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Calving gate dimensions

johnpawl · 2013-03-25 19:04:05

I'm thinking of making something like this and am not sure of the measurements. Could anyone tell me the length and height of something similar to this. Also what would be the size of the required opening for c section? http://imageshack.us/a/img202/5962/photojan27154400.jpg

Comments

#32 10-02-2015 06:09PM

kowtow

Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,135 ✭✭✭

Join Date: March 2013

Posts: 6113

One thing I have found with calving pens is that if there is a wall, or particularly a corner between two walls, any cow which requires a jack will dance around until the calf is half way out and then lay down against it.

She will have measured the shortest setting of the calving jack in advance and will make sure the distance from her arse to the obstacle is exactly 7 inches less.

If she can't find a wall to back up to, she will identify the side of the pen most exposed to the weather (or to the bull in the neighbouring pen) and stick her back end out towards that.

For me it's not so much the calving gate as where it hangs. I like the two posts in the middle with a gate each side (one a calving gate) approach best. Also handy if they are telescopic, surprisingly difficult to get calf or mother around the end of the gates in the day or two after calving if they have to stay in / together for any reason (or if you need to bring another in to share the facilities with her)

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