Excessive hydraulic pressure can cause severe injuries. The author has also observed that excessive squeeze pressure can cause a significant reduction in weight gain. Good management can prevent many of these problems but there is still a great need for improved restraint devices for use on ranches and feedlots. I did not realize how poor existing chutes in feedlots were until I developed restraint devices for calf and beef slaughter plants. Quiet handling of cattle will reduce stress and injuries in squeeze chutes.
Excited animals are more difficult to handle.
It takes up to 30 minutes for an excited animal to calm down. To keep animals calm in a restraint device they must be calm when they enter it. Cattle should walk into a squeeze chute and walk out of it. Feedlot operators have found that calm handling of cattle in squeeze chutes will enable cattle to go back on feed more quickly. Over the years I have designed several different types of cattle restraint devices for use in meat packing plants.