Cattle handling facilities

I wouldn't get a head gate where the cow has to close it, I have the Nugent Beef head locking gate here and it's a disaster. @AYF and @headcase have the morris head gate http://www.morrislivestockequipment.co.uk/ it closes in from the side and you can put an extension handle on the crush and close it from behind the cow.
I think one of these would be the ideal, the head gate closes in from the side, the sides of the crush also move in

I would build something like this U shaped one here, holding pens and a curved pen feeding into the crush,
https://iae.co.uk/fixed-cattle-handling-systems-installation-downloads/ or a smaller version

That's my wish list and has been in the planning stages for to long now and am hoping to get the holding pen with curved pen built next year

I must say I like the look of the last video there, the Condon ones are more suited to larger groups i feel. Lot of groups here would be 10 bullocks or less and the most would be 20 so it would be much more suited!
 
I must say I like the look of the last video there, the Condon ones are more suited to larger groups i feel. Lot of groups here would be 10 bullocks or less and the most would be 20 so it would be much more suited!
The condon one in the link above you posted is the 25ft diameter one and I’d say it’s a bit big. Ours is the 16ft diameter and it’s perfect for anything up to around the 10 mark. The big thing with the forcing pen is though that ideally you only want to fill in as many as you can get down the race each time,

having said that we’d often take out about 10 into it and leave 3/4 in the pen but for testing I’d normally just let in what will fill the crush, that way they test away and let them out, I push the next lot down the run and go for the next fill, practically no time lost that way the only real stops we have is re loading the tb shots or changing groups of stock
 
Does d gate in d tub move along in stages and lock itself. I used 1 in d states and when we pushed d gate behind cattle to get them up d race d gate had a self or auto lock i cant quite remember it
Yep there’s a spring loaded pin in the gate and it locks behind each of the fins you can see in the middle of the curved panels, there’s a handle from the latch up to the top of the gate for you to work the pin when bringing it back to refil. You can see it in this pic35989FA1-9142-4C28-8928-7105C4B99B12.jpeg
 
Yep there’s a spring loaded pin in the gate and it locks behind each of the fins you can see in the middle of the curved panels, there’s a handle from the latch up to the top of the gate for you to work the pin when bringing it back to refil. You can see it in this picView attachment 84674
Is the hinge on that gate just a bigger piece of pipe on the outside and two rings welded on top and bottom to hold it in place
 
Is the hinge on that gate just a bigger piece of pipe on the outside and two rings welded on top and bottom to hold it in place
Yeah pretty much, There’s a ring of flat plate welded to the post then each of the hinges on the gate is 2 plates with a piece of pipe between them to keep them spaced, it’s all just right so there’s no play in it but it runs smooth as anything. I’m pretty certain I smothered it in grease when we put it up 2 years ago now and hasn’t been touched since and still runs smooth.

the whole lot is only sitting down on the post but it would take a lot to lift it off too, we were at our best to get it up into place
 
The condon one in the link above you posted is the 25ft diameter one and I’d say it’s a bit big. Ours is the 16ft diameter and it’s perfect for anything up to around the 10 mark. The big thing with the forcing pen is though that ideally you only want to fill in as many as you can get down the race each time,

having said that we’d often take out about 10 into it and leave 3/4 in the pen but for testing I’d normally just let in what will fill the crush, that way they test away and let them out, I push the next lot down the run and go for the next fill, practically no time lost that way the only real stops we have is re loading the tb shots or changing groups of stock

Fair point!! I'm not the biggest fan of a long chute but that depends on what your method is when it comes to administering to cattle as in do you use the headgate or catch each one in the chute. In my case, it is always the latter bar the first one upfront the odd time or a more difficult one. Due to the smaller lot numbers, I just find a chute for 3/4 is plenty here. And yours is much longer than that!!

I'm also hoping when the time comes to be able to fit whatever I do in the existing shed where the crush is which is only around 21ft x 35ft.
 
