Lone Oaks Angus has built two primary cattle centers, the AI & ET Working Facility and the Sale Barn, as well as numerous fenced cattle pastures, working chutes, and feed stations located throughout the farm.
The AI and ET Working Facility has been called “one of the best designed cattle breeding and handling operations in the state" by the University of Tennessee Department of Agriculture. The two-story facility has a second floor observation deck with viewing from an overlook and through Plexiglas flooring to the cattle handling and breeding operations on the first floor. There are pens for doctoring cattle, individual calving pens, Artificial Insemination (AI) and Embryo Transfer (ET) breeding boxes, a complete tub and alley system with digital scales and squeeze chute, and Breeding Lab all found on the first floor. Dr. Temple Grandin's livestock handling facility designs have been incorporated into all aspects of the Lone Oaks facility
In order to increase our AI and Embryo percentages we utilize the Heat Watch system for estrous detection. When a cow is detected to be in heat and ready to breed, an electronic signal is automatically sent from a transmitting device attached to the cow to a repeater located in the surrounding pastures and then transmitted to a computer located in the Breeding Lab.
Lighting is provided throughout the AI and ET Working Facility as well as the holding and sorting pens surrounding the facility for 24-hour operation, allowing us to check calving cows and heifers throughout the night. The entire first floor is concrete which allows for easier clean-up and helps insure a more sanitary environment. Our design of cattle gates allows one person when necessary to easily access all holding and sorting pens and for bringing cows through the AI and ET Working Facility. The driveway system surrounding the building is based on a 100 foot radius that allows flexible interconnection among holding and sorting pens.