The Farm Safety Capital Investment Scheme has seen a huge uptake since TAMS III was announced, with close to 10,000 applications for the scheme, partly due to its higher grant rate of 60%.
A certain proportion of these applications will be for fixed cattle yards, and a farmer could do worse than to follow some of the ideas of this recently completed yard in east Galway.
The farmer in question runs a drystock operation, and while they were happy to have the yard featured, they chose to remain anonymous.
The yard
The new yard is located just off a public road and is serviced by internal roadways leading to various paddocks.
The proximity to the road (closer than 10m) meant that full planning permission had to be gained for the development, and as such it just about broaches the maximum 200m² allowance for a letter of exemption, when the catwalk it taking into consideration.
The site is relatively open, though the 1.8m high mass concrete wall provides some shelter, with the option existing to roof over the unit if the farmer so wishes in the future.
Cattle enter the yard directly off the farm roadway.
Five separate holding pens can be created, each measuring 3.85m x 3.98m.
For large groups of cattle, the farmer has found that folding back these gates and allowing cattle to travel down the unit and on to the forcing pen works best.
Between each individual holding pen, there is a 300mm emergency escape, with safety being a key theme throughout the design of the unit.
Forcing pen
Perhaps one of the most impressive features of the yard is the forcing pen at the lower end of the yard. The concrete floor has been cambered so that this is the lowest point of the yard, and cattle flow easily to this area.
Paul Kelly Construction, Athlone, completed the unenviable task of shuttering the mass concrete curved wall of the forcing pen, through specially made shuttering pans.
The farmer noted that both cattle and sheep are easily directed around the forcing pen, due to the visual blocking off of the outside paddock from the wall.
Niall Barrett Engineering, which completed all of the steel work in the yard, then bolted the catch for the forcing gate along the wall. The forcing gate is hung from a heavy-duty circular post, with grease nipples fitted for lubrication and to prevent wear, that allows it to swing 360°.
With safety in mind, this forcing gate can be operated from outside the shuttered wall. Gravel has been ramped up against the wall to allow for an operator to walk around the perimeter of the wall with a handle incorporated in to the forcing gate to allow it to be worked from this safe area.
Intermittent catches have been installed, with the forcing gate travelling smoothly along nylon wheels before the spring-loaded catch notches into one of the designated slots.
An ample grip has been left in the concrete, with grooves going laterally to the way cattle will travel. Effluent pipes have been incorporated into the shuttered wall that lead to an effluent tank for collecting any soiled water from the yard.
The crush
The crush unit measures approximately 20m in length, with the farmer capable of holding 15 store cattle with ease in it.
Though a crush of this length would generally not be recommended due to the difficulty in filling it, this has been overcome with the use of three guillotine gates; one at the rear of the crush, one halfway up, with the final one installed one animal space behind the head gate at the top of the crush.
In doing this, the farmer can draft seven -eight animals up the top end and close the guillotine gate halfway up the crush, preventing these animals from coming back down as he fills the remaining half.
The walkway for the crush has been left wide for safety and to allow more than one operator to work the crush if required, with the 1.5m wide walkway left that connects to the walkway around the forcing pen.
The side of the crush has been created with solid posts and tubular steel bars, while the internal side has been created with short gates sheeted with stockboard.
Having these gates on the internal side allows for access should an animal go down in the crush, while leaving the external side unsheeted allows access for injecting animals without having to catch each one in the headgate.
Additional bars were incorporated into this side to allow for t he crush to be used for sheep, something which the farmer says has worked extremely well.
Drafting can also be completed through the use of a bar attached to one of the side gates. Flow can be controlled through the guillotine gate, with animals directed to an external pen or up through the chute at the top.
The option exists to incorporate this into another guillotine gate, which would allow for three-way drafting.
Barretts installed one of their manual headgates at the top of the chute, which allows the operator to close the gate on the animal’s head while standing behind them. The gate is easily adjustable for different head sizes. A ratcheted head scoop has also been installed to allow for oral drenching etc.
Access to the animal’s rear is granted through a small personal gate from the walkway, which latches into the opposite side of the crush, protecting the operator from other animals in the crush.
Loading is available in two separate areas; at the head of the holding pens that cattle enter the crush in, or in the pen where cattle are released from the chute. Drop bolts have been installed in the gates that drop down into one of three notches left on the concrete floor, depending on trailer or truck width.
The Barretts have also designed two small clamps that are inserted into the top of a gate that locks two gates together.
While the unit is of a larger scale than most would need, it could easily be scaled down to handle smaller numbers of stock. With a full-time stock person on the farm, the owner was conscious of safety, and this is evident throughout.
The ability to operate the forcing pen from outside is probably my favourite feature of the build, and the workmanship of the two contractors involved is second to none.
In short