Charles Thompson and his son, Harry, Craigmyle, Alberta, decided cattle handling would be simpler if they had a mobile chute they could use in the pasture.

To make it easy to use, they decided to mount it on a pickup truck.

Using 1-in. sq. steel tubing, they built two 7-ft. long seven-bar panels. They mounted one of these on the passenger side of a Dodge 1/2-ton 4-WD flatbed pickup. "We paid for the pickup to use just for this purpose. It has a heavy-duty combination bumper and grill guard on the front, so we bolted the front of the panel to that. The back end of the panel fastens solid to the side of the flatbed," Thompson says.

Thompson had earlier bought a headgate at an auction that he felt was just right for the portable catch chute. It's made of 2-in. pipe and angle iron. They mounted that on the front of the panel fastened to the pickup and hinged the other panel to the outside edge of it. The headgate is about 2 1/2 ft. wide.

Both the headgate and the swinging panel are operated hydraulically. They borrowed a hydraulic pump from an old Versatile swather and power it with a 12-volt electric motor. Pump and motor are both fastened in the front corner of the flatbed on the passenger side. They used reel lift cylinders salvaged from three old swathers (two Versatiles and one John Deere) to operate the headgate and panel. A single three-way hydraulic valve allows them to control both the panel and the headgate.

Catching cattle with the pickup catcher is a two-person job. Charles drives while Harry runs the controls. They've been using the truck-mounted catcher for about six years now and say it works great.

"There's not a cow or calf out there we can't catch now," Thompson says. "All we have to do is drive a little faster than they can run."