 Welcome to this tech talk, sheep and cattle yard design. Our speaker today is Ben White from Conditon Group. Ben is an agricultural engineer, Conditon Group's research manager and the editor of Farming Ahead Magazine. Ben comes from a farming background and has worked for the group for the last 20 years. Ben has extensive experience in delivery of research and has expertise in the areas of farming technology, grain storage, precision farming, engine technology, seeding, spraying and harvesting equipment. Ben and his colleagues have altered numerous research reports and case studies about sheep and yard design. I welcome Ben. Thanks Ben. Today we're going to talk about investing in livestock infrastructure, incorporating handlers and or crushes. In particular we'll have some sheep handlers and we'll talk about some case studies and give you some examples of people who have done some of these measurements in yards and handlers and how they've done it. We'll do a quick run through on cattle crushes as a bit of a buyer's guide. Some of this material has come from a report that we conducted in 2019 around sheep infrastructure. What we've done there is put together a series of case studies with some detailed information on different growers and how they've gone about selecting yards and yard designs and what suits them and their needs. From a sheep infrastructure investment perspective, there's a bit of a checklist we could do well to run through before spending our hard-earned money. Checklists should include things like planning design, make sure that yards are well built and well designed and they're designed according to requirement. They're not straight off a plan that has been put together by a company in a one-size-fits-all because as we know, that's rarely the case. Need to think about things from a long-term perspective, allow for expansion, choice of materials, curves. I'll talk about diamonds, installation, races, coverage of the yards, latching, making sure we've got power, air and water, concrete and loading ramps. Now, before we spend our hard-earned money on yards or any infrastructure to do with livestock, it's worth making sure we get the plan and the design absolutely spot-on. I think one of the things that we need to do is make sure that it's going to suit our needs and also suit any existing infrastructure that might be there. Now, most of these plans will take a number of iterations. Don't be disheartened if you don't get a first go or you can't think of how to get a particular design. In a lot of cases, most manufacturers will help you to come up with ideas as to how you might want that design to work. I'd suggest that you're really going to get a first go and you probably will need to maybe have a think about some alternatives and also look at other yards to give inspiration as to maybe what might work in your scenario. One of the things that is absolutely essential is thinking long-term, making sure that the yards you're building are built with a long-term view, a long-term perspective. Make sure that the yards will accommodate what you might want to do in the future, that you've got room to expand those yards and that might mean making sure that you've got some panels that are removable or some sections of the fence that are removable or you can also fit other infrastructure around those yards in the future that might be there already. Allowing for expansion is something that is often overlooked and we get very focused on the yards that we're trying to build at the moment and not so much about what we might want to build further on. I suppose allowing for expansion means that we've got some options in some gateways or some panels that can be removed so that yards can be expanded later on and also that we've got the area for those expanded yards to fit into. Choicing materials is always an interesting one. Obviously steel is most commonly used now although we do see in this instance, for example, old gates with timber panels in them, they're perfectly good in good shape and they've been reused. Think about choice of materials and obviously steel materials need to be galvanised so that they wear well and don't corrode prematurely. Curves are a mainstay of most yards and the bugle horn design has served us well over the years and continues to do so and there's a few iterations of that bugle and curve design that probably we see in most sets of yards these days. The curve tends to draw shape around in a nice constant flow and means that pushing and enforcing pens don't have to be pushed so hard and can actually probably be a little bit larger than they have been previously. Diamonds are a new feature in a lot of yards and we're seeing more and more diamond pens incorporated into yards. Most of these are fitted with 360-degree gates which means that we can swing and shift shape from one pen to another of any of the four that are on the corners of the diamond. So I think that diamonds are something that we're seeing both in yards and also shearing shed designs. Races are the business end of any sets of yards and we've got all sorts of ideas and designs I suppose from the single sort of race as we've got on the right-hand side there to the double race on the left all concreted obviously. You might want gates that can be open from either end in the case in the left-hand side that's a feature that that race has. Also midway gates so that if you haven't got quite a full race you can drop a midway gate and stop