Dairy farmers love to use snap hooks with their herds because the quick-release hooks help make handling cows and steers easier and safer for both the animals and their human handlers.

Snap hooks allow dairy farmers to hook a cow’s lead or harness to a wall or pen in order to clean, feed, milk, even breed the animal, all while allowing the cow to have the freedom to move its head.

Like many “prey” animals, a cow can’t see directly behind itself and becomes nervous if it doesn’t have the ability to move its head and shoulders in order to see what’s behind it. Preventing the cow from moving its head makes for a very nervous and stressed cow, and cows under duress don’t produce a lot of milk.

Cows are large animals and if spooked or highly nervous can cause great damage to humans, equipment, pens, or buildings. A snap hook can be released quickly when absolutely necessary, thus helping keep property and people safe from the damage the bovines can do.

Dairy farmers also love snap hooks because they’re convenient to use when using cow lifters and/or body slings because the snap hooks can be closed or opened quickly when placing the cow in or removing it from the lifting sling.

What’s more, the snap hooks let the body sling operator uncouple the sling from its suspension frame, while allowing the operator to keep the sling tied to the animal’s back to conserve the cow’s body heat.

In a nutshell, having the means to attach or release a cow quickly from a restraint or pen is critical on a dairy farm. Snap hooks can be life savers.