This cattle crush and adjoining yard can comfortably hold about 40 cattle.

Gates break up the yard into three individual holding pens.

Gearoid Booth, a farmer from the Heath, Co Laois, built this unit on his farm.

Design details

The extendable gates can be set up to have a minimum span of 3m and can be expanded to a maximum of 4m, as well as being extremely heavy duty for dealing for larger cattle.

Slip-through escapes are located in a number of places around the yard, allowing greater and safer access in and out of pens without having to open or close gates.

Extendable gates were hung as part of the perimeter fencing of some pens. Having multiple access points on the outside of the yard means cattle in each pen can be moved out easily without upsetting cattle being held in other pens.

The forcing gate behind the crush is probably the best aspect of the facility. It makes the job of getting cattle into the crush very easy and safe.

Circular forcing pens ensure cattle can be safely moved to the mouth of the race.

A latch at the top of the forcing gate allows it to be held in a number of positions as it is swung around, constantly moving the cattle forward towards the crush.

It means the person pushing the forcing gate forward is never in the line of fire when cattle kick-back at the gate.

Another well thought-out safety measure at the entrance of the crush is the sliding gate.

The sliding mechanism reduces all risk of cattle kicking back at you as it can easily be opened and closed from the far side of the crush rather than directly from behind, as is usually the case.

The crush can hold seven cattle (450kg to 500kg) at a time.

There is a semi-automatic headgate at the front of the crush at a cost of €280 excl. VAT.

There is also an elevated concrete platform on the outside of the crush to make handling cattle in the crush easier.

This platform is outside the holding pens, which means anyone using the crush can carry out their work in safety.

A guillotine gate is fitted to the back of the race.

With attractive grants available under TAMS II, many farmers are looking at handling units as an investment.

Outside blocks of land on livestock farms usually need handling facilities suitable for a number of different jobs.

The facilities need to be capable of simplifying and creating a safe environment for tasks such as the annual cattle test, summer dosing, AI service, scanning and of course a place to gather and load cattle prior to moving stock home for the winter or selling them straight off the land.

A well-designed facility can speed up work and help to reduce the safety risks that are associated with handling livestock.

The drawing above shows a cattle crush and holding pens suitable for all these tasks.

These facilities make the everyday cattle handling tasks quick and easy with minimal need for extra help.

Costs

A project like this would cost around €7,000, excl. VAT, which covers all concrete (about 13m³), machinery work and steel.

This article was published in the Irish Farmers Journal Farm Buildings 2018 annual. Click here to order your copy

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