FARMFEST

If cattle yards are the nerve centre of a property, cattle crushes are the beating heart.

Whether an operation handles just a few head a year or a few hundred thousand, well-designed crushes built with quality materials are essential to ensuring safe, humane and efficient handling of cattle, and keeping livestock handlers safe from injury.

Beef Central dropped into the opening day of FarmFest near Toowoomba this morning to explore a sample of the many cattle crushes on display at this year’s field day.

The crushes featured below are just a sample of the ranges each exhibitor has on display at FarmFest. And nor is this an exhaustive list, with more exhibitors also offering crushes that we didn’t manage to get to.

But we hope readers who can’t make it to the field day, and those planning to visit on Wednesday and Thursday, can get a sense of the diverse range of models to suit all enterprise scales and price-ranges that can be found along the laneways of FarmFest this year.

Te Pari Taurus Auto Sorting Crush, starts around $60,000

Automation genuinely means automation for New Zealand manufacturer Te Pari, with its Taurus crush allowing for drafting of livestock without any handles or buttons.

Duane Reddel with the Te Pari Taurus auto sorting crush.

Using any livestock management software, the Taurus can take pre-set information to automatically draft in up to five different directions. Cattle can be drafted on pre-set weights or categories based on NLIS or EID tags.

Head baling is also automated, with the head catch operating off a sensor that is set off when the animal moves through the crush.

Safety, data collection and reduced reliance on labour appear to be the main selling points for the Taurus – which allows for the operator to stand back and for minimal operation of gates.

Te Pari has been working with Meat & Livestock Australia to help automate some of the induction processes for the Australian feedlot industry – which concluded that there is a positive value proposition.

Speaking to Beef Central at Farm Fest, the company’s Duane Reddel said the crushes had also taken off in Southern Australian backgrounding operations, where there was a need for lot of weighing and high throughput of cattle.

Clipex 2000 auto, starts $65,000

Clipex is another company heavily investing in automating stock handling equipment, with its 2000 auto cattle crush allowing for full operation with remote controls and automatic drafting.

An automated round yard and race can be attached to the Clipex 2000, with all of the areas able to be operated from one point. The automated round yard has its own controls if a second operator is preferred.

Basically, the operator is in control of everything happening in front of the animal – with sensors closing gates behind them. Specifications for drafting can also be input using any livestock management software.

Lachie Knight with the Clipex 2000, one of the most elaborate automated cattle crushes at Farm Fest.

Like Te Pari, Clipex has been a big part of the development of automatic sheep handlers over the past decade.

The company’s Tamworth-based product specialist Lachie Knight said the success of automatic handling in the sheep industry and a shortage of labour across the board had driven demand for the automation of cattle crushes.

“You would look at a setup like this and think it is for a big operation, but it is really designed for an operation wanting to decrease its reliance on labour,” he said.

“You really only have room for two people in there, most likely the producer and the vet, anymore and it gets crowded.”

Leicht’s CIA Intro Hydraulic Pro-Chute, $33,000

From a manufacturing base in the small town of Goombungee near Toowoomba, family-owned business Leicht’s CIA (Country Industries Australia) has been making crushes and  full range of other livestock handling equipment for customers all over Australia and internationally for 40 years.

Among the many CIA crushes on display at the Dalby Rural Supplies site at FarmFest this year is the Leicht’s CIA Intro Hydraulic Pro-Chute.

Standard features include lever controlled operation, hydraulic MK5 headbail, double sided parallel squeeze or V-style squeeze options, hydraulic split rear door.

It can also operate on 3 Phase or Single Phase electric motor supplied with hydraulic power unit.

See video below of John Cullen from Dalby Rural Supplies demonstrating the Intro Hydraulic crush at FarmFest this morning:

Warwick Cattle Crush Hydraulic Exotic ZT – $29,800

Trained blacksmith Gary Stark from Stark Engineering has been constructing cattle crushes and other livestock handling equipment since he bought Warwick Cattle Crush in 1984, and operates in the Forest Hill premises his grandfather started Stark Engineering in way back in 1917.

Gary has now sold thousands of crushes to properties of all shapes and sizes across Australia, but also to a head-spinning array of countries all over the world.

