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Eastern NE KS | The one bud box I used had no funnel shaped areas where 2 animals can get stuck shoulder to shoulder. It is better to have the bud box to lane opening one animal wide. The contending animal will stop moving forward and wait for its mate to enter then it will enter.
Your offset for the lane from the barn wall c/should extend straight back to the box at 90° on both sides of the alley. Set another post in the gap. Make a walkthrough from box to barn side of lane. Not perfect but may be handy. The walk through I used was on the other side of the lane.
To be clear, the box is closed with a solid gate that closes flush with the lane opening. The box I used had a weighted sliding door at the box end of the lane. The weight held it shut. It was opened by pulling the weighted rope that hung over my head when I was at the appropriate spot for letting animals walk into the lane. I was a moving 'funnel'. Although, the master operator said I needed to calm down, move less and invite animals to the lane. That suggestion helped the unweaned and jittery calves I was working.
Look to copy a stock trailer's slam latch for holding the budbox gate. The latch at my budbox was a traditional gate sliding bar latch. I was almost always too slow latching the gate before calves were at my heels ready to enter the chute lane. A slam latch would solve this delay.
The box I used had solid sides so cattle could quickly observe and feel the walls after returning from its far end. Their attention quickly focused on the open gap to the chute lane.
The box I used was very quiet. All moving parts were well greased. The slam latch I mentioned should have a muffled mechanism and not a big bang (like most trailers). As I gained experience, my timing improved and I found my spot with the lane door open. All this was done as the calves returned from the end of the box. I was the only handler in the box. When I got this right, I never had to push calve toward the lane opening. Calves walked right by me into the lane.
Edited by Doug61 10/17/2026 14:06
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Bud box flow
