Semi portable sheep handling

[twizzel]

Looking at finally buying a little handling system but unsure what best value for money would be. Only have 20 ewes at the moment but scope to accomodate 30-40 would be good. At the moment we just use normal hurdles to pen up ewes and lambs and shed off ewes by catching and posting out of the pen, so some sort of drafting gate would be ideal. We've got a set of bateman manual scales that would need to attach to whatever we buy and plenty of bog standard 6ft sheep hurdles. Normally we run ewes and lambs into the cattle shed on concrete to do anything with them (and have to dismantle everything afterwards, nothing is left static) but do keep a few replacements at another farm up the road so something semi- portable would be useful.

I was looking at a Ritchie portable starter system and thought it looked ideal for what we needed, but unsure just how portable it would be, and how long it would take to assemble each time

Starter System

www.ritchie-d.co.uk

Other ideas were a Rappa Smallholder which seems a bit more portable but ££. Or would I be better just buying a bog standard race with shedding gate and using the hurdles I've got? Budget is not huge given the small numbers of sheep we have, but I want whatever I buy to last, and make life easier

 

[Al R]

Looking at finally buying a little handling system but unsure what best value for money would be. Only have 20 ewes at the moment but scope to accomodate 30-40 would be good. At the moment we just use normal hurdles to pen up ewes and lambs and shed off ewes by catching and posting out of the pen, so some sort of drafting gate would be ideal. We've got a set of bateman manual scales that would need to attach to whatever we buy and plenty of bog standard 6ft sheep hurdles. Normally we run ewes and lambs into the cattle shed on concrete to do anything with them (and have to dismantle everything afterwards, nothing is left static) but do keep a few replacements at another farm up the road so something semi- portable would be useful.

I was looking at a Ritchie portable starter system and thought it looked ideal for what we needed, but unsure just how portable it would be, and how long it would take to assemble each time

Starter System

www.ritchie-d.co.uk

Other ideas were a Rappa Smallholder which seems a bit more portable but ££. Or would I be better just buying a bog standard race with shedding gate and using the hurdles I've got? Budget is not huge given the small numbers of sheep we have, but I want whatever I buy to last, and make life easier

I can’t see how just hurdles for that number of sheep isn’t sufficient? If I’ve only got 30/40 sheep in a field I’ll put some hurdles up by a corner and have a smaller integral pen that holds 8/9 and then dot on them with a marker, do this for bolusing/fluking and Footvax for 2-3 groups every year.

bought a IAE economy race £520? when I had 120 ewes with lambs at 1 place, had 15 hurdles before a gateway and then through the gateway To add stability and it worked well enough on that 30 acre block. Total cost was £750 and I still have it all 3 years on albeit at a different block now, surprised you’ve got scales for that number too mind.

 

[spin cycle]

i wouldn't bother buying a system unless you leave it in one place cos ,like you say, you'll expend a lot of effort just moving it for relatively small numbers......in my off laying fields i put a second fence line 30m long ish about 15 ft in parallel to a side fence....then use normal hurdles

 

[Bury the Trash]

pen – George Mudge Shearing

Galvanised portable shearing and handling pen. 6ft X 6ft square. 3ft 6in High. To include:- Pen front (inc upright and hanging bracket) Pen back Railed hurdle Sheeted hurdle 2x Floor sections 4x Coupling pins ☆ V12 Shearing machine, Solid drive and yoke in hurdle sold separately. *Yoke in...

georgemudgeshearing.co.uk

well built , tall sides and a dagging /shearing hanger in the bargain...gives a dry floor to work with as well..
and your shearer wouldn't even need to set up jis trailer at 'that' time,

easy to move but solid and immovable to work sheep in

 

[Boydvalley]

All you really need is a small pen to work in with a few at a time so your not chasing them around.
I‘d go for two 3ft gates with 2 10ft sheeted hurdles one of which has a drafting gate to let whatever you sort into a side pen and then use ordinary hurdles to collect them. Anything more and it will take longer to set up than do the job.
Even with a Rappa we would only take 8 hurdles off the side and attach to the fence to get 20 in(8 makes a good funnel to get them in).
In fact Rappa hurdles on their own would probably all you need because you can drag them around to keep the tight. Makes working much easier.

 

[spin cycle]

something i've thought about is a horse trailer with front unload....sheep go in back and out front ramp

 

[David.]

I can only mention that our sheep have never run well since the scanner has had his gear permanently mounted on an Ifor trailer, much as you describe.

 

[neilo]

I can only mention that our sheep have never run well since the scanner has had his gear permanently mounted on an Ifor trailer, much as you describe.

Is that on a flatbed, or inside a covered trailer?

when we used to run sheep through a jetter, they would fly through an open topped Electrodip. When we had someone else in with a design that had an enclosed top (to stop so much vapour I think), pretty well every one stopped rather than run into a dark box, unsurprisingly.

 

[David.]

Unsurprisingly, a covered trailer. It has made a stressful day much worse.

 

[spin cycle]

I can only mention that our sheep have never run well since the scanner has had his gear permanently mounted on an Ifor trailer, much as you describe.