Among the many crush models WCC has on offer at Farmfest is the Hydraulic Exotic ZT (pictured above), which features hydraulically operated parallel squeeze, full opening walk through and full walk through vet area, single cylinder hydraulic operation, dual nylon wheels on each door, rubber lined spring loaded headbail, three split gates on the nearside and two on the offside and a 100 x 50 x 5mm RHS “Duragal” base.

Like all WCC crushes it also includes the patented Warwick Cattle Crush side mounted scales (pictured left), which lift the scales off the ground, making them longer lasting and easier and cheaper to service. Warwick Cattle Crush Hydraulic Exotic ZT field day price $29,800.

Cavalier Super Squeeze, between $23,000 and $27,000

Cavalier Livestock’s Hamish Mienert giving a demonstration of the company’s super squeeze toggle crush.

Cavalier livestock equipment, based in Gympie Qld, was one of several companies keen to promote their use of air power for operating the cattle crush.

The Super Squeeze toggle is the company’s top of the market crush, with anywhere between three and seven toggles used to perform certain functions – the main ones being the head bale, the squeeze on the side of the crush and gates.

Speaking to Beef Central at Farm Fest, the company says the air function can apply up to 600kg of pressure. It moves the equipment in inch measurements to give the operator control over the amount of pressure on the livestock.

Cavalier says the air power is easy to maintain and the pressure can be adjusted with allen keys.

Commander Agriculture CC850 – $14,800

All the way from WA – Three generations of the Jackson family have been manufacturing livestock handling equipment along with grain augurs and on-farm storage for more than 30 years at Albany four hours south of Perth.

This year for the first year they are exhibiting on their own site at FarmFest.

The Commander CC850 pictured above is manual but is also available in air-operated or hydraulic models.

Brody Jackson (left) said it features double-side squeeze and wider wheel tracks and has been designed to generate maximum leverage.

“We’ve spent a lot of time working on this locking mechanism to provide maximum leverage,” he said. “We actually use the same ratchet style on the side squeeze as we do on the head bale.”

In addition to Albany WA, Commander also has a branch at Mount Gambier and a depot in Albury, NSW. Commander CC850 field day price: $14,800 (price includes delivery to Qld).

Red River River King, about $10,000

While automation of livestock handling was a selling point for some, New South Wales manufacturer Red River’s River King was all about durability and making sure it was easy to maintain.

The company’s Steve Dellow told Beef Central that the company was keeping it simple with the crushes, focusing on heavy duty steel that can last for a long time.

Steve Dellow in front of the Red River River King.

He said the range of crushes over his 20 years in the business had increased a lot – with a wide range of prices.

He said the company was focused on keeping the design simple, which then allows for technology to be retrofitted – including scales.

Asked how the company has managed over the last couple of years with supply of materials and labour, Mr Dellow said said with the company turning around 15 to 20 crushes per week they were well looked after by steel suppliers.

Rural Shop Warrego, $10,990

The range of cattle crushes made by the Rural Shop in Gatton.

Gatton-based Angela and Scott Malone responded to a growing backlog of cattle crushes during COVID by going into the business themselves – as Mr Malone had been working for another manufacturer for the past 20 years.

The Rural Shop’s range of crushes are also based on keeping it simple, with all manual handling and allowing for retrofitting where requested.

Ms Malone said over the years safety has become a big focus of the company’s equipment – particularly for women working the yards.

All the crushes allowed for front and rear operation, with chin bars fitted to help with ear tagging.

Brazzen Rural Products Premium Crush  – $6498

Andrew and Barb Wilkinson from Kilcoy, Qld, are the local distributors of Wagga Wagga, NSW, based Brazzen Rural Products in the Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley regions.

Among the crushes they have on display at FarmFest alongside a range of cattle handling yards and equipment is the Brazzen Premium Crush which includes 3mm gauge steel frame, walk through vet section, baulk gate, kick latch, Rump squeeze, triple top gates and double lower doors allow full access along animal, Auto lock rear sliding gate, and can handle calves and even sheep.

Premium Crush field day price: $6498

Tomorrow: What major changes in cattle crush design and features have occurred over the past 10 years? See what the experts at FarmFest had to say.