Designing / Installing Sheep Yard / Handling Unit

grayh0und

We are in the process of fixing up our farm. Currently have a yard where the sheep would have been worked many years ago, but since then gates and some walls have been removed. We generally use our neighbors farm to dose etc but would like to get to the point where we use our own. Space is certainly there, just needs some new walls and gates!

Wife and I are novice farmers and looking to get some guidance as to how we should structure the yard -placement of walls, gates, crush, etc. Have shy of 200 ewes and lambs.

Would there be someone that would specialize in this sort of contracting in Kerry or does anyone have advice?

Siamsa Sessions

Depends on what you're willing to spend!

My tuppence worth:

* Google it and get a few ideas
* Try to visit a few other yards
* Write down what works well in the neighbour's yard you're using

After that figure out how much you have to spend. Mobile handling units might be got from €500 and a few sheep hurdles (€30-40) with it, and that'd get you a long way.

ganmo

My few shillings worth

Design for the largest flock you run through the year which in your case would be 200 ewes + lambs at weaning

The most basic design id go for is 3pens, a collection pen, a forcing pen and a working pen the working pen could be a race. After that a drafting pen would be handy.

Finally think triangles

kk.man

ganmo wrote: »

My few shillings worth

Design for the largest flock you run through the year which in your case would be 200 ewes + lambs at weaning

The most basic design id go for is 3pens, a collection pen, a forcing pen and a working pen the working pen could be a race. After that a drafting pen would be handy.

Finally think triangles

+1 on the triangles

joe35

kk.man wrote: »

+1 on the triangles

Whats triangles

ganmo

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PWilmT36RGc :P

Triangle shaped pens makes it easier to catch sheep in the sharper corners than a square pen

grayh0und

Thanks for all the feedback.

Triangles make the most sense for sure!

Is there a suggested square footage for the holding / handing area to accommodate xxx number of sheep?

We already have some walls in place, so it's a mater of figuring out how to best use what is already there, I suppose. Seemingly a few gates will help to close the area off, and then we'd need fencing put in to separate the handling space, from the holding space and the forcing space.

wrangler

grayh0und wrote: »

Thanks for all the feedback.

Triangles make the most sense for sure!

Is there a suggested square footage for the holding / handing area to accommodate xxx number of sheep?

We already have some walls in place, so it's a mater of figuring out how to best use what is already there, I suppose. Seemingly a few gates will help to close the area off, and then we'd need fencing put in to separate the handling space, from the holding space and the forcing space.

I made brackets to bolt to the walls so I can set up depending on the bunch,
Just pin the hurdles to the walls wherever I want them,
The more brackets you put up, the more adaptable your set up is.
16ft by 45ft in the collection pen holds 80 ewes and 130 march born lambs here at the moment. the whole area is 90ft by 16ft, It's a shed I'm converting to a handling unit so very much design and build at the moment

ganmo

I tried to find this earlier for you
http://ablamb.ca/producer_mgmt/Setting-It-Up-Sheep-Infrastructure/6-Handling-Systems/A-Handling/6-6-Planning-Your-Sheep-Handling-Facility.pdf

It says 2 sheep per square m which is big but gives room for the sheep to flow and open gates etc

grayh0und

ganmo wrote: »

I tried to find this earlier for you
http://ablamb.ca/producer_mgmt/Setting-It-Up-Sheep-Infrastructure/6-Handling-Systems/A-Handling/6-6-Planning-Your-Sheep-Handling-Facility.pdf

It says 2 sheep per square m which is big but gives room for the sheep to flow and open gates etc

Thanks for the link, super helpful

grayh0und

wrangler wrote: »

I made brackets to bolt to the walls so I can set up depending on the bunch,
Just pin the hurdles to the walls wherever I want them,
The more brackets you put up, the more adaptable your set up is.
16ft by 45ft in the collection pen holds 80 ewes and 130 march born lambs here at the moment. the whole area is 90ft by 16ft, It's a shed I'm converting to a handling unit so very much design and build at the moment

Can you suggest a supplier for hurdles?

wrangler

grayh0und wrote: »

Can you suggest a supplier for hurdles?

