Try your local machinery sale for a 2nd hand crush, to be honest I think no matter how docile your animals are when you are worming, vet, tb testing etc a crush is invaluable and worth its weight in gold. We do sometimes pin a cow behind a gate in a corner, put a halter on her and tie her to the gate as well as tie the end that swings round (we even did this with our lim bull recently) but still if it's going to be used regularly I would think about investing in a basic crush.
I agree completely.
There is nothing so important it can't be done safely.
If you look around there are perfectly good second hand crushes around for about £250.
You've only got to buy it once and it'll last you for years.
Many vets won't treat cattle unless they are suitably restrained, and I can't blame them. Why should they risk injury by relying on some Heath Robinson construction?
I used to go round doing pregnancy scanning of cattle, and I've seen it all - crushes made of scaffold poles and tied with string, gates attached to the walls where the wall fixing gave way. (Why anyone should imagine that a distressed animal, weighing maybe half a tonne or should not exert enough force to pull a gate off a wall, I will never know.) I myself was trampled when the baler twine holding a gate gave way.
It's one thing taking a risk yourself with your own animals. It's not fair to ask someone else to do the same.