Crush

Tim Watson · Post by **Tim Watson** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 8:06 pm

Is a crush an essential piece of equipment? I am told they are about £1000 new which is beyound out budget at the moment (moving costs, stamp duty, unforeseens etc) and that the secondhand ones are usually in a very poor state.
Is it a case of trawling the farm sales and do Dexters need a smaller size one?

Tim Watson · Post by **Tim Watson** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 8:07 pm

Apologies for typo's - must type slower and proof read before clicking!!

Saffy · Post by **Saffy** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 8:43 pm

Hello Tim,

If you really can't afford a crush you should think very carefully about how you are going to immobilise your cattle every time you need to read an ear tag, check and udder, put a calf to suckle, look at a lame foot, AI a cow, do a TB test etc etc!

Yes there are other ways to it BUT my adage is IF you think you are going to end up buying one in 2 years time - why not buy it now make your life easier and have the use of it for longer?

The one I bought is a yearling crush for other cattle, known as a yearling or Dexter crush. It cost about £750 I think. I fed my first few the other side of it the first winter. So they had to walk through it to the trough twice a day and they got used to its confines, before I had to shut them in it and they all walk through without blinking an eye - a bit of cowology.

Stephanie

Martin · Post by **Martin** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 10:17 pm

As soon as I decided to get cattle I purchased a cattle handling system and a crush. Although it was a large expence it has proved invaluable. I am often on my own, and to be able to handle cattle safely and with ease has been a godsend not just for me but also for the cattle. I have in the past assisted freinds that have a hotch potch of gates and old hurdles tied together with bale string and have experienced some right nightmares.
I would not say that a crush is esential as most of the work I do is done in the race not in the crush, but TB testing, pregnancy diagnosis etc. are a hell of a lot easier with one.

Pennielea · Post by **Pennielea** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 12:48 am

Here in N.Ireland you would not be issued with a Herd No.(i.e permission to keep cattle) without adequate handling facilities which includes a crush. Department of Agr. will no longer carry out TB testing unless a crush is in place. If you have some scrap and are able to do a bit of welding as most farmers are you might keep your eyes open for a discarded crush. Usually they are rotten at the bottom but saw off six inches and put in a new floor they are an ideal size for Dexters. In the last series of 'Scrapheap Challenge' there was a perfectly good crush on the top of the heap but they never found a use for it- I would have gladly recycled it!

Ian

bjreroberts · Post by **bjreroberts** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:01 am

Tim,

I bought my crush for £40 from a collective sale, all it needed was the wood floor replacing. A neighbour recently bought one for £30 which needed a bit of welding but he got that done for £30.

Also look on eBay there are a few in there currently at £100-200, the last one I watched to the end went for £192.

Woodmagic · Post by **Woodmagic** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:18 am

I must have kept Dexters for at least 15 years before I had a crush, then I had one made for me that cost around £100! Fortunately we don’t live in Ireland train your animals, handle them quietly, and smile nicely at your vet. Give yourself plenty of time, you won’t need it providing you feel relaxed, Dexters always sense your mood. You haven’t got 40 animals – yet!
Save your capital for the important things. You need a small area preferably a loose box or a well-fenced yard, a hinged gate and put your animal behind it. If you have trained it to a halter, it alone will suffice for many things. Sooner or later you will pick up a reasonably priced second-hand crush.
Beryl (Woodmagic)

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:21 am

We use a standard-sized crush, and IAE Warrior. It's a fairly simple crush and cost me £750 five years ago? The fact it is full size has not been any problem even with tiny cows. Only young calves can turn around in it which isn't a problem.

Warrior Crush: http://www.iae.co.uk/agricultural/iaecrushes.htm#top.

However, with most reasonably calm animals you can get by with two gates (or one and a fence), and a piece of good rope and knowledge of how to tie a slip clove hitch knot. Both inside our barns and out on the fields, I will get a cow behind a gate up against a fence (or another gate) and have a stout rope behind her running from the fence to the gate at lower-bum height. The rope acts to stop her going backwards. I then sometimes halter her head if she is a bit jumpy, but usually I don't bother because she is shoved into the corner of the narrow triangle formed by the gate so her head can't move that much.

First job is to form a small coral in a field corner, get her in their with feed, get her nose in towards hinges of the gate, quickly close the gate on her and lift the rope which is tied to a fence post and was lying on thr ground and she has just walked over. Loop the rope around a gate rail, and form the slip-knot.

