CAFRE unveiled its state-of-the-art sheep house and handling facility this week. The unit is located at the Greenmount Hill Farm, Glenwherry, situated midway between Larne and Ballymena.

With a total construction cost of £825,000, the new facility is being viewed as a sheep resource centre rather than a conventional sheep house.

It is an investment that was badly needed on the farm, which has relied on limited and outdated housing systems built over 30 years ago. The new unit will demonstrate the latest technologies in sheep housing, as well as developing the livestock handling skills of students for years to come.

Housing spec

Measuring 72m long by 26m wide, the new unit provides accommodation for up to 750 ewes. Prior to construction of the new unit, there was only housing space for 350 of the hill farm’s 1,110 ewes.

Lack of housing space was leading to problems with over-grazing of the hill environment and protecting of valuable habitats from outwintering of sheep.

Inside the new sheep house, there are 15 pens measuring 8m by 6m, which can hold 660 ewes.

Another two pens measuring 6m by 6m can accommodate a further 66 ewes.

Holding pens are laid out in two rows with one central passageway, measuring 5m wide and suitable for silage feeding with a diet feeder, if required.

All pens have plastic slats and a self-filling cast iron drinker. Water pipes have been insulated and a water heating system has been installed to prevent pipes freezing during winter. Slats are suspended on fibre-glass supports and steel beams.

Feed barriers come in a variety of sizes from 1m to 3m gates. Ewes can access meal feeding from both sides of sheep pens, with a feeding space of 26cm per ewe. Silage feeding is accessed from one side only with a feeding space of 18cm per ewe.

Feed gates are galvanised and have a hinged barrier, which allows ewes to feed when the barrier is raised. When lowered, it prevents lambs from escaping holding pens.

Feed gates also have additional lugs so that pen size can be reduced to suit group size. Dividing gates are portable and allow for movement of sheep between pens by opening and closing a sliding gate.

Slurry

The house has four separate slurry tanks to accommodate outdoor mixing. Tanks are 1.2m deep at the most shallow point, increasing to 1.8m at the external mixing point.

With a total storage capacity of 960m3, the shed has enough slurry storage for two years based on housing 750 ewes.

Rainwater is also harvested from the roof and stored. This water is used for mixing of slurry and for washing pens and handling unit.

Handling unit

The sheep handling unit is integrated into the design of the shed. As sheep enter the unit, they pass over the plastic slats which act to clean ewe’s feet and reduces the area to be washed after use.

The circular forcing pen holds 20 to 25 ewes, as does the race. A fully automated drafting gate weighs and records weights by reading EID tags speeding up handling and drafting.

The handling unit also has a combi-clamp to aid dosing and routine tasks such as dagging.

While the entire facility is unlikely to be replicated on commercial farms, the unit contains several aspects of housing design and handling that can be transferred to smaller or existing units.