Cattle, Cattle Handling
Dan Dalfino has a cow-calf operation on 265 acres in De Kalb, Texas. His operation is focused on high-quality commercial genetics with the end goal of a quality product for the end user. Recently he upgraded his coral and chute to a Te Pari Pneumatic Auto Sorting Chute.
“We purchased this cattle yard and the Taurus Pneumatic Chute with 3-way sorting. The auto sorting chute provides us with the options to sort cattle whether they’re bred or open, in different directions without additional labour.” Said Dan.
The Taurus Auto Sorting Cattle Chute is pneumatically powered and can be set up to auto-draft based on each individual animal’s weight or EID tag data. The Chute can be operated via the control panel at the back of the chute or by remote control from anywhere in the coral, so you can be moving cattle through the race and still have control of what’s happening at the chute.
The Taurus Cattle Chute works together with the Te Pari T30 Scale System to capture and store data about your animals such as weight, dosing records and animal history.
“The T30 system is must more than just a scale, it’s a full livestock management system. The entire T30 system captures accurate, factual data on each individual animal and doesn’t leave any room for human error.” Said Dan.
Dan also purchased a Revolution Dosing Gun from Te Pari that works together with the chute scale to make sure each animal gets an accurate dose for their weight. As each animal goes into the chute it gets weighed and the scale sends this information to the Auto Dosing Gun. The required dosage is then auto-calibrated in the gun and this ensures that you are giving each animal what they need with no over or under-dosing.
“The Te Pari Dosing Gun allows us to be very efficient with whatever application we are using it for, it can be used for drench it can be used for pour-on, it can be used for injectables, and it allows us to administer the dose accurately to what that animal weighs so we’re not overdosing and building resistance and we’re not under-dosing and being ineffective with the application.” Said Dan.
The Yard that Dan chose features 3 working pens, a c-force circular forcing pen with a rotating gate, a cattle-free working area for personnel, a curved race with a timber catwalk, a stepped loadout ramp and of course the Taurus Auto Sorting Chute. The steel is top-quality Australian-made and is hot-dip galvanised after welding to ensure that it has the best corrosion protection.
“When we received the yards in October of 2021, I was blown away with the quality of the product. The catwalks some of the pneumatic system that’s on here and the EID, those things are just great, we haven’t had those in the past and beginning now to work with them on a regular basis they just make life in the coral so much easier and efficient. I feel this yard is very safe because you don’t have to be in the same pen as the cattle if you choose not to.” Said Dan.
Te Pari is a well-known brand in New Zealand and Australia for Cattle Corrals and Chutes and is considered a premium product with proven designs on thousands of farms all over Australasia. Te Pari’s Cattle Handling products have only recently become available in the United States. The Te Pari US branch is based in Minnesota, MN where they have been operating for many years distributing Te Pari’s range of Sheep Handling Equipment. Te Pari is 100% NZ Family owned and they are renowned for their customer service and technical support, their reputation for always delivering an unrivalled experience is something they are extremely proud of. In fact, it is one of their core values… Exceptional Customer Service!
“The follow-up from Te Pari was second to none, no other company has followed up through the purchasing process like Te Pari has. From the sales rep to the guys in New Zealand doing the drafting, they were very, very easy to work with. They really wanted to know what were my priorities and what I was looking for.” Said Dan.
Te Pari’s company vision is to be a global leader in seamless livestock handling solutions with equipment and technology that works together to improve your on-ranch profitability and efficiency.
“I believe ultimately the Te Pari system will save us money and give us better returns on our investment because of the efficiency of the system and how it relates to the labour and the efficiency of capturing the data that will allow us to manage our cattle more efficiently.
I would recommend Te Pari based on a lot of things; customer service, the end product that you end up with is of very high quality. If I was talking to a neighbour that was enquiring about our Te Pari system, I would invite them to come and work cattle with us and see the difference.” Said Dan.