Dipping tank yard design

tomwaterford

Im thinking of building a small dipping tank & yard with enough capacity to do around 100 ewes and 150-170 lambs, im hoping/advised to build circular with steps at fount leading to soakage yard...and small yard with gates behind to make it as easy as possible.
also thinking of moving foothbath to beside it and put in standing yard after it so to soak/dry solution into the feet...as im jus letting them in ruins of an old house at the min and its dangerous/derelict condition
I would like to make it easy-flow as possible as I do be working and would like things to run smoothly as possible in evenings/saterdays when I would be doing most of the handling to the sheep
if anyone can recommend dimensions/capacity required/links to designs I would be very grateful,thanks

rancher

tomwaterford wrote: »

Im thinking of building a small dipping tank & yard with enough capacity to do around 100 ewes and 150-170 lambs, im hoping/advised to build circular with steps at fount leading to soakage yard...and small yard with gates behind to make it as easy as possible.
also thinking of moving foothbath to beside it and put in standing yard after it so to soak/dry solution into the feet...as im jus letting them in ruins of an old house at the min and its dangerous/derelict condition
I would like to make it easy-flow as possible as I do be working and would like things to run smoothly as possible in evenings/saterdays when I would be doing most of the handling to the sheep
if anyone can recommend dimensions/capacity required/links to designs I would be very grateful,thanks

I have pics up on the sheep photo thread, post 31.
Round dipping baths costs more to fill than the rectangular ones because they are usually bigger, our bath holds 1000 ltrs and cost about 40 euros to fill with osmonds goldfleece.
I make a pen 5ft by 5ft at the gate of the bath, put 6 or 8 into the pen and push them manually into the bath, it sound hard work but its not, the bath takes two at a time and they have to be in it for a minute, so plenty of time to rest

tomwaterford

Thanks for that...they are nice sheep:)...dat looks to be an easy enough set up to work from....what capacity approx would I be needing to do the numbers I have.??
I'm going looking at a few over xmas as I have time off so il try keep up here updated....I am hoping to make as easy as possible as we got em dipped before at a mobile tank years ago. and it was just prue torture tbh pulling and tearing out of them...so that main reason im veering towards a circular yard with maybe 2 gates handing in the centre 2 keep em pushed up(like seen on a lot of cattle farms.that is nearly all around near v.little sheep)
I've a friend a blocklayer who will do the work for me so its no hassle as regards building it....im just researching many different types....ill post up the size of the one im goin lookin at later over the next few days

Nekarsulm

these guys have agents in the north, and are supposedly setting up agents in the southern counties.

http://www.paxtonagri.com/Foot_baths_and_dips/Sheep_dips.aspx

I priced earlier in the summer, would be about 900 euro for the smaller round one.

Conmaicne Mara

A dipping bath is on my agenda also. One thing I am trying to figure is the draining area, and keeping dung out of the dip returning to the tank. Some sort of filter would be necessary, or do ye all fast them before dipping? Will probably just make it big enough for one sheep at a time. I will likely shutter it myself, Dad did with his, so can't be too hard a job.

Ease of handling is important. We've a tank where you have to drop to your knees to dunk their heads, pure torture, another tank have to lift them into it. And I know of many more tanks like them, think the ould lads around here had a competition to out do each other for hardships.

Nekarsulm

Conmaincne, if you make it round, you can get 3 in at a time, and let them do a few laps. In a straight dip, a fast swimmer is hard to hold back and ensure she goes under twice. Fast them but give them lots of water, if they are thirsty they may drink dip. Never saw the need for a filter for dung, if the fall is not too steep on the drainage area. I didn't go for the Paxton tank because they don't make one with the side slide on the left, and that's the only side would suit my yard. Got a fibreglass round one from a disused farmyard, got it out intact so will put it down in the new year.

rancher

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

A dipping bath is on my agenda also. One thing I am trying to figure is the draining area, and keeping dung out of the dip returning to the tank. Some sort of filter would be necessary, or do ye all fast them before dipping? Will probably just make it big enough for one sheep at a time. I will likely shutter it myself, Dad did with his, so can't be too hard a job.

Ease of handling is important. We've a tank where you have to drop to your knees to dunk their heads, pure torture, another tank have to lift them into it. And I know of many more tanks like them, think the ould lads around here had a competition to out do each other for hardships.

Here's a sheep crook that can push the heads under water.
http://www.stockhealth.ie/shepherds-crook-dipping

Conmaicne Mara

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Conmaincne, if you make it round, you can get 3 in at a time, and let them do a few laps. In a straight dip, a fast swimmer is hard to hold back and ensure she goes under twice. Fast them but give them lots of water, if they are thirsty they may drink dip. Never saw the need for a filter for dung, if the fall is not too steep on the drainage area. I didn't go for the Paxton tank because they don't make one with the side slide on the left, and that's the only side would suit my yard. Got a fibreglass round one from a disused farmyard, got it out intact so will put it down in the new year.

