There are plenty of times cattle producers wish they could take their processing facilities to the cattle rather than vice versa. And it's getting more so.

More folks are getting spread out farther, and not all good rented pastures are equipped with the same state-of-the-art facilities modern producers have at home. Moreover, as buyers continue to demand more extensive management from calf owners, many cow-calf operators are wishing they had better facilities.

So a lot of people are looking for new portable processing abilities -- and the market is providing them.

Interestingly, one of the newest processing options originated not on somebody's ranch but in a Texas feedyard -- where a long-time manager was looking for a way to ease the stress and problems associated with moving pens full of cattle up and down dusty feedyard alleys.

Warren White of Hereford, Texas, manager of Mc6 Feedyard, Inc., developed what he calls the "Mobil Cattle Doc" specifically for reimplanting feedyard cattle. But the idea has plenty of appeal for other uses in a feedyard, large cow-calf or stocker operation or custom processor.

White also owns interests in a Nebraska yearling operation and has more than two decades of feedyard construction and management experience in Texas, Nebraska and Kansas.

"With our unit, cattle can be treated quickly at their pen or in the pasture with the least amount of stress," says White. "They can be back at their bunk or waterer in a short period of time."

He says that through mid-October, 25 pens of cattle had been run through the feedyard model at the Mc6 operation.

"I think we accomplished what we wanted with the system," he says. "Processing has been easier on the cattle and employees. We are seeing savings in labor needed for processing." And, he says, the system keeps cattle from having to go off feed during processing.

Manufactured by Top of Texas, Inc., in Hereford, the portable pen is available in two styles. The feedyard-designed model is a 128-wide, 248-long trailer with an 88-tall lighted work space, and the pasture model is 78 wide and 208 long and weighs about 10,000 lb.

Either of the models can be adapted to specific specifications, says White.

The trailer features an adjustable snake and contains its own hot and cold water system, and electrical outlets for a refrigerator and other needs. It also can be equipped with the buyer's choice of scales and hydraulic chutes as well as with a satellite system to record and feed data to an office or off-site computer.

The trailer is pulled through alleys by a tractor and raised or lowered with the tractor's hydraulics at any pen. After treatment, the cattle walk out the trailer door directly into their home pen.

Stress management

White thinks that by reducing stress on cattle, the system should lower the number of hospital repulls at the feedyard. "By using this system, cowboys don't sort cattle for reprocessing or have to drive them back to their pen," he says. "There is no commingling with other cattle, and feed alleys aren't blocked by cattle moving to and from processing barns."

Steve Lewis, a consulting feedyard veterinarian in Hereford, says the trailer appears to be a sound alternative to normal feedyard processing. "This is a portable processing trailer that does not sacrifice the ability to properly process cattle," he says

Terry DeGroff, who operates Management Information Systems, a cattle management and record-keeping system in the Nebraska sand hills at Burwell, sees several possibilities for the pasture model.

"For ranches with large numbers of cattle scattered in a large area, it should work well," he says. "It could also be practical for yearling operations in which cattle are spread out. I also see the unit as a good tool for custom processors who must go to numerous locations to work cattle."

Stocker operators will be able to unload cattle off the truck at the pasture and into portable pens, says White.

"They can run cattle directly through the processing trailer and out into the pasture with very little stress and no exposure to large numbers of cattle at a separate location."

White says that the pasture unit can be pulled by a 3/4-ton pickup. The pasture model features a chute, scales, trailer and portable hydraulics.

Cost of the Mobil Cattle Doc units will vary, depending on the way they are equipped, says White. The feedyard-style unit should run in the mid-$60,000 range, and the pasture unit in the mid-$20,000. He also plans to offer a lease program.

Although not as elaborate as the Mobil Cattle Doc, portable cattle-handling systems have been around for a long time. Powder River Livestock Handling Equipment in Provo, Utah, and Oklahoma City, has been providing such systems since 1938.

As other areas of the cattle business have changed, so have the needs of cow-calf and stocker operators, says Powder River's Cliff Dayton. "Early on, we used to say these systems were for your serious cattlemen," he says. "But any more, with the many hobby-type operators, we are seeing our customer base change. These types of producers, along with more experienced cattlemen, want the best systems they can find. They are looking for a solid, heavy system that is safe for them and their cattle."

Powder River's wide range of handling systems, from its System 2000 on down, cost between $6,500 and $11,500. Dayton notes that the system's newest innovation features a center feed tub, which alleviates any corners. "There is no- where to go but right up the alley," he says.

Your local or regional producer or feeder associations should be able to offer more details on other systems available. For further information on Mobil Cattle Doc, contact Warren White at (806) 344-2144 or (806) 363-6491, or email him at wrwhite@wtrt.net. For information on Powder River, call (800) 453-5318, or visit its Web site at www.powderriver.com.