Heavy-Duty Portable Livestock Chute

Heavy-Duty Portable Livestock Chute LIVESTOCK Handling 18-2-8 Not satisfied with the commercially built livestock loading chute he was using, Robert Bauer, Hastings, Minn., decided to build his own heavy-duty, 16-ft. long portable chute out of an old semi-truck frame and front axle. "It's built out of steel so heavy it's virtually indestructible," says Bauer, who built the chute five years ago. Bauer bought a junked-out semi-truck with no engine from a trucking company for $50. He stripped the truck down to the frame and front axle, leaving the 20-in. tires and leaf springs on the axle. He welded the steering tie rods solid to the axle to keep the wheels from moving and welded a series of 1-ft. wide channel irons between the frame rails to support the floor. Vertical side rail supports made from 5-in. channel iron hold eight 2 by 12 wooden boards bolted onto the channel irons to form the chute. "It works so well my neighbors are always borrowing it," says Bauer. "I had been using a portable wooden chute, but it was clumsy and shaky to use. Also, the floor was too short and steep. My chute is only 32 in. wide so hogs aren't able to turn around inside it. I can use a crank to raise or lower the front end of the chute up to 20 in. to accomodate different trucks." Bauer clamped a hydraulic jack upside down onto the axle, welding the top end to a steel plate that's welded between frame rails. He removed a shackle from the end of each leaf spring and bolted a pair of 20-in. long channel irons on between the spring and frame. To hold the chute in the raised or lowered position, he pulls a pin from the channel iron, cranks the jack, and inserts the pin back into a different hole. The back end of the semi-truck frame is tapered and is equipped with a short hitch that can be hooked up to a tractor drawbar or 3-pt. hitch. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Robert Bauer, 10302160th St., Hastings, Minn. 55033 (ph 612 437-3218).

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