livestock running backwards and forwards up and down the race and certainly that's a design that is becoming prevalent. One of the things that we've seen recently is a more elevated design in races so that the sheep are lifted up towards you a little bit more and also a toe gap underneath the race so that you can get in nice and close to the sheep. It doesn't add a lot to the cost of the race but does make them more usable. Cover is something that is worth waiting gold I think particularly in areas where a lot of work is done during the summer months cover is absolutely essential to be able to work throughout the day and equally in cold environments you can put a cover over it and stop rain and continue to be able to if you've got dry shape continue to be able to work without too much of an encumbrance. There's an absolute multitude of latch designs and what we need to do is make sure we've got a latch that's easy to operate in the position that it's placed and also that it can't be bumped too readily by stock and with the risk of boxing stock up when they're in the yard. So latch design is important it also needs to be easy to function and not too stiff it needs to be nice and easy to open if it's under load for example in a forcing pen and also in the context of latches and gates I've just popped a little image there of their 360 degree latches which are most common in diamond configurations in yards these days. When it comes to gates there's a fair bit happening we use them a lot in yards we need to make sure that they function really well. Power, water and air are all things we need in the yards to run things like scale heads tag readers, sheep handlers and sometimes animal husbandry equipment so make sure that we've either got access to those or they can be easily routed throughout the yards because it's becoming more common particularly electrical access points in a lot of cases these can be run hanging down from the ceiling or from the roof of the shed if it's under cover to be able to both provide access and also provide that in most places that you're going to work within the yards. Obviously high traffic areas need to be concreted so races, drafting points, around sheep handlers etc make sure you've got a nice rough surface there but also the ability to be able to clean out is important as well so not too rough I suppose is the key. One of the other things that makes out yard cleaning a little easier is perhaps incorporating some concrete in the gravel base and patting that down and doing it properly when the yards are first installed this can mean cleaning out is a lot more simple and just running a small bucket over it you'll be able to extract most of the manure and dust and dirt that might be or might have built up in the yards and of course over time this material can corrode the bottoms of posts out so pretty important to clean yards out making those outer yards with a nice firm base will certainly improve the ability to keep them clean. Loading ramps are one of the things that we often overlook when we're building a new set of yards but they're very important obviously for getting stock in and out of the property. If you've got a slope certainly the example on the right there gives us an idea of how that can be used to your advantage to maintain operation on land and also for the person operating or filling the truck it's got to be safe so on the left hand side we can see a new pro way race that conforms to some of the latest standards and those standards are available online worth having a look at those just to make sure that truckies are safe so those that are working with them to load trucks or unload trucks are also safe so gangways and handrails are obviously important and certainly can make the job of loading stock on and off trucks a lot easier. When it comes to yards one of the most important things is obviously installation making sure that once a design has been done well that the installation has also done well little things like just making sure that the concrete around the posts is a little bit proud so that again corrosion isn't an issue small things like that can actually make yard workability and maintenance and cleanliness a lot better. Design is absolutely essential as to with the layout and so often it's worth engaging a company specializes in this to help you make those designs and then in a lot of cases they'll install the yards and the components and a really good set of plans to then be able to install them yourself so just take your time with them make sure your wealth quality is good make sure that posts are well set in the ground and also make sure things like drainage are all accounted for as well because that's really important. Now sheep handlers are something that's becoming more and more prominent on farm and we're getting a lot of inquiry about sheep handlers as both farmers get a little bit older and some of these considerations come into play so we've recently looked at sheep handlers for the third time actually so we'd suggest probably a bit of a run through that and I'm happy to walk through that now in terms of what to look for and how some of the handlers compared so here's a test that we did we're looking at sheep handlers we're looking at build and design quality maintenance, ease of operation ability, we also ran 20 sheep through and just did a quick time test to see how those sheep would flow all the handlers were using the same lead up race to try and make that uniform