new off farm loading pen and small crush for about 15 cattle at a time

renandstimpy

Basically lads wondering would some of ye have any pictures of yere of farm setup for inspiration ... using a neighbours that we would have put a dew pound into down through the years but evolves getting help of at least 2 people to bring cattle onto road .

Time has come to build our own so it is one man job .

Specs ..... needs to accomadate 6 mtr crush ... going using odonavan semi auto gate that stays open by itself ....
Can you tell me sizes of your pens please and mostly what I'm looking for is best layout to cut down on using excessive boundary fence ...

It will be situated one field ... 3 acres from road .... all the other 40 acres is beyond this ... there is 12 ft gate already in cross wall with boundary on right and any amount of room on left ... I'll try and get a few pics later

Thanks in advance
R&S

visatorro

sligoronan put up a few pics on the guntering thread. I thought its a great way of putting up a crush on outfarm, with the portable piers you can hang as many gates as you like and bring all home with you then. you'd stick up whatever sized pen you want.

renandstimpy

Ya I seen that and was impressed. . But there is 40 acres where I'm putting this and was looking to put in a permanent one so I could do any dosing injecting up there during the year . Thinking of going the crash barrier route for external walls as I have some already and use the square crash barrier for uprights

blue5000

What is the ground like, rocky or soft, easy to dig? If it's not rocky we have drove a few 6 x 3 H irons with a post driver for up rights. You need to point the corners a bit and use a crow bar first.
You would need a seperating pen for loading them with 2 short double gates, use it to hold whatever amount of cattle you can fit in a trailer. Make it so you can swing around a jeep and trailer and reverse to the loading pen without having to back around corners, especially on the blind side. Ask your vet is there any good pens in the area you could look at.

ford 5600

Very good point about asking the vet, Blue5000. If you have 40 acres there, surely you will have more than 15 cattle? Only asking as, if you are building one at all, make it big enough for a herd test, and allow for a fully stocked 40 acres. I used the W shaped crash barriers for the uprights as well as the rails. I used 3 . Spacing ,12 " from ground to bottom of 1st one,then 12" barrier, 6" inch gap,12" barrier, 6" gap and finally 12" barrier. Total height 5 ft . I bored holes and bolted them together. I have seen a lad using ESB poles, and coach bolts, but they pulled out in 5 or 6 years. Steel is the job.

patsy_mccabe

Here's a simple one I put up last year. The gate at the left can open both ways and I will add another more secure upright to close it in, to the right, to tie against. The uprights are railway girders and the strip of concrete holds it all together. Must add a crush gate too and a load of gravel to finish it off, whenever I get the time.

renandstimpy

Your right ford I do have more than 15 up there .. nearer 35 with them coming and going could be less could be more depending on grass and them going to factory but they would not be in any more than 15 in a group ... your right about herd test but I would have access to paddocks close by to get them in fast ... your way sounds like what I have in mind are the w's vertical fairly rigid and how far did you put them done . Def steel the way to go and be more in favour of crash barrier over rsjs as they are already galvanised and are stronger grade steel .

renandstimpy

Looks well patsy .only thing with me is with our headers of cattle I would defo be doing all 4 sides as they would just be gone out over hedge if they were pened in with nowhere to go .

Mad4simmental

Don't want to open a new thred. Looking at doing a crush at home. Who elce do crushes/head gates becides O Donovan and O Donnal? Probably go with I Donovan as they seem to be the most popular. Thanks

Nekarsulm

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=90877361

Base price

Are you asking about head gates or crush/races or both?

Reggie.

Mad4simmental wrote: »

Don't want to open a new thred. Looking at doing a crush at home. Who elce do crushes/head gates becides O Donovan and O Donnal? Probably go with I Donovan as they seem to be the most popular. Thanks

Just picked up a new setup here a few days ago

free upload

Mad4simmental

Base price wrote: »

Are you asking about head gates or crush/races or both?

