For growing up on a farm and showing cattle since I could ever remember, I thought going to the cattle handling demonstration would be something of interest.

I thought I knew quite a bit about handling cattle from classes and my own experience, which I still do but companies have come out with a lot of new machinery to move cattle safely, quickly, and easier.

I’ve only known of this old squeeze chute that my dad has always used and wow, does that thing seem ancient now. Now all the squeeze chutes are run by hydraulics and have added features to help vaccinate the calves. Most of the chutes on display have head guarders, which move the calf’s head from one side to the other to hold it in place. You can see this in the pictures above with a calf in action.

Another thing they talked about is RFID, which is a labeled mechanism. An electronic chip is placed into the ear so you can read which calf it is, load data on your computer about the history of the calf and most importantly, when it goes to the slaughter house, consumers will know where the meat came from.

Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto: