Chute! Another Project?

Chute? Not Shoot?

Yes, chute.

What is a chute?

A chute is a metal contraption that is used to contain livestock. Generally, chutes are made of metal rods arranged into rectangular boxes, with doors on all four sides. The doors on the sides open for easy access to the animal’s side, allowing vaccinations to be administered, clippings to be done, or any other medical procedures to be preformed. The two narrow sides function as the entrance and exit. The exit of the shoot has a lever that closes two bars on both sides of the animal’s neck, confining them inside the chute.

Of course there are many variations of chutes. There are some that lack exit bars and that just have a gate. Some chutes are called squeeze chutes, which have levers that when pulled, tighten the sides of the chute around the animal. Although it may not seem likely, squeezing an animal in a chute often calms them down. Some chutes have long tunnels that lead up to the entrance, and some chutes are solely the chute itself.

Project 3?

Yes, the dreadful project 3.

What does 1+2=?. Well, it equals 3. And that’s exactly what project 3 is—a mixture of project 1 and project 2. Take the “all writing is a form of authoring” from project 1 and the discourse communities from project 2, and bam! Project 3. Take a piece of writing, like a resume or cover letter, and then using my area of expertise, animal sciences (although I’m hardly an expert), write a cover letter or resume? And then ***Insert more prompt description that I cannot comprehend.***? Yes, that is an intended question mark. What? What is going on in project 3.

            The way I feel about this project is the way I’m sure a cow must feel when going through a chute. While leisurely eating grass in the freedom of their pasture, they are suddenly rounded up by a bunch of no good girls in navy coveralls who intend to make the next hour of the cows’ life miserable. While I imagine this is how the cows feel, in reality, cows are extremely dramatic and are never treated poorly. Halter breaking dairy cows is a necessity in showing them and obviously medical practices are necessary for good health. The entire process of halter breaking and training them, the animals are kept in a stress free environment. They are treated kindly and with respect. They are herded with patience and care. Don’t worry, no cows were harmed in the making of this blog.

            Cows like open spaces—pastures to graze in—so the obvious hesitation a cow feels when being sorted into a tunnel leading to the metal chute is reasonable. As they step closer to the tunnel, cows search around for a way to escape the wall of people behind them, but with nowhere but forward to move, they give in.

They enter the tunnel to the chute with confusion. I imagine them thinking “what are these walls around me. Hey! I can see my friends, oh! And grass, I can see grass. Wait, I can’t reach the grass. These walls, what are these walls? Hi friend! How are you today?”

Generally, cattle will continue through the tunnel, still extremely confused, until they approach the chute entrance. This is where cows must have a brain aneurism. “Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh! Something is in front of me. There is a door. It’s blocking me. I’M TRAPPED! I must back up. Chute, I can’t back up, my friend Betsey is behind me. What do I do? Panic. Panic!”

While standing at the entrance, the exit to the chute is opened, revealing the escape route. At this moment you can definitely see the relief of freedom on the cows face, but yet, they most always linger in the shoot and contemplate walking through the exit. “But wait, can I really walk through there? There is a bar. I have to step over the bar? What if the bar eats me? I’m a dairy cow, I do not taste good. Do not eat me bar! Ah! Walls, walls still around me! Human! Hey humans, I require your assistance. Remove these walls. Save me from that bar. It wants to eat me!”

Just as the cow builds up enough courage to peek her head out of the shoot, SLAM! The chute doors are closed around the cow’s neck.

“OH MY GOSH! HOLY COW. WHAT IS ON MY NECK! GET. IT. OFF! Wait. Wait a minute. This is okay. I cannot move. Okay, okay. I will just sit here. Human! Yes you there. You human, come pet my head and scratch my chin.”

Much like a cow, as I begin down the tunnel to project 3, I’m faced with nothing but confusion. I don’t even understand the prompt. I didn’t understand the first time, nor did I understand the 50^th time I read it.

Still as I try to move forward, I know one thing—It is suggested that I write on my major since this project is supposed to teach us real world writing, and that alone, gets me a little farther down the tunnel and farther away from the wall of bad grades that prevent me from turning around.

But for real? No. I know myself, and much like a cow, I will continue to linger in my confusion as my confusion locks me in! So much confusion!

Tomorrow I have English class and will see Eda, my professor. And when I see her, thank God for the freedom from this confusion! The tunnel doors will open and I’ll be able to see my way out! Clarity. I will finally have some clarity.

The best part of putting a cow through a chute it watching her reaction when she finally decides it’s safe to exit the chute. Sometimes she is on a halter and will jump around, and others, she will sprint for freedom. In some rare cases, a cow suddenly get the idea that she is a giant, warm blood, grand prix jumper, and will jump the bar the holds the front of the chute together AND she will clear the bar by an extra four feet.

When I’m finally able to see the concept and purpose of project three clearly, I hope to be the grand prix cow. I was to excel on my way out of this suppressing confusion. I want to understand, and I want to finish in style. And hopefully after Eda is able to explain project 3 to me, I will be able to write a blog post that actually follows the prompt which reads “For this blog entry assignment, I want you to post a "Road-Map" for Project 3, a road map that you will be planning to use and respond to each other.”

As of right now, my road map says, “in 12 hours, ask Eda what the heck is going on with project 3".”

I’m an animal and veterinary science major, and I’m on Clemson’s dairy science show team. I’m also in a class, which is called Little North America (LNA) which I also work with dairy cows. For show team, I use a Holstein, which is a breed of a dairy cow, heifer, which is a cow that doesn’t produce milk because she hasn’t had a baby yet. My show team heifer’s name is Tilly. Tilly is already halter broken and has won many ribbons in the fall Anderson county fair and the South Carolina State fair. Her next show is the first week of March. Tilly was recently bred and should be having a baby in 9 months. For LNA, also have a Holstein heifer. Her name is Sturgeon, and I’m in the process of halter breaking her for a show in April.

This is Tilly

This is Sturgeon

This is Sturgeon going through the tunnel that leads to the chute. The blue bars at the front are the gates that would be closed around her neck.