Day 14: Headlocks

These contraptions make life on a dairy farm MUCH easier.  So much so, that when we got married 7 years ago, there was only 1 set of old headlocks in the youngest heifer pens (that most of the heifers are too smart to make use of them), and now there are headlocks in the breeding heifer, maternity, and milking cow barn. 
The work by cows sticking their head through the bars in order to eat.  Most of the time, the cow is free to pull her head back out of the bars and go about her day, but when we set them to "lock", when the bar moves as the cow puts her head in, the bar is locked vertically, and the cow can't back out.  This allows us to vaccinate, treat, breed, or otherwise corral a cow, or more accurately typically a group of cows without having to fight them into a stall or confined space in order to get them whatever care they need.

Headlocks are a great thing....one thing that will continue to grow at the dairy over time.

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