Single rail feed barrier

[Scania143h]

Hi all
I am after some advice on the positioning of a single rail feed barrier. Currently it is bolted to the upright off the shed (picture below) but cows are pushing too much against it and some have rub marks on their necks.

Vet has advised 50 inches above where she stands and offset 6-9 inches away. What are your thoughts on those measurements? Whats the best way to go about offsetting the pipe? Teemore engineering do a bracket but it only offsets the pipe 4 inches. (Picture attached)

Thoughts greatly appreciated

 

[Courier]

Electric fence of "plastic wire" with a bungy rubber at each end will sort that out....easy to adjust until ideal position is found.....

 

[MF 168]

I use a 43" gap between the top of wall and the neck rail. Find it plenty big and I'm feeding ch and limo's for the factory with that. I kept the outside or neck side of the pipe flush with the inner edge or silage side of the wall as well so the cattle knees pressing against the wall helps keep them back. Using that bracket to move out the rail will only result in cows getting their legs out over the wall and getting crap onto the silage. They'll still push against the bar with their necks as well. Have you room to make that feeding space into a trough?. If they can't nose the silage away then they won't be pushing out trying to reach it later.

 

[stablegirl]

Mine is done like yours Scania without probems, but it is a 250mm stanchion leg and a 100 mm panel in the web but nearer the cow to create an offset yours appears narrower legs and a shuttered wall?

A picture of the wall would help.

 

[Will Blackburn]

Use 2 teemore brackets together, can always use 1 then if 2 is too much.

 

[Barleycorn]

We replaced our metal tubing with some steel cable, (crane companies regularly have scrap cable), threaded through 3/4" blue water pipe. We tighten it with a turnbuckle one end. A lot kinder on the cows as it has a bit of give.

 

[Alicecow]

Saw one where the lower barrier was on the inside (cows side) of the steel girder upright, and the upper one was on the outside (silage side) of the same upright. Looked like it worked well with enough offset to make life easier for man & beast, but close enough to stop legs coming through. Not sure what height gap there was between upper and lower though.

 

[Scania143h]

Back looking more advice again folks. Got a bracket made a few months ago to push the feed rail out and also moved it up higher while I was at it. Everything was working well until we started zero grazing. We are now having cows push under the feed rail to try reach more grass.

Don't fancy moving the whole feed rail down again so I had thought off adding another timber to the barrier maybe a 5x3?? We currently just use 2 9x3 timbers so adding another 5 inches would leave the barrier 23 inches high. Also we are having cows pull alot off grass into the passageway so was hoping this might stop that as well. Any advice?

 

[rusty]

Is the feed passage floor higher than where the cows stand?
If it is I would be reluctant to add the timber. I would say looking at the last photo it's a bit to high as the cows apppear to be getting thei shoulder under the rail. Pity as otherwise it looks a really good design.

 

[stablegirl]

How High is it?

 

[Happy hillbily]

How about using girder clamps, instead of drilling and bolting ?
http://www.lindapter.com/Products/Girder_Clamp/1/Type_AF_High_Slip_Resistance_Clamp

 

[Will Blackburn]

We get legs through at 600mm high, not too worried as its only a few, i think the rail needs to be pulled down and in to counteract it. Its a balance to achieve at the end of the day.

 

[pappuller]

Back looking more advice again folks. Got a bracket made a few months ago to push the feed rail out and also moved it up higher while I was at it. Everything was working well until we started zero grazing. We are now having cows push under the feed rail to try reach more grass.

Don't fancy moving the whole feed rail down again so I had thought off adding another timber to the barrier maybe a 5x3?? We currently just use 2 9x3 timbers so adding another 5 inches would leave the barrier 23 inches high. Also we are having cows pull alot off grass into the passageway so was hoping this might stop that as well. Any advice?

With feeding grass they will always reach for more

 

[upnortheast]

Ours is a 600mm panel with a 560mm gap to the rail. Outside floor level is 100mm higher than inside
Works fine for our cows

 

[Courier]

Use a length of “plastic” electric fence wire with a bungee rubber at each end and experiment with various positions to achieve the required effect.

 

[HasthorpeGrange]

Ours is a 600mm panel with a 560mm gap to the rail. Outside floor level is 100mm higher than inside
Works fine for our cows
View attachment 664054

How big is that slatted passage and how much did it cost if you don't mind sharing

 

[upnortheast]

How big is that slatted passage and how much did it cost if you don't mind sharing

Without getting the tape out, the feeding passages are about 14ft + about 1ft into the stantion web.
Cubicle passages are about 12ft
Always used to work on 8ft cubicle passage & 10ft feeding so this seemed huge, but so much better for the cows. As regards cost, it was 9 years ago so not relevant now

 

[countryman765]

16 inches in from wall and 16 inches up from wall is what we have on our troughs. Wall I think is about 20 inches high

 

[HasthorpeGrange]

Without getting the tape out, the feeding passages are about 14ft + about 1ft into the stantion web.
Cubicle passages are about 12ft
Always used to work on 8ft cubicle passage & 10ft feeding so this seemed huge, but so much better for the cows. As regards cost, it was 9 years ago so not relevant now
View attachment 664458

Looks a fantastic shed, but jealous