Sheep dip ( again)

[Wood field]

Been a few threads fairly recently about dipping, this is me after a bit of advice..,
Would it be cost effective to have our own dip tank and the relevant courses / permits etc and then be able to do our own sheep ?
Few numbers:- 600 breeding ewes. Own replacements kept , and some (100 odd) run a moor on common grazing with four other farms on same moor .
I am looking at sorting a yard that’s currently Planings and old concrete, hopefully next spring/ summer we can concrete a good part of it and fix up a decent handling system, it would be the ideal time to put in a dipper

 

[shumungus]

Yes, always yes.

 

[neilo]

I've been toying with the idea of building a cage dipper in the yard, which could be filled on the end of a race. It likely wouldn't cost a lot more than installing a plunge dipping bath in the grand scheme of things, and the labour saving over a few years would be pretty dramatic, not to mention reduction in operator exposure to a nerve poison.

If you're not already qualified, the course isn't particularly difficult, or expensive (it really isn't rocket science, after all). The licence for dip disposal will likely be one of the biggest costs, although I did speak to someone recently that had just stored it all in ibcs for several years, so hadn't technically disposed of anything...
I did read that the govt is looking at massively increasing the cost of those disposal licences, although that might only have been in Wales?

 

[JockCroft]

Two years ago, Scotland = SEPA, think it was £200 per year, and £600 or £700 for registering disposal area.
Made using a contractor a no brainer for 250 sheep. Mind he was saying £150 for first tankful.

 

[ringi]

If you stopped using the common land, how much requirement for dipping would remain?

Can you sell your rights for 100 on the common land to one of the other 4 farmers?

 

[Wood field]

If you stopped using the common land, how much requirement for dipping would remain?

Can you sell your rights for 100 on the common land to one of the other 4 farmers?

No the rights go with the farm not the farmers

 

[Wood field]

Two years ago, Scotland = SEPA, think it was £200 per year, and £600 or £700 for registering disposal area.
Made using a contractor a no brainer for 250 sheep. Mind he was saying £150 for first tankful.

We ended up ( with lambs) at around 1400 head this last year , across 3 parts of our ground plus the moor.
It’s not a big deal to gather but it means doing the lot on the same day
I thought if may be easier for ourselves if we could do say X amount of hoggs one day, then a bunch of ewes another etc

 

[ringi]

No the rights go with the farm not the farmers

So the farm can't rent the rights to a different farm for a few years?

 

[Wood field]

So the farm can't rent the rights to a different farm for a few years?

No, we either use them or they stay un used
Plus the fact on a small farm the fact we use the moor gives us extra capacity,

 

[neilo]

Two years ago, Scotland = SEPA, think it was £200 per year, and £600 or £700 for registering disposal area.
Made using a contractor a no brainer for 250 sheep. Mind he was saying £150 for first tankful.

The figures I heard proposed were being increased to many times that. £3500 to register a disposal site rings a bell but, as I said, may be a Wales only thing?

 

[egbert]

Deffo worth putting your own bath in.
The convenience is enough reason alone.

Combine it with improving handling system.....jobs a good'un

 

[Wood field]

Deffo worth putting your own bath in.
The convenience is enough reason alone.

Combine it with improving handling system.....jobs a good'un

That would be the big deciding factor, convenient to do a bunch whenever we needed rather than gathering the whole mob

 

[egbert]

That would be the big deciding factor, convenient to do a bunch whenever we needed rather than gathering the whole mob

Were you doing 1400 through one tank on the mobile?

 

[Wood field]

Were you doing 1400 through one tank on the mobile?

Yes all done in a day , with contractor/ mobile dipper

 

[egbert]

Yes all done in a day , with contractor/ mobile dipper

hmmm
Go on the course, and calculate how many lives against the size of bath.

The math has to accommodate long woolled sheep in full fleece on a clarty day, meaning shorn sheep through a very clean set up would give a much higher margin of error.
However......
(and the problem with a mistake here is not just that you've wasted your time, but that it's begging for resistance)

If/when you come to do your own.....close attention to straining the run back, and I'd look at making em walk along a length of expand galv mesh prior to dunking, so their little trotters are as clean as pos. It's on my to do list....but so are a lot of things.

 

[egbert]

I've been toying with the idea of building a cage dipper in the yard, which could be filled on the end of a race. It likely wouldn't cost a lot more than installing a plunge dipping bath in the grand scheme of things, and the labour saving over a few years would be pretty dramatic, not to mention reduction in operator exposure to a nerve poison.

If you're not already qualified, the course isn't particularly difficult, or expensive (it really isn't rocket science, after all). The licence for dip disposal will likely be one of the biggest costs, although I did speak to someone recently that had just stored it all in ibcs for several years, so hadn't technically disposed of anything...
I did read that the govt is looking at massively increasing the cost of those disposal licences, although that might only have been in Wales?

An erstwhile nieghbour of mine, who was going to show us how it's done, and generally set the world alight, put in a cage dipper.

Calcs didn't allow for the wet sheep being heavier coming up........
Big ooops.

 

[Wood field]

hmmm
Go on the course, and calculate how many lives against the size of bath.

The math has to accommodate long woolled sheep in full fleece on a clarty day, meaning shorn sheep through a very clean set up would give a much higher margin of error.
However......
(and the problem with a mistake here is not just that you've wasted your time, but that it's begging for resistance)

If/when you come to do your own.....close attention to straining the run back, and I'd look at making em walk along a length of expand galv mesh prior to dunking, so their little trotters are as clean as pos. It's on my to do list....but so are a lot of things.

The mesh is a good idea , I can fabricate something to fit in the race , as is a strainer on the run back
We would be looking at doing the sheep in batches as and when , saving on getting lads in to help and having loads of ibc tanks full of water ready
As an aside we usually stock at around 600 , 100 of which will be hoggs , this last year we bought in extra ewes before getting the lambs away , hence numbers were up

 

[Wood field]

Just an aside, we have decided we will put a tank in , probably uplift an old plastic one ( assuming its in good nick) from an old shed and put it in combined with a handling set up. Has anyone used waste disposal type companies to dispose of used dip?
The course for dipping ( safe use of chemicals) is £285 and fairly local to me, the license to dispose is looking to be very expensive!

 

[ringi]

Other then the sheep going in dirty what effects how often the chemicals need to be deposed off? (I assume the active chemicals can be tested and topped up when addational water is added)

 

[The sheep dipper man]

I've been toying with the idea of building a cage dipper in the yard, which could be filled on the end of a race. It likely wouldn't cost a lot more than installing a plunge dipping bath in the grand scheme of things, and the labour saving over a few years would be pretty dramatic, not to mention reduction in operator exposure to a nerve poison.

If you're not already qualified, the course isn't particularly difficult, or expensive (it really isn't rocket science, after all). The licence for dip disposal will likely be one of the biggest costs, although I did speak to someone recently that had just stored it all in ibcs for several years, so hadn't technically disposed of anything...
I did read that the govt is looking at massively increasing the cost of those disposal licences, although that might only have been in Wales?

You can not store waste dip legal for Longer than 3 months on farm it has to be disposed of!.