Unsurprisingly, a covered trailer. It has made a stressful day much worse.

bin my idea then

 

[Loftyrules]

Looking at finally buying a little handling system but unsure what best value for money would be. Only have 20 ewes at the moment but scope to accomodate 30-40 would be good. At the moment we just use normal hurdles to pen up ewes and lambs and shed off ewes by catching and posting out of the pen, so some sort of drafting gate would be ideal. We've got a set of bateman manual scales that would need to attach to whatever we buy and plenty of bog standard 6ft sheep hurdles. Normally we run ewes and lambs into the cattle shed on concrete to do anything with them (and have to dismantle everything afterwards, nothing is left static) but do keep a few replacements at another farm up the road so something semi- portable would be useful.

I was looking at a Ritchie portable starter system and thought it looked ideal for what we needed, but unsure just how portable it would be, and how long it would take to assemble each time

Starter System

www.ritchie-d.co.uk

Other ideas were a Rappa Smallholder which seems a bit more portable but ££. Or would I be better just buying a bog standard race with shedding gate and using the hurdles I've got? Budget is not huge given the small numbers of sheep we have, but I want whatever I buy to last, and make life easier

If you’re on Facebook search for Stockpen they seem reasonably priced.
I’m in the same boat would love a decent system but think I’ll have to make do with hurdles.

 

[David.]

pen – George Mudge Shearing

Galvanised portable shearing and handling pen. 6ft X 6ft square. 3ft 6in High. To include:- Pen front (inc upright and hanging bracket) Pen back Railed hurdle Sheeted hurdle 2x Floor sections 4x Coupling pins ☆ V12 Shearing machine, Solid drive and yoke in hurdle sold separately. *Yoke in...

georgemudgeshearing.co.uk

well built , tall sides and a dagging /shearing hanger in the bargain...gives a dry floor to work with as well..
and your shearer wouldn't even need to set up jis trailer at 'that' time,

easy to move but solid and immovable to work sheep in

bin my idea then

Wouldnt cost much to try it, if you have the trailer already, and horse trailers would be a bit taller and brighter perhaps.

 

[twizzel]

Thanks for all the input. Maybe will just carry on with our hurdles and see where we are in the next 12 months. If I had somewhere I could keep it all set up would be a no brainer and get a little race system ordered but the fact we have to put it all away after is what puts me off, and the price of a fully mobile yard isn’t really justifiable. The off ground we can run sheep into a shed if needs be although haven’t really needed to do that yet- we have to gather them in the next couple weeks to toxo and enzovax though. We weigh the lambs fortnightly, at the moment just gather all ewes and lambs into a hurdle pen and then pull the ewes out 1 by 1 until just the lambs are left. They go through the scales pretty easy when the ewes aren’t in the pen with them getting in the way.

 

[Longlowdog]

I'd stick with hurdles but have a local welder make some simple brackets to turn regular hurdles into a race. Literally a 2' length of 1''x1'' square bar with a 3'' prong at each end to slot into the hurldes top and bottom will make a cheap race. Maybe buy a shedding gate to make the job even easier and spend the rest on more hurdles. Then your system is really easy to set up and very mobile.

 

[twizzel]

I'd stick with hurdles but have a local welder make some simple brackets to turn regular hurdles into a race. Literally a 2' length of 1''x1'' square bar with a 3'' prong at each end to slot into the hurldes top and bottom will make a cheap race. Maybe buy a shedding gate to make the job even easier and spend the rest on more hurdles. Then your system is really easy to set up and very mobile.

OH is a pretty dab hand with a welder. He will love a sheep based project just as harvest approaches all joking aside that’s a great idea and easily doable. He can chip away at it over the winter!

 

[Bury the Trash]

Thanks for all the input. Maybe will just carry on with our hurdles and see where we are in the next 12 months. If I had somewhere I could keep it all set up would be a no brainer and get a little race system ordered but the fact we have to put it all away after is what puts me off, and the price of a fully mobile yard isn’t really justifiable. The off ground we can run sheep into a shed if needs be although haven’t really needed to do that yet- we have to gather them in the next couple weeks to toxo and enzovax though. We weigh the lambs fortnightly, at the moment just gather all ewes and lambs into a hurdle pen and then pull the ewes out 1 by 1 until just the lambs are left. They go through the scales pretty easy when the ewes aren’t in the pen with them getting in the way.

you do realise that the mudgy pen is 4 normally pinned together hurdles and 2 floor sections that can be picked up...for moving or packing away...

 

[neilo]

OH is a pretty dab hand with a welder. He will love a sheep based project just as harvest approaches all joking aside that’s a great idea and easily doable. He can chip away at it over the winter!

tbh, 2 wooden stakes and a sheet of corrugated tin placed 18” out from an existing stock fence would make a perfectly adequate race. Make/buy a stop gate to go front & back, maybe even a shedding gate if you’re feeling flush, and use your hurdles for a holding pen behind.

With 20 ewes, if you just pen them up tight you could do the whole bunch with whatever treatments in a short space of time anyway. I’d normally have between 10 & 20 in a pen to work with at any one time normally, depending on whether they had lambs with them or not.