Solway recycling lambing pens?

[Becs]

Hi, Does anyone here use them and if so, how do you rate them? A friend has just bought some and I'm impressed with how light they are and how easy they'd be to keep clean. Currently I'm using hurdles that Grandfather made 40 odd years ago which have stood the test of time but are so awkward and heavy. I reckon I've got about another 5-10 years of lambing left before my joints give up on me (!) but easier hurdles would make lambing more pleasurable and, if the Solway hurdles are as good as they look, I could sell them on when I'm done with them. I've got a few IAE hurdles and don't like them.
TIA

 

[neilo]

A friend has them and seems to like them well enough. Easy to dismantle and clean, if that’s your thing, but not cheap, so my old wooden hurdles & string will likely stay here a while longer yet.

 

[Nithsdale]

Very good but as @neilo says - very expensive

 

[FIL46]

Looked at them look very neat and tidy easy to clean but cost is high for what they are when lambing is finished they will be sat in the shed, Using 4&6 foot hurdle gates works best for me as I can use the hurdles in the field for catching pens. and think about selling when finished/given up on this sheep job hurdles will sell eaiser than just lambing pens

 

[Becs]

Thanks for the replies. My plan is (I think) to try and sell half of my old, heavy hurdles and put that towards buying 20 Solway pens and gradually go on and replace the other older ones over time if I find the Solway ones suit me and my system. Anyone want to buy some old, heavy hurdles that have stood the test of time?!!

 

[Longlowdog]

I've worked with Solway pens and with metal 6's at home. I far prefer the metal multi purpose gates. My mistake was to buy hoop top and bottom hurdles, I should have bought pinned ones as back to back pens work for me and hoop ones do not make runs. If I was to try and pin down why I don't like the Solway pens I'd guess that primarily they are not airy and certainly on flat concrete they do not seem to drain as well as hurdles as they weigh heavily on the straw and dam in moisture.

 

[David.]

Surely the future is easycare and outdoor lambing and thus no pens required; so buying them as an investment to put in your sale is doomed to fail.
Careful with your money now....

 

[Becs]

Thanks Longlowdog. The drainage/air-circulation issue is something I hadn’t thought about but I can see what you’re saying. You may have just saved me from making an expensive mistake!

 

[neilo]

Thanks Longlowdog. The drainage/air-circulation issue is something I hadn’t thought about but I can see what you’re saying. You may have just saved me from making an expensive mistake!

Still air at lamb level is surely a good thing, draughts at ground level are what chill lambs. I think they’d make some lovely, cosy pens, just at a price.

 

[Longlowdog]

@neilo in my experience (limited at best) pens are used inside buildings where hopefully there is adequate air circulation but not excessive draughts.
Outdoors the Solway pens undoubtedly reduce draughts though the 'lids' are not formed in such a way as to permit light without rain entering. Yes, without windchill the lambs are undoubtedly in a better place but they are not absolutely dry, well lit and cosy. I rather have Solway pens than nothing, but I'd far rather have pinned hurdles than Solway in my sheds that are block work to 5 feet with overlapped Yorkshire boarding to the eaves . Each to their own, systems differ in many ways, they just don't float my boat. They may be perfect for other users.
Granted my system is geared towards the 5 star accommodation end of sheep husbandry with each ewe and her lambs having a 6x6 pen and straw changed between occupants religiously so I have a skewed vision of what I like/can afford. Treat my opinions as you would those of a sheep pampering idiot if you will. I know I am not typical of those with far larger lambings to contend with.
Anyone buying the Solway System who is not O.C.D. about putting stuff away properly would do well to buy a bunch more of the curly fasteners, they love to go on holiday with 10mm sockets and 13mm spanners.
If I were to go Solway I'd definitely invest in the appropriate food and water bowls and holders, the pens get a bit cramped with two ex-sheep lick tubs in them.

 

[Andy84]

I inherited a set and I like them tbh the solid sides mean the ewe seems to concentrate on her own lambs better than the ones next door! ? really easy to clean and disinfect if I had to criticise them their only real downside is that they can’t be used for anything else once lambing is finished unlike metal hurdles so work out quite expensive.

 

[Greythundercloudys]

Far far to expensive, l just buy 6ft galvanised gates, afew every march and they work fine.

 

[Al R]

this has been my lambing pen design for years. Ewes and lambs don’t mix with the other pen, problems/infections are isolated to that pen. I’ve got 5 pens this year which is all hurdles, second lamb into them tried to get through to the ewe next door Another ewe had a very bloody arse and rubbed against the hurdle where next doors lamb was stood, that lamb then had to stay in for a few days before its mum would take it again.
Pallets are by far the best I’ve found.

also have 7 shearwell wooden pens (2 with guillotines) a young ewe will jump them, a 3 week old lamb will jump them, they can break easily and need tying to the shed wall behind or they’ll move everywhere. but come in handy more as grain separation panels between the oats and barley.

 

[neilo]

View attachment 855223
this has been my lambing pen design for years. Ewes and lambs don’t mix with the other pen, problems/infections are isolated to that pen. I’ve got 5 pens this year which is all hurdles, second lamb into them tried to get through to the ewe next door Another ewe had a very bloody arse and rubbed against the hurdle where next doors lamb was stood, that lamb then had to stay in for a few days before its mum would take it again.
Pallets are by far the best I’ve found.

also have 7 shearwell wooden pens (2 with guillotines) a young ewe will jump them, a 3 week old lamb will jump them, they can break easily and need tying to the shed wall behind or they’ll move everywhere. but come in handy more as grain separation panels between the oats and barley.

I agree on the metal hurdles. We used to use pallets with 2 small bales across the front, but they take up too much space. We changed when a retired fella from near Swindon started bringing ‘hurdles’ in to Gloucester market to sell in the weekly produce auction. He was picking up packing crates from the Honda factory and knocking the sides off, to make 6’x3’ and 3’x3’ hurdles. I think the bigger ones cost us £3 each, and I still use them now. Gloucester market closed just after F&M, so I guess they don’t owe me much.

I did noticed that the 2 stacks of spares that I kept from when we used to have 90 pens on the go, are slowly being turned to dust by woodworm.

 

[Al R]

I agree on the metal hurdles. We used to use pallets with 2 small bales across the front, but they take up too much space. We changed when a retired fella from near Swindon started bringing ‘hurdles’ in to Gloucester market to sell in the weekly produce auction. He was picking up packing crates from the Honda factory and knocking the sides off, to make 6’x3’ and 3’x3’ hurdles. I think the bigger ones cost us £3 each, and I still use them now. Gloucester market closed just after F&M, so I guess they don’t owe me much.

I did noticed that the 2 stacks of spares that I kept from when we used to have 90 pens on the go, are slowly being turned to dust by woodworm.

I redid a large part of my shed last year with old fysons pallets that 1cwt sacks of nitram used to come on, cut the string’s and the whole lot collapsed onto the floor