Head gates more so.

renandstimpy

Finally got around to putting up the crush .. 1.5 days with a friend to get this far .
It all hinges on getting curved pen set out right ( excuse the pun) . another 2 days should see the most of it done , waiting on a neighbour to dig remaining 19 holes with mini digger , might be next week .

djmc

renandstimpy wrote: »

Finally got around to putting up the crush .. 1.5 days with a friend to get this far .
It all hinges on getting curved pen set out right ( excuse the pun) . another 2 days should see the most of it done , waiting on a neighbour to dig remaining 19 holes with mini digger , might be next week .

Looks like a great job.
Do you mind me asking where you got the curved forcing pen
I am thinking of doing something similar

FeelTheBern

Curved pen looks like great idea - to add to last posters question, were the rounded sections expensive?

Muckit

That's going to be a savage job Redandstimpy! Thanks for updating this. You are obviously a lad that likes doing thing right. Love to see more photos as it progresses

renandstimpy

I got it off condon engineering , seen an article in the farmers journal back in 2015 and finally got it off them 2 weeks ago .

larthehar

renandstimpy wrote: »

I got it off condon engineering , seen an article in the farmers journal back in 2015 and finally got it off them 2 weeks ago .

Just in the design process myself! I was doing the maths and concrete walls worked out cheapest for sides I thought.. start are you using?

tidy with btw!

renandstimpy

larthehar wrote: »

Just in the design process myself! I was doing the maths and concrete walls worked out cheapest for sides I thought.. start are you using?

tidy with btw!

To concrete the sides i was getting quotes of lads for 3 grand which i thought was a bit steep . I got all the crash barrier in athlone for sides for €900 , all the steel for crush including curved pen , race , gate , safety crush tube to stop cattle crowding on top of you when working on ones in chute came in at €2900 inc vat . ill just concrete stute this year and concrete all next year with 4 inches of concrete funds permitting :rolleyes:. ill be doing as much of the work as i can myself .

.
started with this


and finished with this


reason for middle gate opening in forcing pen is it is designed to allow a truck to back to it and bring gate at back end of crush around to one side and bring other gate around after cattle to load in truck for factory .
They have nowhere to go only up the ramp .

patsy_mccabe

What is the diameter of the curved portion and what did that curved part cost on its own?
It should be possible to add that to an existing chute.

blue5000

djmc wrote:

Looks like a great job.
Do you mind me asking where you got the curved forcing pen
I am thinking of doing something similar

I have a few 16' gates shaping up nicely after this years bulls in a shed:o.

renandstimpy

It is a 6mtr diameter. . 3 curved gates were €570 and posts were €50 each .. wraparound post was €80 and 2 forcing gates were €400

renandstimpy

All of the uprights on one side up today .... while all ye feckers were watching the match ..

Muckit

Was Reggie gIving you a hand?

renandstimpy

There is a joke here somewhere but it's gone over my head ðŸ˜႒

Reggie.

renandstimpy wrote: »

There is a joke here somewhere but it's gone over my head ðŸ˜႒

The tractor ren

renandstimpy

😂get ya now .. no just another massey owner we have it from new in 94

renandstimpy

Another day clocked in ... slow trying to get everything passing one another and leaving man passes for safety and efficient working of it but getting there .
Because o lot of the stuff is so close together 2 holes end up becoming one which means a lot of bracing as all has to be in place for one pour.

patsy_mccabe

Redandstimpy, just a little tip.
Make up some small square shapes from 1" timber, say 6" by 6" and drop them on the concrete around each upright. Fill them with concrete then. You'll keep all the rain and slurry away from the bottom of the uprights. You'll add years to your pen. Extra work but well worth it.;)
Super job, by the way.

Jb1989

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Redandstimpy, just a little tip.
Make up some small square shapes from 1" timber, say 6" by 6" and drop them on the concrete around each upright. Fill them with concrete then. You'll keep all the rain and slurry away from the bottom of the uprights. You'll add years to your pen. Extra work but well worth it.;)
Super job, by the way.

Interesting tip that

patsy_mccabe

Jb1989 wrote: »

Interesting tip that

Speaking from experience on that one. We built a yard here in the 80's and put in a crush with box section uprights. 15 years later and they broke away at the base. I had to dig them out with s kango hammer and put in railway girders in their place. Now the box section wasn't galvanised only painted but still,

renandstimpy

Great idea Patsy

Bass Reeves

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Redandstimpy, just a little tip.
Make up some small square shapes from 1" timber, say 6" by 6" and drop them on the concrete around each upright. Fill them with concrete then. You'll keep all the rain and slurry away from the bottom of the uprights. You'll add years to your pen. Extra work but well worth it.;)
Super job, by the way.