Yeah pretty much, There’s a ring of flat plate welded to the post then each of the hinges on the gate is 2 plates with a piece of pipe between them to keep them spaced, it’s all just right so there’s no play in it but it runs smooth as anything. I’m pretty certain I smothered it in grease when we put it up 2 years ago now and hasn’t been touched since and still runs smooth.

the whole lot is only sitting down on the post but it would take a lot to lift it off too, we were at our best to get it up into place

Would I be right in saying the two plates or big washers are welded to the pipe to stop it from going out of shape with the weight of the gate. hanging from it.
Is it just the bottom the flat plate is welded to the post to hold the gate up.
Sorry for all the questions but the plan is to make my own.
 
Fair point!! I'm not the biggest fan of a long chute but that depends on what your method is when it comes to administering to cattle as in do you use the headgate or catch each one in the chute. In my case, it is always the latter bar the first one upfront the odd time or a more difficult one. Due to the smaller lot numbers, I just find a chute for 3/4 is plenty here. And yours is much longer than that!!

I'm also hoping when the time comes to be able to fit whatever I do in the existing shed where the crush is which is only around 21ft x 35ft.
Yeah I get what you mean, some days I do think it’s a bit long but it’s roughly the length the old one here was so it’s kind of what we are used to, neighbours run is only about 15ft long and it’s an arse of a job to get through any numbers, if they are big animals it’s a 2 at a time job which is very time consuming.
are you hoping for animals to exit the crush within the 35ft or can they go out into the yard from there?
you could possibly go with something along the lines of this(excuse the roughness)

228D9A8B-A485-47F2-B088-6D39F97BF3D2.jpeg

basically only using a quarter turn of a circular gate, in a way similar to a bud box but with the advantage of being safely able to shrink the pen down for a stubborn one. If using say the 8ft radius one you could work out to have about 25ft of a run if they can exit the shed on the way out of the crush.
Would I be right in saying the two plates or big washers are welded to the pipe to stop it from going out of shape with the weight of the gate. hanging from it.
Is it just the bottom the flat plate is welded to the post to hold the gate up.
Sorry for all the questions but the plan is to make my own.
There’s only one plate welded to the upright pipe coming out of the ground, the rest is all attached to the gate, I’ll take a closer pic for you when I’m out there today!
 
Yeah I get what you mean, some days I do think it’s a bit long but it’s roughly the length the old one here was so it’s kind of what we are used to, neighbours run is only about 15ft long and it’s an arse of a job to get through any numbers, if they are big animals it’s a 2 at a time job which is very time consuming.
are you hoping for animals to exit the crush within the 35ft or can they go out into the yard from there?
you could possibly go with something along the lines of this(excuse the roughness)

View attachment 84678

basically only using a quarter turn of a circular gate, in a way similar to a bud box but with the advantage of being safely able to shrink the pen down for a stubborn one. If using say the 8ft radius one you could work out to have about 25ft of a run if they can exit the shed on the way out of the crush.

There’s only one plate welded to the upright pipe coming out of the ground, the rest is all attached to the gate, I’ll take a closer pic for you when I’m out there today!
That is actually similar to what we have at the moment but not as fancy with the circular forcing area! Unfortunately the whole area would have to incorporate all the pens and crush because all the sides are / will be built up around soon.

As I say it is in my head phase now and we do things slowly around here!! Current crush is in since 1991 so has served us well.
 
That is actually similar to what we have at the moment but not as fancy with the circular forcing area! Unfortunately the whole area would have to incorporate all the pens and crush because all the sides are / will be built up around soon.

