Alley way for headgate

Making an alley way for a headgate. What width should it be? My cows are average sized angus. I'd be doing calves also in fall.

That's gonna be a problem. Cows and calves using the same alley.

36 inch is about right for cows. Even the largest of your cows (or a bull) can get through. Narrow enough a smaller cow can't get turned around, although a smaller one might try it.

Calves are gonna be a problem. It'd take one aweful big calf to not be able to get turned around in a 36 inch alley. And for baby calves, it's got to be narrowed clear up to about a foot, foot and half for them to not be able to get turned around.

If your talking, only big calves (such as yearlings), you might be able to narrow the suggested 36 inches up just a tad, and use alley way for both. But if you are talking smaller calves, where you set it at for your cows, is simply not going to work very well for smaller calves. If that's the case, you better make one side permanent, and the other side adjustable. Or make both sides permanent at 36 inch, and plan on narrowing that up for calves by using a second removable panel on the inside.

If your not talking about running alot of head through it, you might be better off just to set things up for cows, and just hassel your way through it, when using same set up for the calves (meaning, I wouldn't bother to narrow it up, for only 2 or 3 calves).

Easy answer: The width of the headgate.

To address redforlife's concern about smaller animals, better commercial chutes and alleys have adjustable crowd gates on either side to narrow them up for small animals. The problem is not insurmountable.

It's been a while, but I think mine around 28 or 29 for cows and yearlings. I have an alley for calves, I think around 26.

I have a chute that's 28 inches wide. Cows fit but large calves can't turn around. I know this sounds narrow but I've sent a 2200 lb Angus bull down it.

26 to 28 inches. I know that sounds narrow but Ive never had a problem getting grown cattle through. Ive run thousands through. Even most longhorns will go if you give them a little time. Tony

I have a store bought alley. Adjusts in width. Dad would have loved it.

I agree with no wider than the head gate. If they can exit through the head gate, then thats wide enough. Make the shoot too wide, and the cattle will try to turn around. Nice to have a couple gates that you can close behind the cattle as they go down the shoot. Lots of times they get near the head gate, and want to back up. A closed gate puts a stop to that nonsense.

I help the neighbor work calves for his feed lot. He has a tub/ally set up.
He put a couple anti-back-up gates in the alley. Helps a lot!!!
But get the drop-down anti-back-up gates!!! Calves go right under them.
He had a swinging no-back-up and if for some reason we had to empty the alley
backwards, it was a bugger to lift the gate to unlock it and let them out backwards.
Also, he had more than one somehow or other get a leg caught in the darn thing.
That was fun!!! One time we though we going to have to unbolt the gate
to get the steer out!!!

I raised beef for forty years. We always used 30 as a rule.

Also helps if the cattle can see a way out through the headgate...that is a lit up area with open space. A self catching gate works well set up like that.

Ben

Maximum width at top 28 inches. Use thicker boards at the bottom will help keep calves from turning around. Slope the top of the last bottom board. To keep stock from climbing on it.
Consider an alley way long enough to hold 4-5 cows. Posts on the alley way should be 7-8 above thev ground and tied together across the top with 2x6s.
That keeps the whole structure from getting wider with time and use. Biggest baddest posts and boards you can find
A rear entry door that allows one to preg check, breed, and castrate is simple to build. Just make the entry stout so it keeps cow #2 from running you over while you are doing work on the rear of cow #1. Calves will occasionally back out that entry , but cows run back, hit the door that has been closed across the alley and out the front they go! Get you act together at the head gate then open the rear door, catch the next cow, the close the gate again.
35 years of haul in veterinary services on above mentioned issues.
We had a very short 32 inch alley and separate Palco head gate for bulls and
mature Holsteins

More suggestions. We used the 30 rule, but the best chute I had (my last) also had a curve at the end. The chutes were solid, the sides being 2x6 and sheathed with plywood. The only gaps were at gates. The idea is to get the animal to focus forward. The curve let's them think they are going back where they came from. I also built a switch gate to route them the headcatch, or to another door chute which was also my loading door. Great setup. My last ten or fifteen years, those chutes made working cows an easy job. You just have to take some time and brain power and make them once and right.

It's already been mentioned, but what is the headgate opening? If the headgate opening is wide enough for an animal to walk through, why would the chute be wider/narrower? I made my chute width to fit the self-catch headgate, and never have had a problem. I don't remember the width of the chute, not that it matters. I admit that I'm dealing with small numbers of tame cattle, so the wild range cattle might be a problem that I haven't ''and don't want to'' encounter.