We were very lucky to have been able to invite farmers back to Tullamore Farm for the first time since 2018 and to finally be able to bring people to our THRIVE demo farm in Cashel to view the excellent facilities and meet the legend that is John Hally.

Both farms are a credit to the two men looking after them. When we look at the number of stock each farmer is caring for, with 300 cattle on the THRIVE farm and up to 250 cattle and 700 sheep on Tullamore Farm at it’s peak, not many would believe that the majority of the work is carried out by Shaun and John by themselves.

Central to managing this volume of stock is excellent facilities. Both farms have the infrastructure in place to allow these men to manage stock effectively, through the large number of paddocks, the ribbons of farm roadways running through ground and the handling facilities in place.

The fragmented nature of farms in Ireland often means that outblocks can have poor handling facilities in place

Good handling facilities are necessary due to the high volume of data we are collecting on the farms through frequent weighing and recording of stock. It is this data recording that we are passing on to farmers to help aid them in the decisions they make on their own farms.

The fragmented nature of farms in Ireland often means that outblocks can have poor handling facilities in place. The advent of portable handling facilities has gone some way to alleviate this. I think the best way to dissuade someone from keeping sheep is to turn sheep into a poorly fenced paddock or to try and drench a small number of sheep in a large loose pen. I’d highly recommend having the facilities right before a trip to the mart.

Sheep handling facilities don’t have to result in financing or overdrafts – they just have to work for you

In this focus, we take a look at some excellent sheep crates that make routine tasks much less labour intensive. But with 66% of flocks keeping less than 100 sheep, an investment like this may not be viable.

Sheep handling facilities don’t have to result in financing or overdrafts – they just have to work for you. I was on a farm recently that had taken straight lengths of the steel protection crates that surround IBC tanks and combined it with stock board, a guillotine gate and a manual drafting gate to create a cheap and cheerful handling facility capable of holding 150 store lambs.

They had even managed to create a one-quarter circle forcing pen leading in to a footbath, by bending the protection crates and reinforcing them with steel posts concreted in.

Often it is the innovative, cost effective things that catch your eye.