But it is imperative to use a slip knot. I use a Quick-Release Clove Hitch for everything on the farm. i.e. a Clove Hitch but with the end being passed through as a loop so with one pull if will release everything no matter what the strain is on the rope. It's the knot you use to tie fenders onto a sailing boat but do one extra turn before looping through. Just a rope of say 8mm diameter will suffice, bigger is fine. It would be a nightmare if something went wrong and you had tied the rope behind her with a conventional knot. Always have a sharp knife to hand.

It's hard to put in words, a sketch would make it seem simple!

What a vet will and will not do is very individual. We have had two vet practices, one would do nothing that was not in a proper crush and the other will wrestle a cow to the ground by hand if he has to. The former is more common!

You could also make a crush of sorts with post and small gates in a field corner or passage. I have seen them made out of wood but then you can't open them if the cow gets in a funny position.

Edited By Broomcroft on 1259397031

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:35 am

PS. Or another option could be to make a simple race with gates or fencing, and at the end put in a yoke. IAE do yokes and they are just a single panel like the end of a crush; they stick their head through and you close it with a lever. Probably cost about £200? That's a guess.

Also, looking at the Warrior crush on the page, it looks like the sides don't open up, but mine do! So maybe they've changed the design or mine is a Crusader. You want the side panels to open up if you do decide to spend that money eventually.

Edited By Broomcroft on 1259397609

Saffy · Post by **Saffy** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 10:10 am

I think most any crush has sides that open these days and it is vital, that the front bits open for de horning, or ringing a bull and equally vital that the sides open for anything around the stomach and underbelly such as suckling a calf or foot trimming.

You mentioned the vet Clive - I am sure the vets spirits raise a point or two if he/she sees a nice crush and race! :D I have heard mention of the opposite affect of a frail farmer holding a bent hurdle mentioned.

Also when the vets first came to my Dexters, (as the practice I used for my main farming no longer do large animals,) we started with a new practice, so they didn't know what to expect. The first vet to come here expressed surprise and delight that we had a crush for our Dexters and that they were quiet as she had been warned about Dexters - they were wild and told that the hobby type owners don't have handling facilities. I was so glad I and my girls didn't fit the categories.

So I am quite sure some handling that works is vital - try it - test it BEFORE you need it. It doesn't have to be a crush but it must work and IS important for ,a good relationship with your vet and AI technician if you have one.

Stephanie

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 1:24 pm

Mine's definately a Warrior Crush and it opens up front and sides/belly. Here's a video which if nothing else will show you what a simple crush does Tim....

http://www.iae.co.uk/images/warrior.wmv

davidw · Post by **davidw** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 2:58 pm

I paid £25 for my weigh crush. I admit it needed a few repairs but its been invaluable. I don't know how we would have managed without it especially when we had to dose one cow for bloat.

There are several crushes on e-bay right now for between £100 and £250.

Martin · Post by **Martin** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 6:11 pm

Yours is exactly the same as mine Clive, I found it to be a good bit of kit. I also bought mine about five years ago for about the same money. I am now considering getting some weigh scales to stand it on as I am thinking I may wish to record a bit more.

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 6:22 pm

Yes, very pleased with my crush as well.

I'm just doing the very same Martin with weighing. I'm looking at Cox who supply FX-Iconix and also Pharmweigh. Both bits of kit seem to cost £800-1000 including the reader/display thing. Spoke to the Cox guy and he explained how the simple reader does a zeroing every time a cow gets off, so it automatically takes account of any 'manure' left behind.

The wide load bars (for crushes) come with a special kit for the Warrior crush and they're ex-stock. Pharmweigh sound good but they talk about having to make things.

I'd really like to be able to accurately weigh occasionally. Definitely going to go for something.

Also looked at mechanical ones from someone (Ritchie?) but they were not much cheaper so couldn't see the point.

Have you got anywhere yet?

Edited By Broomcroft on 1259429124

Post by **Mark Bowles** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:29 pm

I have an IAE galvanised yearling crush, also an IAE crush the same size as the warrior but with less side panels.
My cows are halter trained so i can do a lot in the field anyway. The yearling crush we have had from the first year we had dexters, a must for those nasty situations when you are on your own and need to strip milk out, foot inspection ect.
We bought the larger crush 4/5 years ago to cope with the bulls that didn't fit in the yearling crush, its something i would not be without, i seldom need it but feel safer when i do.
If you are new to cattle, buy yourself a crush, you and your cattle can then be safer.