Extension Spotlight

Over the spring, summer and fall, there will be several times cows, bulls and calves will need to be handled for animal health processing. If you need a simple upgrade to facilities or a portable option for temporary facilities, consider a Bud Box.

The Bud Box was originally designed by stockmanship author and clinician Bud Williams. It works using a few basic cattle stockmanship principles.

Stress causes cattle to react. Handling stress is created by the pressure of the handler entering or exiting the cattle’s flight zone. The increase and release of pressure by the handler entering and exiting the flight zone creates movement or can stop movement.

Cattle like to stay together. Moving groups of cattle is easier than individuals and less stressful on the cattle. They are herd animals and prefer to be in a group when separated from the herd.

Cattle like to keep one eye on the handler. A handler represents a stress to the cattle. When the cattle can see the handler, they can react to the handler’s position and pressure on their flight zone.

Cattle like to go around. Cattle in confined space prefer to circle a handler as it allows for the greatest flight zone distance from the pressure of the handler and keep an eye on the handler.

Cattle like to go back to where they came from. They like to go where they know they have been with less stress or where they last remember other cattle being.

Using these principles, the design and use of a Bud Box is simple. It is a small rectangular pen, long enough cattle can enter and stop, be turned around and pass by the handler and into an alleyway.

A few things must be kept in mind when putting together and using a Bud Box:

• The box should be big enough for cattle and handler to be in together without endangering the handler or not having enough room for the cattle to pass by the handler.

• The box should not hold more cattle than the chute or alleyway they are exiting into can hold. The minimum chute length is 30 feet for three or four head of 1,200 pound cows. This allows for approximately eight to 10 feet of chute length per animal. The Bud Box does not work effectively as a holding pen. Cattle must enter and exit the box quickly.

• A Bud Box can be used to have cattle enter chutes that lead up to working chutes, sorting areas, load outs or to turnouts. The chute can be a single or a double. The key is cattle must keep moving when exiting the box. If cattle balk when exiting, they can then decide to turn back and disrupt the proper flow of the Bud Box.

• When building a Bud Box, eliminating distractions is important to keeping cattle focused on what the handler is asking of them. Having all visually solid walls is best but at a minimum the gate that closes behind them and the wall opposite the handler needs to be solid. Also keep other distractions away from the Bud Box such as other cattle, people, dogs, equipment or anything possibly distracting.

Again, a Bud Box is a simple design and a rather simple concept to learn to use. It can be worked on foot, or with a minor increase in size, on horseback. It is low stress on the cattle, possibly portable and compared to crowding tubs, easier to install and lower cost.