Sheep handling yard

DJ98 · 03-06-2019 2:56pm #1

How many ewes and lambs would a 30ft X 20 ft yard hold?
Would it be best to buy a race and sorting gate or build your own using blocks?
Building your own would be permanent where as the other could be moved

roosky · 04-06-2019 1:36pm

you would fit 160 ewes in that space but that would be "packed in a trailer" fit!

to run ewes and lambs into that area i would hazard a guess that you would manage to get 100 ewes and their lambs to fit!

My best guess....

Buford T. Justice XIX · 05-06-2019 3:16pm

I'm looking for guidelines on pen and yard sizes but it's escaping me atm. However, I found this Indo article that might be of use to you

https://www.independent.ie/business/farming/installing-appropriate-sheep-handling-facilities-saves-huge-amounts-of-time-30204593.html

Nekarsulm · 05-06-2019 11:13pm

long, long ago, probably before you were born, a crowd called ACOT produced handy little reference books on sheep housing and lambing, etc.

Buford T. Justice XIX · 06-06-2019 9:17am

Nekarsulm wrote: »

long, long ago, probably before you were born, a crowd called ACOT produced handy little reference books on sheep housing and lambing, etc.

There's a great one from An Foras Talumtais(?) about sheep production but my nephew has it to study sheep production.

148multi · 20-07-2019 6:20am

DJ98 wrote: »

How many ewes and lambs would a 30ft X 20 ft yard hold?
Would it be best to buy a race and sorting gate or build your own using blocks?
Building your own would be permanent where as the other could be moved

I wouldn't put any more than 100 ewes and their lambs in that size if even, a race with non return gates for sorting, the wider block race is great for dosing.

farawaygrass · 21-04-2020 9:50pm

Came across a Richie catalogue from last summer. That looks the bees knees. Might be overkill but you wouldn’t mind tackling into a flock of sheep using that set up

charolais0153 · 21-04-2020 10:18pm

Have a big pen to run all the sheep into, a shoot and a dividing gate, can separate the lambs and ewes then if your dosing one group, maybe a big batch footbath, if your able blocks might be as handy, can leave stuff on top of the wall etc,

Green farmer · 21-04-2020 11:56pm

farawaygrass wrote: »

Came across a Richie catalogue from last summer. That looks the bees knees. Might be overkill but you wouldn’t mind tackling into a flock of sheep using that set up

Really like the ritchie handling equipment. Anything I've off them is very cleanly and precisely made.

sandman30 · 22-04-2020 7:10am

DJ98 wrote: »

How many ewes and lambs would a 30ft X 20 ft yard hold?
Would it be best to buy a race and sorting gate or build your own using blocks?
Building your own would be permanent where as the other could be moved

https://www.teagasc.ie/publications/2020/a-guide-to-designing-a-sheep-handling-unit.php

Teagasc has a new guide to sheep handling facilities, may be useful

memorystick · 12-07-2020 9:21pm

Has anyone pictures of a simple yard. Only have store lambs so nothing fancy. I’ve a corner 35 * 20 that would be ideal. Thanks

roosky · 13-07-2020 12:55pm

I have a cattle yard and crush on an out farm that I want to make suitable for sheep.....the yard and crush is 5 foot high but only 4 bars so teh sheep walk out through it, I want to sheet it to keep sheep in,whats the best/cheapest option to this.

I want to avoid timber/ply as its outdoor and that will be a short term job, i tried sheep wire cut couldnt get it to work correctly, stock board would work but very expensive....any ideas

Nekarsulm · 13-07-2020 1:13pm

roosky wrote: »

I have a cattle yard and crush on an out farm that I want to make suitable for sheep.....the yard and crush is 5 foot high but only 4 bars so teh sheep walk out through it, I want to sheet it to keep sheep in,whats the best/cheapest option to this.

I want to avoid timber/ply as its outdoor and that will be a short term job, i tried sheep wire cut couldnt get it to work correctly, stock board would work but very expensive....any ideas

I changed a cattle crush to sheep use, there were 4 rails, and I moved the two top ones down into the spaces between the bottom two.
You can now throw your leg over the top rail and step in and out when needs be.
Ran a strand of high tensile wire at about 7 foor off the ground, to hang a dosing gun from, and made a new end gate with a spring loaded catch.
Will stick up a photo later, if you like.

DJ98 · 13-07-2020 3:58pm

Check this out on Agriland - Infrastructure Focus: A brand new handling unit for a 750-ewe flock in Co. Kerry https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/infrastructure-focus-a-brand-new-handling-unit-for-a-750-ewe-flock-in-co-kerry/

wrangler · 13-07-2020 4:39pm

roosky wrote: »

I have a cattle yard and crush on an out farm that I want to make suitable for sheep.....the yard and crush is 5 foot high but only 4 bars so teh sheep walk out through it, I want to sheet it to keep sheep in,whats the best/cheapest option to this.

