While it is fair to say there is a significant labour requirement on sheep farms, it is also fair to say that on many farms there is scope to make enterprises more efficient by improving handling and lambing facilities and the erection of stock-proof fencing.

A sheep penning demonstration was held at Sheep 2015 on the Irish Farmers Journal stand to highlight the broad range of equipment on the market and inform producers about manufacturers supplying direct to farmers or through the trade.

The penning demonstration also had another focal point – to raise awareness of the fast-approaching deadline of 31 August 2015 for completion of works for those receiving grant aid funding under the TAMS sheep fencing and mobile handling equipment scheme.

We have received queries from farmers who missed the demo and also farmers looking for another copy of the information.

For this reason, we are printing the information on this week’s sheep pages.

For practical reasons of displaying such a range of penning, the demonstration focused on companies listed on the Department of Agriculture Accepted Mobile Sheep Handling facilities list or S136A and primarily included 5ft lambing hurdles or sheep gates that can double up as lambing gates or as part of a mobile or fixed handling unit.

Demonstration

As part of the demonstration, we collated the price of each gate, its weight, height, finish, number of vertical bars and manufacturer’s comments. All of this information is detailed in the table below. This is not the definitive range of companies on the Department’s approval list, with some manufacturers out of stock and not in a position to have their gates demonstrated on the day.

One company also manufactures a range of handling equipment but does not have its penning approved for grant aid.

We encourage you to visit www.agriculture.gov.ie if you want the full approval list, complete with farm software and recording providers.

Penning selection tips

When looking at the penning there are a few things to remember:

  • Do not focus solely on price – it is also important to take quality into consideration.
  • Many companies manufacture their own equipment and, as such, can cater to alternative needs or manufacture/source particular size equipment to suit existing facilities.
  • Think about what suits your system best. For example, some gates are higher, with manufacturers explaining they are targeted at hill breeds that may be harder handle.
  • If sourcing hurdles/gates as an individual purchase or as part of a race, the recommendation is one lambing pen to seven-to-eight ewes, reducing to one lambing pen to five-to-seven ewes in very high prolificacy flocks or those with a compact lambing.
  • Prices displayed are for individual gates – there may be scope to secure deals on bulk sales or penning purchased as part of a fixed or mobile race.