as possible and I would add that the ability of a sheep handler to put sheep through comes back to the quality of that lead race and if you're going to make the investment in a sheep handler it's worth thinking about lead up races and making sure that they flow into that sheep handler so as you can see there's certainly a range of prices that sheep handlers range from sort of that $8000 up to $30,000 and also there's a variation in both build and design quality and also ease of operation there's a couple there that aren't in that list and some more unusual designs and some that maybe have come from across the Tasman so I'll just pop those in there for those that might be interested we've got the Hecton the Perkins Trenchmaster and also the Dandarion sheep handler there as well so just looking at some of the individual sheep handlers now and we'll start with the ClipEx obviously provides good access to the sheep it's a half rotation of the sheep there's a few little issues that we came across with pre-delivery and there is a control box in underneath the machine that's actually pretty difficult to get to so that said there's an air outlet for accessories and the auto release function was really good CombiClamp, very clever engineering it's quite simple, no power required just uses the weight of the operator pretty quiet to operate in all reality you probably need two people to operate the CombiClamp somewhat a push up because you've got to have a person there and the CombiClamp the sheep as it comes on and a couple of little finishing things there that we think might be might be improved in terms of capping those cut section profiles and moving on to the Gallagher Crutch and Dag pretty robust unit this one galvanised construction impressness and also simplicity of operation it's a pretty easy machine to clean down we also found that there's plenty of access for operators and in terms of what could be better perhaps that top cylinder does obstruct things a little bit and for a single operator might be a little bit tricky to set up to so maybe a couple of people are required to set up there if you are tipping the animal upright that release isn't automated so I think that's something that Gallagher are working on currently the P. Hill Handler this is a machine that rotates the sheet completely upside down providing excellent access look it is well built and it's really adjustable just a little thing there with the bore gate the sheet following and about to lead into that P. Hill Handler can push forward a little bit and create some issues here we have the P. Hill Industries a mobiliser a bit more of a similar design perhaps to the combi clamp in that it clamps the animal in an upright position overall very simple uses air for that clamping mechanism and you can adjust both the width and also the height of that clamp it's got an electronic eye that detects where the animal is and once that's adjusted it is very consistent in terms of catching the shape that manual rear gate which is optional does require a little bit of coordination but once you've got the hang of it it's actually quite simple there's a mount pole for overhead gear which potentially could get in the way and we would like to see some bigger wheels on that P. Hill a mobiliser just to be able to shift it in and out of the yards a little bit easier if it's going to be moved here we have the Tapari HD4 it's a new machine recently released to the market it's got a four-way draft on it a couple of new changes on this machine we've gone away from tools to a rotary switch on the switching panel there's a fast wrench mode so we're certainly looking forward to putting some sheep through this and just seeing how that goes in the context of those earlier 20 drench times that we showed earlier yeah, there's a new back gate that's see-through which would help animal flow and some adjustable hot bars that we're looking forward to putting some sheep through as well so that's one to look for as I said, new to the market we have a lot of testing with it at this stage now one of the things we looked at in this latest sheep handler report is the two bulk handlers when we talk about bulk handlers we're talking about sheep running onto a race and that whole race elevating so that they're immobilized and we're then able to undertake sheep husbandry practices so without them sort of moving around too much and it does, lifting their feet off the ground does tend to lift their head also which makes obviously drenching and tagging and things like that a lot easier so the two different models the pro-way bulk handler we'll start with the pro-way as per the picture here all galvanized steel construction we've got a floor that elevates using a hydraulic power pack so this needs to be connected to hydraulics the pro-way comes in a couple of configurations both in a transportable and non-transportable mode or a fixed sort of design this is the 6 meter transportable design in 6 or 12 meter fixed design so a couple sets of wheels go on this and it jacks itself up with a towing A frame to be able to be transported as this unit is taken from farm to farm now the pro-way has a sliding rear gate which sheep run into and then over the floor which is basically chains or rails that have a polythene hose coating over them so that they don't cause any damage or pinching and then that floor is elevated so the floor comes up once the sheep are in the race like this you can also see that the floor then is