Noel Clancy a beef and sheep farmer from Thurles, Co Tipperary, found an innovative way to make better use of a cattle crush on his farm.

He used heavy duty flat iron to make a frame and fashioned hooks to fit the bars of his cattle crush. He then welded mesh to the frame and painted it with oxide paint. He calls the idea the Hook Over.

Whenever he wants to carry out tasks such as dosing sheep, tagging or footbathing, he just puts the Hook Over on the inside of the cattle crush rails. If he needs the crush for handling cattle he lifts the frames off the sides.

Noel said: “They are a basic design as you can see but work very well and are easy to remove or put on as the cattle race opens in three sections.”

The frames come in 8ft lengths are 26in high and 13 to 14 adult ewes can fit inside at once.

“On many beef and sheep farms you see farmers welding permanent bars on the side of the crush or building low block walls to make them sheep-proof, but it might make it awkward or unsafe when handling cattle again,” explained Noel. He said he got a similar frame made up for a crush some years ago but found sheep were inclined to move it too easy because it wasn’t heavy enough. He said heavy duty is key.

One side of the crush is below ground level, which can be used as a footbath for sheep. Otherwise plastic inserts can be used for the job. The gate at one end of the crush has a permanent mesh welded on while a removable mesh is attached to the head-gate end.

What’s your innovative idea?

We want pictures of your ideas that have helped make your farm safer, reduce your work load and save you time. To send us pictures of your idea, you can email pvarley@farmersjournal.ie or text your pictures to the Irish Farmers Journal on 00353 (86)-836 6465 via Whatsapp or normal text message.