When that goes it will be the next mans problem.

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Speaking from experience on that one. We built a yard here in the 80's and put in a crush with box section uprights. 15 years later and they broke away at the base. I had to dig them out with s kango hammer and put in railway girders in their place. Now the box section wasn't galvanized only painted but still,

Have seen galvanaized pens up 20+ years and still not a mark on them. If the tops of the upright pipes were open I would put a bar of 20mm reenforcing steel down into it and fill to the top with concrete then it would be the fella after the next mans problem.

patsy_mccabe

An hour would go a long wAy on that job Reeves. Maybe it's me but I hate Kango work. Have a good fee cubicles to replace now also.

blue5000

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

An hour would go a long wAy on that job Reeves. Maybe it's me but I hate Kango work. Have a good fee cubicles to replace now also.

We hired in a mini digger with a rock breaker on it a few years back for that job. Just make sure you have a decent pair of ear muffs.

Never wrestle with pigs

Haveto do the same here. Don't know what type of cubicles you have but I think I'm going to cut them off level to the ground and fit them easy fix ones.

Sum of the bigger cows don't lie in them and I think they get a fright trying to get up sum day and get half stuck and stop useing them. The easy fix type of cubicles they have loads of room in them.

invicta

Could you not cut them at ground level, and drive an internal sleeve down the cubicle pipe and refit the same cubicle over the sleeve again?
i.e. If cubicle is 2" steel,reinforce it with 1,3/4 steel 5mm galv. pipe
Then either weld or bolt the whole lot together!!

renandstimpy

Ya beat me to Invicta. .. I have seen that done on a friends cousins shed ... except he used new ones as old ones were gooshed . He hammered a size down tube into the hole left and dropped new ones over with a bit taken off them first .. I never heard anything since so presume they worked .. saved a lot of breaking out .

lough135

@renandstimpy I was looking at the photos of your cattle pen and was planning to put up something very similar, would it be possible for me to to come and look at yours when it is finished as looking at something in reality is better than on paper

renandstimpy

No problem at all lough135. .. got side tracked by the day job the last week so could be 2 weeks before i get the time to finish it .. could get someone in to do it I suppose but they'd never figure out what's in my head 😂😂

lough135

That would be great renandstimpy, much appreciated, I would send you a pm but don't have enough posts yet.

patsy_mccabe

Thought I'd add this here. From the Farmers Journal website.

Omallep2

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Thought I'd add this here. From the Farmers Journal website.

The "no return" for closing gate is the business I'd say...

blue5000

Well have we cow****e in the crush yet OP?

renandstimpy

Didn't get back at it until the last few days but will have pics tomorrow .. nearly there

renandstimpy

crash barrier just finished . Magdrill hired out for a day €30 came into its own .





Just after blinding it off with maintanence .. 3 gates to hang and decided to concrete the lot to be finished .



wonder will they be as obliging to go in when i want them to :rolleyes:

patsy_mccabe

Ya, save yerself a lot of hassle by concreting it now. Might hang that gate on the nearside too.;)

blue5000

One suggestion I'd make is raise a platform about 6-8 inches where you stand outside the crush, makes it a bit easier to reach the far side of cattle.

Cavanjack

renandstimpy wrote: »

crash barrier just finished . Magdrill hired out for a day €30 came into its own .





Just after blinding it off with maintanence .. 3 gates to hang and decided to concrete the lot to be finished .



wonder will they be as obliging to go in when i want them to :rolleyes:

Great job.fair play.
Is it ok to pour concrete on the likes of this? Will you not have issues with run off if inspected?

patsy_mccabe

Cavanjack wrote: »

Great job.fair play.
Is it ok to pour concrete on the likes of this? Will you not have issues with run off if inspected?

Just let it run out into the field, where it would have been anyway, if the cattle were not in the yard.:P