Cormacs in Tuam is where all mine came from, but there's a big sheep show in Cillin Hill, kilkenny on Saturday and there'll be loads of sheep equipment to be seen there. Cormacs will be there too.

grayh0und

wrangler wrote: »

I made brackets to bolt to the walls so I can set up depending on the bunch,
Just pin the hurdles to the walls wherever I want them,
The more brackets you put up, the more adaptable your set up is.
16ft by 45ft in the collection pen holds 80 ewes and 130 march born lambs here at the moment. the whole area is 90ft by 16ft, It's a shed I'm converting to a handling unit so very much design and build at the moment

130 lambs from 80 ewes is much better than we've done! what breed are you running

wrangler

grayh0und wrote: »

130 lambs from 80 ewes is much better than we've done! what breed are you running

Texel/Lleyn cross ewes, 20 yearling ewes had 25 lambs and 60 adult ewes had 105 so it was a nice crop.
89 ewes were put to the ram
There was four pets as well

Green farmer

https://youtu.be/D_gUxuCb3gU

This guy up the north seems to make top quality stuff and has some good ideas on his website. Plenty of pen suppliers out there, but cormac stuff wouldn’t rank high on my list as I’ve mentioned here before due to quality issues I’ve had with their products.

wrangler

Green farmer wrote: »

https://youtu.be/D_gUxuCb3gU

This guy up the north seems to make top quality stuff and has some good ideas on his website. Plenty of pen suppliers out there, but cormac stuff wouldn’t rank high on my list as I’ve mentioned here before due to quality issues I’ve had with their products.

I had heard that about cormac stuff alright, a neighbour has a 2yr old rollover crate that's falling to bits....not great eh.
Apart from a footbath this year the rest of the stuff here is over ten year old with no trouble

AntrimGlens

Green farmer wrote: »

https://youtu.be/D_gUxuCb3gU

This guy up the north seems to make top quality stuff and has some good ideas on his website. Plenty of pen suppliers out there, but cormac stuff wouldn’t rank high on my list as I’ve mentioned here before due to quality issues I’ve had with their products.

All my race, hurdles and penning gates came from WH Rea's. Some of it must be over twenty years old by now and its still in perfect working order. I've replaced a few rivets here and there but it's well made stuff and he will make you gates etc. to measure whatever dimensions you want.

Green farmer

wrangler wrote: »

I had heard that about cormac stuff alright, a neighbour has a 2yr old rollover crate that's falling to bits....not great eh.
Apart from a footbath this year the rest of the stuff here is over ten year old with no trouble

It’s a pity really. They must have taken the eye off the ball or just got used to living off their reputation. Most of the 5ft cormac gates I bought from them have fallen apart after cracking all along the welds. I also have their ring feeders, the sheep can just climb in and out of their ring feeders at will and have a flawed design. They do sell good 6ft gates through (they outsource the manufacture of them though) but again they’ve increased their prices this year and are more expensive then most of their competitors now. Pity really as I liked dealing with them, before all the quality issues emerged after the first year or two of ownership.

razor8

AntrimGlens wrote: »

All my race, hurdles and penning gates came from WH Rea's. Some of it must be over twenty years old by now and its still in perfect working order. I've replaced a few rivets here and there but it's well made stuff and he will make you gates etc. to measure whatever dimensions you want.

Seen them in the sheep shed at balmoral. Look very solid stuff

Biggest problem is the competition. Every company wanted to supply cheapest gates and obviously quality has suffered

grayh0und

Green farmer wrote: »

https://youtu.be/D_gUxuCb3gU

This guy up the north seems to make top quality stuff and has some good ideas on his website. Plenty of pen suppliers out there, but cormac stuff wouldn’t rank high on my list as I’ve mentioned here before due to quality issues I’ve had with their products.

Nice one, thanks for the suggestion. Have emailed them and he's happy to suggest some options based on the space in our yard. Looks in the other comments here like they make quality stuff.

grayh0und

I've been trying to contact W H Rea engineering for the last week or so - I wonder if they are still operating?

AntrimGlens

grayh0und wrote: »

I've been trying to contact W H Rea engineering for the last week or so - I wonder if they are still operating?

Still operating as I just drove by their yard yesterday and there’s stuff moving about.

grayh0und

AntrimGlens wrote: »

Still operating as I just drove by their yard yesterday and there’s stuff moving about.

Very strange - phone always goes unanswered as has my email from a week back.

Green farmer

grayh0und wrote: »

Very strange - phone always goes unanswered as has my email from a week back.

