Head Catch

Question:

How do you get 1000 lbs of beef to hold still while you doctor it without becoming the looser in a game of stomp the cowboy?

Answer:

The preverbal Chinese mousetrap, A.K.A head gate, head catch, or several other names.

That was an easy question, but the trick is to do it without spending more money than the cows are worth. I only own two cows at the moment, so doing it on the cheap was the hard part.

I bought this antique head catch way back last summer from a fierier over at Gainesville who does a little welding and buying and selling in the course of his travels. He gave me a good price for this thing, which was entirely serviceable but remarkably ugly.

It weighs in at almost exactly the same amount as Mount Rushmore. I brought it home, leaned it against the fence, chained it to the fence so it would not fall over and kill me, then I thought about installing it. I thought about for nearly a year.

Over the weekend I took the plunge. It got scooted into place mostly using a ratchet strap anchored to the trailer hitch on my pickup, a process that sounds a lot easier than it was.

After it was all installed I gave it a squirt with a can of spray paint in hopes it would not be quite so ugly, but I don’t think it helped much.

One less project on the endless to do list.