Emergency services

lefthooker

Guys/girls,

God forbid, in the event of a catastrophe such as slats collapsing and animals in the slurry tank, apart from good neighbours,
what services or groups/organisations are available to call for help or assistance?

The Nutty M

The fire brigade will come out and do all they can in a safe manner. I'd expect the farm insurance should cover the call out.

lefthooker

The Nutty M wrote: »

The fire brigade will come out and do all they can in a safe manner. I'd expect the farm insurance should cover the call out.

I also assumed the fire brigade would be the first port of call but they wouldn't come out or assist in any form, or direct to a body that could.

The Nutty M

What reason/s were given?

Not enough priority or too high risk with animals?

lefthooker

The Nutty M wrote: »

What reason/s were given?

Not enough priority or too high risk with animals?

The only answer I got from the guy in the control centre who rang the county fire chief was
“We won’t respond to that call out, try Civil Defense”.
No reasons given.

wavert

A really good question.
As an aside Civil Defence certainly are not an option. They are not a front line service. Nor would they be trained or have suitable equipment to deal with this. They will and can support front line services if required but that request has to come from the front line service. It is not possible to contact or request them directly. Very poor of the call taker/fire chief to suggest calling them (In some areas the fire chief is the CDO of Civil Defence for that area).

lefthooker

As can be deduced I was in that situation yesterday afternoon. Fortunately only one animal in the tank who was rescued late last night but I lost another who choked or smothered or something after getting wedged in the opening.

I remember reading about the NI fire service, along with other bodies, coordinating the rescue of animals in a tank in Tyrone over Christmas so thought the fire brigade would be of some help

tanko

Did the cover for the agitation point collapse into the tank?

lefthooker

tanko wrote: »

Did the cover for the agitation point collapse into the tank?

No. All man holes outside the shed. A 10”6’ double collapsed so only a narrow opening

Joe Daly

lefthooker wrote: »

Guys/girls,

God forbid, in the event of a catastrophe such as slats collapsing and animals in the slurry tank, apart from good neighbours,
what services or groups/organisations are available to call for help or assistance?

It happened here locally a couple of years ago the fire brigade came out they have all the equipment to deal with these things. When you ring for fire service its a call centre that answers you they are always going to ask you the area code. A neighbour of mine had a chimney fire he rang the fire brigade the area code was the first thing they asked the reply he told them was they could see the fire from the station he nearly dropped when he was on to a regional call centre.

lefthooker

Joe Daly wrote: »

It happened here locally a couple of years ago the fire brigade came out they have all the equipment to deal with these things. When you ring for fire service its a call centre that answers you they are always going to ask you the area code. A neighbour of mine had a chimney fire he rang the fire brigade the area code was the first thing they asked the reply he told them was they could see the fire from the station he nearly dropped when he was on to a regional call centre.

That’s how the call went. The fella in the call centre asked for my county, then my area, then my Eircode and what’s on fire. So when I told him no fire, animals trapped in a slatted tank I had to explain what a slatted tank was. He said he’d call the county fire chief and get back to me. A minute later he rang back and said the fire chief wouldn’t respond. Can’t remember if it was the fire chief or the call operator whose suggestion was the civil defense.

TalkingBull

were they old slats or newish?

lefthooker

TalkingBull wrote: »

were they old slats or newish?

It was an old slat, there over 30 years

liosnagceann75

lefthooker wrote: »

It was an old slat, there over 30 years

Id follow it up. There appears to be no accountability nowadays. My understanding is that the fire brigade should have responsed

Buford T. Justice XIX

liosnagceann75 wrote: »

Id follow it up. There appears to be no accountability nowadays. My understanding is that the fire brigade should have responsed

I'd have thought so too, seeing as they would have breathing apparatus which would be handy working around a slurry tank.

wrangler

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

I'd have thought so too, seeing as they would have breathing apparatus which would be handy working around a slurry tank.

In the north there's people trained for it but not in the south.
Can't blame them really
Farmers around here usually sort it themselves....very dangerous

lefthooker

liosnagceann75 wrote: »

Id follow it up. There appears to be no accountability nowadays. My understanding is that the fire brigade should have responsed

I hadn’t intended taking the matter any further but it might be worth following up now.

Joking aside if I had fallen in and phoned them from in the tank would I have been rescued???

lefthooker

wrangler wrote: »

In the north there's people trained for it but not in the south.
Can't blame them really
Farmers around here usually sort it themselves....very dangerous

I suppose you only read about incidents that happen in the north. Don’t ever remember reading about it happening down here in the south.