As I say it is in my head phase now and we do things slowly around here!! Current crush is in since 1991 so has served us well.
All in good time! These things take plenty of it that’s for sure! I think I initially had a rough idea for ours in the head from around 2010 and it slowly developed to what it is! I think the one it replaced was blocked in the 70’s and the biggest problem with it was the entire yard around it had risen up meaning it was at the lowest point and always full of water... had to be scraped or sucked out with the tanker every time you needed it😔
 
I threw this together during the first lock down... had wanted to put in some sort of gate but would be a big job to actually put in a proper one...tis has done the finest so far for what I am doing anyway
 

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Probably going to have to think about something along these lines ourselves, our current crush etc is at the opposite end of the yard to the shed so we have the running of the bulls any time they have to be moved down. I was thinking of putting a yard at the gable end of the slatted shed, that way they could just be have the door of their pen opened and be in the yard. If I was to buy a complete set up like the links above and get a grant on it would the grant just be on the kit itself and do the concrete ourselves to suit ourself or would the whole job have to be done to grant spec.
 
Probably going to have to think about something along these lines ourselves, our current crush etc is at the opposite end of the yard to the shed so we have the running of the bulls any time they have to be moved down. I was thinking of putting a yard at the gable end of the slatted shed, that way they could just be have the door of their pen opened and be in the yard. If I was to buy a complete set up like the links above and get a grant on it would the grant just be on the kit itself and do the concrete ourselves to suit ourself or would the whole job have to be done to grant spec.
The whole job would have to be grant spec
 
And you may have to get planning which could open a can of worms and swallow 500-1000 euro before you know it.
Would you need planning when it would be below a certain height? Or would you just have to use a certain spec concrete and collect all soiled water etc, anyone got the grant on a handling facility.
 
Would you need planning when it would be below a certain height? Or would you just have to use a certain spec concrete and collect all soiled water etc, anyone got the grant on a handling facility.
If you dont want to involve planner, and if you want to include the concrete then i think for grant purposes It would need to be classed as exempt by council. Otherwise leave out concrete. Be worth a call to planner for a long term job imo
 
Would you need planning when it would be below a certain height? Or would you just have to use a certain spec concrete and collect all soiled water etc, anyone got the grant on a handling facility.
Got it here but unfortunately I’m of no help to you on this one as it was done along with a shed so had to go for planning anyway. It may get away with a farmyard sketch and a letter stating exemption from planning if you can get one.

I think the only thing with the concrete is it has to be 37N so not a massive extra cost over doing with say 32n that you’d probably do it with if not getting grant,
 
Would you need planning when it would be below a certain height? Or would you just have to use a certain spec concrete and collect all soiled water etc, anyone got the grant on a handling facility.
I'm slowly realising that this is the problem with grants.
Nothing is straight forward. What you save seems to be swallowed up in planning or advisers and needless red tape.
 
I have no personal experience but from stories being told doing something with a grant often ends up a lad spending as much money out of his own pocket as if he did it without the grant and to as damned near a spec as the grant job.
 
Would you need planning when it would be below a certain height? Or would you just have to use a certain spec concrete and collect all soiled water etc, anyone got the grant on a handling facility.

I'm not sure so that's why I was advising to check. Most I've seen are standalone crushs and they have needed a simple planning application or as said above an application for exemption.

It's all money, and unfortunately on a smaller job like this it could cost a huge chunk of your overall spend.
 
I’m thinking of a circular pen and had the idea of buying a 5m ish corrugated water tank for the job,it’s that or bend some box section.

 
I’m thinking of a circular pen and had the idea of buying a 5m ish corrugated water tank for the job,it’s that or bend some box section.

Doesn't have to be perfectly round.
A mate has one made up of lots of straight sections.

He fittet his gate first, then used that as a radius template to put a few uprights in.
Then straight bits cut and welded to suit inbetween.

Ends up like a doecahedron but works well.

Has a hole every 300mm or so for the gate latch.

I'd improve his by not needing to pull the bar to move forward, just keep pushing, can be done with some jiggery pokkery.
 
Only thought of it at the last moment after we threw up the ramp but I got a pic while the truck was sitting there to show they way we load out of the forcing pen. 755599D3-9A2E-4A48-8600-E361B52468E2.jpeg
drop the ramp, chain the gate to the side gate of the ramp and they are going no where other than up the ramp, and you don’t have to be in till the last second when the forcing gate comes past the last post on the left and at that stage they are already most of the way up the ramp
 
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