I'll have it as small as possible so I can get away with less waste dip at the end. Water be heavy. Straight in, guillotine door, up steps, done. Just need to figure the length depth and width of the biggest ram I intend to keep in the future.

rancher wrote: »

Here's a sheep crook that can push the heads under water.
http://www.stockhealth.ie/shepherds-crook-dipping

There's a design flaw in that the ewe can get her hoof onto the edge of the tank, it's also got sloped sides which is another mistake. To correct both needs a bit of physical strength TBH. The crook would work normally, just not in this specific tank.

tomwaterford

Thanks for all the replies
Didn't get to see that tank I went to visit as your man was gone beering :cool:

I like the look of those of those paxtonagri tanks....did they give a price on delivery,ill try ringing them Monday
I like the idea of a side slide..would reduce the workload IMO
I just wonder would they be solid enough when they are being dropped in/will they crack/crumple....
Would they come and drop them in like a septic tank I wonder...I couldn't get any pre-cast dipping tank makers

I wonder what is the recommend size for the amount I will be hoping to dip

Conmaincne,not to give smart answer.(don't want to offend :mad:).around here people use like a shovel handle with a board nailed to the end of it like a plunger for all the word....or have like a guillotine/blockage made up to stop sheep exiting quickly

I assume u are after trying something like that thou:D

Conmaicne Mara

No offense taken at all To be honest Tom, I have jacked in the dipping with the ould lad due to the design, so we are injecting at the moment. If/when he decides to take a step back from the reigns of control I will dip again, but with a user friendly dip bath design Myself and himself do be at loggerheads when it comes to unnecessary work. It will give some here a chuckle, but I don't believe in it

Nekarsulm

Did not get a price for delivery, I would have had to drive to Omagh to collect. That would be about an hour and a half away.
They wont drop them in, I would imagine, because it would only weigh 80 or 100 kg. Much the same as a 1000 litre plastic oil tank.
I am digging a hole, and making it 8 inches deeper than necessary, so will have a bit more capacity. Going to throw a few barrow fulls of weak mix cement into the bottom of the hole and place the tank onto this, to ensure the bottom is supported. Then fill up around the sides with gravel, whilst filling the tank with water, to make sure it doesn't get squeezed in. Then finish off with mass concrete to the yard level. You cannot do any of this if rain is forecast in the following few days, cause the rain water will fill the hole and the tank will pop up like a cork.

tomwaterford

Ya.sheep do be hard enough work without putting unnesseary hardship on yourself like my ould fella inclined to do:rolleyes:

Going by AA rote planner it is 4 and half hours for me each way if I was to collect and around e55 fuel...so I would have to be getting courier as id be hoping to do it around march (lambing time)
so that would be having tank costing over e1000 before any concrete/yard (admitly is relavtivly cheap) built....I will price laying it and plastering it as well...might try to get them to send me cathalogue with dimensions etc so I can compare costs....if it isn't too much either way I would preper the plastic over the plastered blocks....so long as it iasnt mentally outa line

Conmaicne Mara

tomwaterford wrote: »

Ya.sheep do be hard enough work without putting unnesseary hardship on yourself like my ould fella inclined to do:rolleyes:

Going by AA rote planner it is 4 and half hours for me each way if I was to collect and around e55 fuel...so I would have to be getting courier as id be hoping to do it around march (lambing time)
so that would be having tank costing over e1000 before any concrete/yard (admitly is relavtivly cheap) built....I will price laying it and plastering it as well...might try to get them to send me cathalogue with dimensions etc so I can compare costs....if it isn't too much either way I would preper the plastic over the plastered blocks....so long as it iasnt mentally outa line

All I remember the ould fella doing was mixing up concrete in a tractor mixer, no blocks. He made the floor, then made a timber frame the dimensions of the finished bath + the width of the walls, then made inner shuttering reinforced with timbers so as it wouldn't collapse. Filled the frame with the concrete, plastered over, job done. Even now it doesn't leak, once it fills with rain water it stays full until emptied. Not a huge job if you think it out first I'd say.

tomwaterford

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

All I remember the ould fella doing was mixing up concrete in a tractor mixer, no blocks. He made the floor, then made a timber frame the dimensions of the finished bath + the width of the walls, then made inner shuttering reinforced with timbers so as it wouldn't collapse. Filled the frame with the concrete, plastered over, job done. Even now it doesn't leak, once it fills with rain water it stays full until emptied. Not a huge job if you think it out first I'd say.

Ya the concrete is a great job......its just I wouldn't have a clue how to make a circular mould/shuttering
I have me mind made up to go with circular after much advice from more experienced/cynical:rolleyes: local sheep farmers than myself