If you’ve no luck with them, have a look at the ritchie stuff, gibneys in Meath stock them, as do leam agri up north. Both have ads on DoneDeal. Also Stanley’s in Laois make their own sheepeeze equipment and have videos on YouTube. The only disadvantage with all the different manufacturers, is it’s very hard to judge the stuff, you really have to touch and feel it in the flesh and their all in different parts of the country. So distance can be the obstacle.

grayh0und

Thanks for the Ritchie link. Nice to see prices.

W H Rea has those sliding hurdles / gates which sure seem handy - can't seem to see anyone else that does them.

I might post up a photo / draft of the yard and design i'm thinking - would be interesting to have feedback! maybe best in a new thread.

Green farmer

grayh0und wrote: »

Thanks for the Ritchie link. Nice to see prices.

W H Rea has those sliding hurdles / gates which sure seem handy - can't seem to see anyone else that does them.

.

Once you see different things and ideas , it’s hard to know when to stop. A few different lads do the gates in frames that you can include in the middle of your penning hurdles. Others (Stanley )do sledge hurdles, that can be pulled around and ritchie and wh Rea does the side 3 way drafter in the middle of race, to pull out ewes when shearing. The choice is endless other then budget.

DJ98

Is there anywhere online that you can create a 3d model of a handling unit and get the supplies based off that? have a plan of one done here to but in reality when its put togetger might not be what i want at all

grayh0und

Okay - here's my thinking. Very limited experience with sheep / yards but based on what I've read and seen this makes the most sense. Any feedback welcome!

- We'd have around 150-175 sheep at weaning from around 70 ewes

- We'd be bringing the sheep in from the road, as rest of the yard isn't fenced in very well at the moment. Could then hold them in A and/or B and/or C

- Would drive them into D in lots to then work through the crush

- Would like the two hurdles on the D side of the crush (1 & 2) to act as a triangle forcing area, with either a guillotine gate or 3 ft swinging gate on that end of the crush

- Not sure the best way to draft them coming out of the crush, but thinking 3 could be a 3 ft gate on a post which would allow us to sort into B or C. Option to bring into adjoining shed if needed too.

- You'll see from photo there is a big gap between shed and block wall. Am planning to enclose with block wall + gate

- Yard will get new concrete

Sketch of yard - black = current walls + crush, red = planned hurdles or gates

Two photos - looking from gate by road - looking towards road

kk.man

grayh0und wrote: »

Okay - here's my thinking. Very limited experience with sheep / yards but based on what I've read and seen this makes the most sense. Any feedback welcome!

- We'd have around 150-175 sheep at weaning from around 70 ewes

- We'd be bringing the sheep in from the road, as rest of the yard isn't fenced in very well at the moment. Could then hold them in A and/or B and/or C

- Would drive them into D in lots to then work through the crush

- Would like the two hurdles on the D side of the crush (1 & 2) to act as a triangle forcing area, with either a guillotine gate or 3 ft swinging gate on that end of the crush

- Not sure the best way to draft them coming out of the crush, but thinking 3 could be a 3 ft gate on a post which would allow us to sort into B or C. Option to bring into adjoining shed if needed too.

- You'll see from photo there is a big gap between shed and block wall. Am planning to enclose with block wall + gate

- Yard will get new concrete

Sketch of yard - black = current walls + crush, red = planned hurdles or gates

Two photos - looking from gate by road - looking towards road

I have old stone sheds like you. I've converted two of them into sheep handling unit. Internal gates in them for dividing them and sheep race.
I am in out of the weather and used as lambing pens.
Just some food for thought everything including loading done from the sheds and have now a useful purpose.

grayh0und

kk.man wrote: »

I have old stone sheds like you. I've converted two of them into sheep handling unit. Internal gates in them for dividing them and sheep race.
I am in out of the weather and used as lambing pens.
Just some food for thought everything including loading done from the sheds and have now a useful purpose.

Thanks yeah look I only really have one house that isn't used, and would need to knock two walls to make it work. And would be pretty short on space I reckon. The cattle crush is already installed and have the space outside, so I think I'll brave the elements for the added space and fresh air.

kk.man

grayh0und wrote: »

Thanks yeah look I only really have one house that isn't used, and would need to knock two walls to make it work. And would be pretty short on space I reckon. The cattle crush is already installed and have the space outside, so I think I'll brave the elements for the added space and fresh air.

Mine is short on space too but I have a big outdoor pen with a roof the far side with footbath / race which has a dividing gate at the end to either send to to a paddock or concrete to dry off feet. I run them back inside to tighten them up if need be.