Auto Drafting, Cattle Auto Drafting
Saving labour and time with an Auto Drafting Cattle Crush
Written by Aimee Johnston
Alister Paul farms on a 440HA property called Merrydale which is just north of Balclutha. It is a finishing farm for Beaumont Station and they finish up to 1000 steers per year and about 10,000 lambs as well.
“A year and a half ago we looked at the Te Pari system with the automatic drafter. We wanted to improve our flow and everything in the yards. They came down and had a look, spent a day here looking at it (the site and existing yard set-up) and then they went away and came up with some plans and then we built what we have set up now. The stock flow has improved from having 2 or 3 people in the yards to being able to do it all by yourself now.” said Alister.
The old “bath tub” set up at the end of the race that the farm used to use was always a bit awkward. “We used to weigh them on scales and they’d move around a bit and being able to weigh in different mobs and things like that was always quite awkward.” Said Alister.
Alister got a Taurus HD3 Auto Cattle Drafter with a Te Pari Curved Race and C-Force System. Te Pari customised it to fit into the existing timber yards. The C-Force Gate System is a heavy-duty revolving steel gate which reduces the size of a circular force pen as the cattle enter the race. The gate locks quietly into the special gates of the circular pen every 0.5m, moving the cattle up to the race. This is a very safe and easy to use system to use.
The pen can hold approximately 15 head of cattle meaning the operator can process 2-3 race loads of cattle before having to refill from the main pens. Almost no need to climb into the forcing pen.
Why the Taurus HD3 Auto Drafter?
“Our main reason was flow and for health and safety. It’s very accurate on the scales now too, so we can kill them at the weights that the works want them. We’re weighing cattle a lot, so we’re using it to split cattle into mobs for a start and then once they’re split into mobs we’re using it to weigh off for the works.” Said Alister
By using the T30 weighing system Alister can monitor everything like daily weight gains, performance of different mobs, view animal history and even set up alerts for animals that have a holding period prior to slaughter.
“I do all the weighing myself now, they flow through the yard so easily and it’s simple. I can do all the weighing from the back of the yards just about once it’s all set-up. It’s become a very simple operation, you can sit at the back and open and shut your back gate and away they flow, they just keep going. We put 120 through there an hour, once they start going, you’ve just got to keep an eye on to make sure everything’s tight at the back.” Said Alister.
All Te Pari Cattle Yards are built with top quality Australian made oval tubing called Cattlerail on all horizontal rails. This tube has the strength of a square tube however the large flat side makes it animal friendly - no single pressure points and no sharp edges. Deflection analysis has shown that Cattlerail is the strongest in its class.
“Being the steel that they are if the cattle do bang on them they seem to flex a wee bit and it doesn’t seem to slow them down or anything like that. They can take the weight of those big cattle going through the yards all the time.” Said Alister.
The health and safety concern on Alister’s farm has come right down since installing the Te Pari system. He’s also saving time and labour because the speed that the animals go through yards has improved. He is really happy with how the whole system works now.
“The support you get from Te Pari is very good, like you only have to make one phone call if something’s not right and they’re there, they can talk to you straight away. They can fix it all up for you or show you or explain how to get through it. I would recommend them.” Said Alister
Watch the full video testimonial from Alister Paul
