highly complex fixed or portable devices where much or all of the process is mechanised.

Many cattle producers managed herds with nothing more than a race (alley) and a headgate (or a rope) until tagging requirements and disease control necessitated the installation of crushes.

Some crushes were simple, without a head bail or yoke, while others had more sophisticated restraints and mechanisms; a common feature is a belly sling which allows the animal to be partly or wholly raised from the ground.

In Spain, the crush was a village community resource and is called potro de herrar, or "shoeing frame".

[citation needed] Although the word travail derives from Latin tripalium, "three beams", all surviving examples but that at Roissard have four columns.

[citation needed] In central Italy it is called a travaglio,[17] but in Sardinia is referred to as Sardinian: sa macchina po ferrai is boisi, or "the machine for shoeing the oxen".