I want to avoid timber/ply as its outdoor and that will be a short term job, i tried sheep wire cut couldnt get it to work correctly, stock board would work but very expensive....any ideas

I used flat galvanise, bought 8 by 4 sheets and got them cut 8 by 2 and screwed them to the bars with tec screws. It must be twenty years done now

Green farmer · 13-07-2020 5:21pm

Youd want to take all the sharp edges of whatever sheeting youd use. Very easy to slice open your arm/ hand on anything slightly exposed.i know a lad that has lost some of movement in his hand from cutting through tendons off sheeting. If you ever decide to go down the premade route ritchie panels are all safe edges. Can remember looking at a race from another manufacturer before and the edge of the sheeting was left razor sharp.

wrangler · 13-07-2020 5:35pm

Green farmer wrote: »

Youd want to take all the sharp edges of whatever sheeting youd use. Very easy to slice open your arm/ hand on anything slightly exposed.i know a lad that has lost some of movement in his hand from cutting through tendons off sheeting. If you ever decide to go down the premade route ritchie panels are all safe edges. Can remember looking at a race from another manufacturer before and the edge of the sheeting was left razor sharp.

Mine was cut wiith a guillotine, it didn't leave it sharp, don't cut it with a angle grinder

razor8 · 13-07-2020 7:58pm

8 x 4 sheets of 2 inch mesh cost €24 plus vat. I cut them in half with fencing pliers and cable tied them to gates.

roosky · 13-07-2020 10:11pm

Thanks for ideas .....it’s a rented out farm also so as ye will know I want minimal investment for maximum usefulness, maybe too much to ask for with sheep !

The mesh would be lovely to work with and easy to do, would cost €150

How much would the galv sheeting cost per 8x4 sheet I would need 6 sheets

I had thought about using second hand corrugated iron sheets off an old shed ......is that a runner

J.O. Farmer · 13-07-2020 11:51pm

roosky wrote: »

I have a cattle yard and crush on an out farm that I want to make suitable for sheep.....the yard and crush is 5 foot high but only 4 bars so teh sheep walk out through it, I want to sheet it to keep sheep in,whats the best/cheapest option to this.

I want to avoid timber/ply as its outdoor and that will be a short term job, i tried sheep wire cut couldnt get it to work correctly, stock board would work but very expensive....any ideas

3mm stockboard won't be that expensive if you split in 2. One sheet will do 16ft in length that way. I think around €25 a sheet.
You shouldn't need any thicker as the bars of the crush will support it.

Nekarsulm · 14-07-2020 7:46pm

roosky wrote: »

I have a cattle yard and crush on an out farm that I want to make suitable for sheep.....the yard and crush is 5 foot high but only 4 bars so teh sheep walk out through it, I want to sheet it to keep sheep in,whats the best/cheapest option to this.

I want to avoid timber/ply as its outdoor and that will be a short term job, i tried sheep wire cut couldnt get it to work correctly, stock board would work but very expensive....any ideas

As it's a rented yard, you mightn't want to go to the bother of making a gate/latch etc.
Sheep wire sides hard on tags/ears in my opinion.
Second hand plywood, a battery drill and heavy cable ties would have a crush sheeted in less than an hour.
On this crush I moved the top bar down and put a lighter lenght of pipe in the other gap.
The end gate came out of an old Tandem milking parlour.
The spring on the catch came out of an old sofa ( along with two dozen others) before I put a match to the whole lot

roosky · 15-07-2020 11:11am

Thanks for that, I have old ply here but worried about it not lasting pissing time

DJ98 · 17-07-2020 8:15pm

Have stanley engineering got a shop or yard you can visit to view there products or is it just online and over the phone?

Green farmer · 17-07-2020 9:02pm

DJ98 wrote: »

Have stanley engineering got a shop or yard you can visit to view there products or is it just online and over the phone?

They've a yard. Pre lockdown, lads used to often pop up and visit them, As long as you rang in advance. Dont know the arrangements now.

DJ98 · 17-07-2020 9:55pm

How do people find Stanley products compared to others such as cormac and iae in terms of price and quality? Fixed race.

mrfitz · 18-08-2020 12:37pm

I'm in the same boat as yourself - have a cattle crush to convert for sheep. Am looking through posts and it seems a good idea to remove the top two bars and put them down lower. That'' what I''m gonna do and if they are still getting out I'll stick a bit of 1" box iron along the length of it too.

However, I can't make adjustments to the crush until next year as another guy still using it for cattle. In the meantime I'm going to get some sheep hurdles and place them inside the crush, along the side. It's a temporary fix for anytime I'll be using the crush, plus I can remove them easily if the other guy needs to use it.

Hope this helps.

Sheep handling yard

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