well off the ground and can be adjusted to any height that you want the front gate is there released with a handle from anywhere along the race really so if you're drenching and starting from front and then moving to the back effectively what you do is get to the back of the race and lower the floor and then open the gate and sheep are free to go from there the other bulk handler is the Murray bulk handler so this is an interesting one it's got two V race configurations actually uses an inflating wire to lift the race with some pretty clever geometry do need to have an air receiver there to be able to operate this with a smaller sort of compressor if you like I think one of the things that's interesting with the Murray handler is that there's always a lot of modifications whenever we see one of those on farms owners have done mods to it themselves so yeah maybe a good piece with option to modify things that's the inflating tyre as I mentioned which is part of the lift mechanism if you like so in the race there's two V races that run up the length of the machine the tyre is inflated that expands out and then lifts up the two races so that you can walk along and do drenching or earmarking or what are you doing as a couple of inserts you can get for smaller sheep and lambs that sit in over those two Vs which I guess narrow up the lift portion of the handler and these particularly used off shears probably could have done with that and as you can see they've still got feet on the ground in the elevator position but the thought what we do is just run through a couple of case studies now just to give you an idea of what people have done and look this is Digby Stretcher set up at Kojina in WA and you can see that there's some additional work to happen on the out yards and so just using some temporary fencing at this stage to get a feel for how that might work and I think that's one of the things that is worth thinking about is that if you've got some alternatives or some options or some expansion that you want to do down the track try it out with some temporary yards first and make sure you're happy with it make sure it flows well and maybe try some alternatives before you set things in the ground hard and fast Jeff Lowe from Victoria has got an arrow quipped a set of yards here all gal Jeff's been pretty happy with these yards and as you can see that bugle horn design obviously building again lots of 360 degree gates here as well and just options for sheet flow I think that's one of the things is having options for dropping equipment in and out of yards is really important more temporary sort of style again Tim Zeddo from Cogent Up Clip X and Midland portable or shiftable yards again Tim was just working in one small part of the farm and wanted to get these in place just to do a bit of a bit of light work probably more free to something more permanent down the track down Woolford at Bucklebourg nice set of atlex yards here Dern uses some scale unit and an auto drafting unit that can be brought in and out of the yards quite easily fantastic integration of personnel gates and that's one thing I think is really important in any yard design is remembering to incorporate those personnel gates in the atlex case they've got dog flaps in the bottom which are excellent and once the dogs get used to them they tend to use them and no jumping over rails and fences within the yards which is potentially causing it to mean to you Dumball Young in WA a set of yards here that have been adapted on to some out of yards on a shed again this is more a K-Rail style so these were fabricated in-situ long lengths of profile steel rolled on site and then put into place with pre pre-installed posts yards work beautifully well as you can see they're under cover race and some large out of yards that then feed into the Woolshed Hamish Thorn, cogent up WA set of Aussie stock yards here with some really large out of yards close to Silo's here if there was some supplementary footing down the track this is an Aussie stock yard set of yards again it's a more K-Rail style formed profile rail set of yards and Hamish has done a nice job here this is the set of yards that had the loading ramp sort of dug into the hill so quite a neat setup there of Hamish's and also feeds into the Woolshed as you can see this example came from Mount Elephant Station in Victoria it's a set of Norton yards that have been really fit with some solid panelling incorporating a Tapari auto drafter and a Combi Clamp handler this set of yards is all about flow make sure that animal flow is good and certainly that solid panelling aids that a set of yards here built by a commander Agquip for Barry and Jared West at Coolland in WA quite a big set of yards a single race design bugle horn feeding into that and some large out of yards incorporating diamonds so that sheep can be shifted in between any of those pens really nice design obviously leads into the shearing shed there and as you can see some large out of yards have been sort of incorporated as well one of the last sheep yard designs we'll look at is this one from the Karen Paul Marino stud in New South Wales it's a pro way built set of yards and they've also got a pro way drafter as well as a Combi Clamp handler beautiful set of yards all under cover really really well done obviously you know these yards are quite expansive and a lot of surface area so the water tank there is a handy addition as well might as well use some of that roof area so