Only for good neighbours we’d be lost.

wrangler

lefthooker wrote: »

I suppose you only read about incidents that happen in the north. Don’t ever remember reading about it happening down here in the south.

Only for good neighbours we’d be lost.

I suppose we should be replacing them, are you going to replace the rest now,
I dread the thoughts of the job

lefthooker

wrangler wrote: »

I suppose we should be replacing them, are you going to replace the rest now,
I dread the thoughts of the job

I’ll have to lift two more doubles to drop a gang in their place so I’ll replace all the old slats. It’s not a simple job either. A new slat won’t fit in where an old slats place. A run of a con saw is needed to make room for a new slat to sit in. Plus old slats were 6” deep, newer slats are 7”

wrangler

lefthooker wrote: »

I’ll have to lift two more doubles to drop a gang in their place so I’ll replace all the old slats. It’s not a simple job either. A new slat won’t fit in where an old slats place. A run of a con saw is needed to make room for a new slat to sit in. Plus old slats were 6” deep, newer slats are 7”

Oh I know it all and our shed is low swinging them in with a digger will be a nightmare

lefthooker

wrangler wrote: »

Oh I know it all and our shed is low swinging them in with a digger will be a nightmare

I’m ok with height, the lorry can drive up the passage and lift in and out slats

Genghis Cant

wrangler wrote: »

Farmers around here usually sort it themselves....very dangerous

For us that has no idea what the job would entail, could you tell us the best way to carry out a rescue?

wrangler

Genghis Cant wrote: »

For us that has no idea what the job would entail, could you tell us the best way to carry out a rescue?

Halter around the cattles head I suppose,
Awell known beef farmer was telling me he was off to the mart one day when he copped the cattle in the tank so he said to the sons ''I'm off''
Sons got into the tank after to get them out.
Another neighbour had the cattle going down through the agitation point, He had to get a tarck digger to lift the gang slats to get them.
They had to suck out a good few loads of slurry to get to work at it

patsy_mccabe

I have a collection of lifting straps here. I've used them at least a dozen times pulling out cattle out of trenches, even once out of an old style slurry pit. Even took a young bull off a gate that managed to jump over it and put his 2 back legs under the top bar. Every farmer should have them. These are the ones with the loops at each end.
What I do is make a loop at the end and throw it over the animals head, like a lasso. Get a front loader in then as near as possible. Try and lift and pull the animal forward then at the same time. Trick is to keep the neck straight. When the animal gets up then it can get messy as you have to release him. I try to use a bar tru the second loop and just pull it out. You need a rope then on the loop on the head to pull it off. Once a neighbour used a rope only to lift and the bullock ran away with it on. Next day the bullock was found dead.
Funniest of all was when a neighbours bullock went up along a trench right up to a bridge. Because of the bridge, we couln't pull him forward. Safest bet was to get the strap around his belly, just behind his front legs. So yer man's son jumps up on the bullocks back and feeds the strap around using a pitch fork. It was early in the morning and he had been out the night before. Every so often he'd take a break and just lay his head out flat on the bullocks back. We got him out!

These ones. About 4 inches wide is the best.

Say my name

I think some people just put hip clamps on and then a strap or sling in a loop like Patsy has for the front end behind the front legs.

Not easy do that above ground let alone in a slurry tank.

OnDtown

lefthooker wrote: »

I’ll have to lift two more doubles to drop a gang in their place so I’ll replace all the old slats. It’s not a simple job either. A new slat won’t fit in where an old slats place. A run of a con saw is needed to make room for a new slat to sit in. Plus old slats were 6” deep, newer slats are 7”

We replaced slats few years ago with Banagher concrete, they manufactured slats especially as replacements which were a few inches shorter than the originals. Saved having to cut them.
Also have low sheds here but they also sent 2 guys with modified forklift, removed & replaced all slats in few days, no haste whatsoever!

selectamatic

For heavy cattle its always best get more ropes/straps on than just a halter on the head. Preferably a halter and then a strap on each front leg above the knee.

Wasn't there 12 cattle in a slurry pit in cork a month or two ago that both the fire brigade and gardaí helped get out?

Edit: there was: https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/joint-emergency-effort-sees-bullocks-rescued-from-slurry-pit/