Watch: new handling unit for Tullamore Farm

Tullamore Farm recently made a major investment in the animal handling facilities in place on the farm. The current facilities on the main yard made handling large numbers of cattle a slow and taxing job. This new investment was seen as a way of allowing the farm manager Shaun Diver to manage the 100-cow suckler herd more efficiently and, vitally, more safely.

The unit is made up of two large holding pens which then feed into a semi-circular forcing pen (picture one). This helps to guide cattle towards the mouth of the crush (picture two).

When it comes to designing a handling unit, there are a few aspects of animal behaviour that farmers should take into consideration. Farmers should try to work with an animal’s natural behaviour as it will mean a more efficient movement of cattle through the unit. If you can improve the movement of cattle, it will mean a higher throughput of cattle through the unit.

When designing a handling unit, a U-shaped design can work well. This is because cattle generally like to go back the way that they came. Another design aspect that can work well is to use a circular or curved layout as cattle dislike right-angled bends, which will slow down movement.

Steady, continual movement creates less stress for animals as they become agitated the longer they are held up.

It is important that any handling area is well-lit. Often, farmers will retrofit handling units into older sheds with low roofs that can make the unit dark.

Cattle will generally move towards the light. This is why some units will have a curved crush with the sides covered with stockboard leading to the headgate or a separate squeeze box, for example. This means that the only light that the animal can see is in front of them, which they will naturally move towards.

Stockboard can be a very useful addition to any handling unit as it can be used to block distractions from cattle as they move through the unit.

When it comes to designing the entrance into the crush, it is advised to keep one side straight and the other side at a 300 angle. Due to their narrow binocular vision, cattle need to be in the right position to see up the race.

Size

The unit itself is 14.5m long and 7.5m wide and as it was completed through the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS), there is a requirement to have a concrete base for the unit. Another key requirement of a unit completed through the scheme is to have a safe working area running alongside the crush. The working area here is raised above the level of the handling unit. There is access from this area to both of the holding pens. One is through a slip-through point while an individual access gate (picture four) provides access to the other holding pen.

Another key safety element is a guillotine gate at the back of the crush. This can be slid open and closed and is a much safer option than a swinging gate, for example. A headscoop was also added to the skulling gate (picture five).

A breakdown of the costs of the unit can be seen in Table 1. The total cost came to approximately €15,100 with €6,000 expected to be claimed back between grant aid and VAT to leave a net cost of the unit at €9,100.

When some farmers think of making a TAMS application, they think of the big money items such as sheds.

However, there is the opportunity to make as many applications as desired through the scheme up to a maximum of €80,000.

With 16 months left for farmers to apply through the scheme, now may be the time to apply to complete those smaller investments needed on the farm.

There is also an increased number of farmers applying to the scheme with a 20% rollover of applicants in both tranches 13 and 14. Tranche 15 is currently open and remains open for applications until 4 October 2019.