the Karen guys have got quite an investment in livestock infrastructure and we'll have a look at their cattle yards in just a tick this is the Karen Marino stud this is their cattle yards and as you can see one of the interesting features of this design is the central lane way that feeds out of pens well it's actually a hexagonal sort of pen there in the centre that allows the flow of animals out of the direction and in and out of any part of the yard so a really interesting feature and an interesting design and as you can see that central octagonal pen allows movement of livestock all the way throughout the yards and the lane way that feeds through is a really interesting design the hard stand area under cover which is where the main forcing pen is there with a rotary forcing pen into the race and of course all the operations are pretty comfortably done under cover there I thought we'd also touch on cattle crushes while we're talking about yards just a couple of buying points a couple of things to look for if you are in the market for a cattle crush obviously quality of construction and the finishing make sure the crushes fit for purpose if you're doing a lot of larger animals make sure that it will handle a larger animal well make sure all the mechanisms are easy to use releases are easy to use and fast to release make sure the adjustment for sizes is also simple to use as well so in a lot of cases we'll put livestock through these crushes that are range of sizes we need to be able to adjust them accordingly make sure the length in that context is also appropriate and make sure for regular animal husbandry practices like vaccination access is good need to be able to open those side gates if an animal does go down so you can get them back up again on their feet and also make sure that the backing gates are easy to use as well sometimes they're the sort of things that can make a crush more simple to use or easy to use over another we talked about the chin restraint make sure that functions well and is also adjustable we need to be able to make sure the machine is easy to maintain that the barred yoke is solid and well constructed that's the area that often cops a pretty hard time in the life of a cattle crush we also want to make sure that the kick gate is also foot operated so you don't want to be putting your head or your hands down there you won't be able to kick that with your feet continuing along we also want to make sure that vet and rear gates can be opened from inside so if you are in there or doing something you need to be able to crack the gate open that you can actually access those latches from inside the vet cage we want to be able to make sure that latches can be unlatched under load if there is some force on them you don't want that to be limiting and jamming the actual latch itself so single handed latch operations two handed latches you are always going to have something in your hand so you want to be able to operate it with one hand we also want the ability to split those side gates or open them as one in a lot of cases it's just a simple vertical latch that either locks those two gates together so that they can be operated as one or split and operated individually there needs to be a sliding gate behind the vet cage so that you can get in and out of there safely and make sure that bottom rail doesn't on the crush doesn't cause the gap isn't big enough to be able to hold for a leg and trap it, that's the last thing we need we want to make sure that the floor is easy to clean out we also want to make sure there is a nice clear view for cattle flow you don't want any obstructions or anything that might bore cattle as they are running through okay from a safety perspective there is a couple of considerations we need to think about or that there is nothing that protrudes or pushes out from the crush that might hurt us or injures as we are walking around it we need to make sure that those handles aren't at head height we are going to hit our head on them or when we have got our head down we are looking around and we are not going to lift our head and hit it on any of the handles we need to make sure equally that head clearance is good inside the crush and that means that it is high enough we need to make sure that operation of the crush not only does it mean that cattle will be less flighty it also means that at the end of the day the operator isn't deafened by a hole over noise going on there and can actually converse with other operators in the yard we need to make sure the floor is non-slip we need to make sure that all parts of the animal can be accessed that we need to access safely so that might include small latch gates that just give us access to the shoulder or the neck or whatever it might be without having to open an entire large panel we want to make sure that there are escape routes for the operator if they get into trouble that lower vet gate, as I said before, needs to be kick shut, all four are operated one thing we don't want to be doing is bending over and having to operate with our heads down around animals in a crush levers should be calicoted for safety and also fold away so that they don't cause any injury and also padded grip handles are a good idea that certainly make things a little bit easier to hold and also reduce the propensity of those things to cause any injury and that's all we have time for today and I'd like to thank you for listening to this talk. It connects South Australia.