Cattle Handling

Skilfully designed to your farm

For over 20 years our livestock experts have been offering fully bespoke cattle handing systems to our customers with the aim of making their farms a safer place to work, while also increasing productivity.

What’s even better, as the systems are designed bespoke, it means you can add features totally unique to your farm. Have an unused area on the farm that’s on an incline? You can build a system on that! Or do you have wasted space in between two sheds? You can utilise that space by installing a safe & efficient handling system.

Our Services

When you purchase a cattle handling system with Thorburn Group, we will carry out the whole project from start to finish. Take a look through the services that are included.

If you have an idea in mind and you’d like to talk it through with our designers to see how feasible it is, get in touch today.

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What can we include in a Cattle Handling system?

You may be thinking that there aren't many ways to customise a cattle handling system, but you would be surprised with all the different elements we can add into a bespoke system to ensure all requirements are met and you end up with a system that truly transforms cattle handling operations.

The standard flow of a cattle handling system we would recommend would be the following:

Holding Pens -> Forcing Tub / Forcing Pens -> Race (S-Race / Adjustable Race) -> Air Gates / Adjustable Gates -> Cattle Crush -> Foot Bath -> Shedding Gate -> Holding Pens

Of course, there are many ways this flow can be customised depending on what you need to do to your cattle when in the system.

There are other elements we can add in that will only enhance this flow, making it easier for you to work on your cattle. One which is really popular is to add in raised walkways, designed to follow the flow of the race while also incorporating man escapes so there are exit routes from the cattle. Due to the raised aspect, this means it is really easy to handle your cattle, as you have a better view of the flow and the system.

Another thing that could be added in is a loading bay, designed to suit the area where the system is located. This can create a significantly reduced ramp, allowing for stress free loading and unloading of the animals.

Explore our image gallery below to see a few of our recent projects...

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Cattle Handling Product Range

As well as our bespoke systems, we also stock a number of products, including top of the range cattle crushes, which can help make your cattle handling easier. Discover the full Clipex and Premier ranges below.

CLIPEX >

PREMIER >

How to choose the right crush?

We stock a number of cattle crushes from cattle crates to Manual Crushes and even pnuematic, air and hydraulic.

With so many options available, it can be hard to know which one is right for you. If you are feeling stuck, then take a look at our blog which breaks down each of our crushes and what the differences are to help you figure out the right model for your farm and cattle.

Read the Blog

We can accommodate your specific requirements to enhance animal handling with a bespoke system.

Our Livestock designers have over 30 years’ experience working with cattle, so whether it's adding a forcing tub or utilising dead space, no request is too much. Get in touch to find out how we can help.

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FAQS - Cattle Handling

What are the benefits of a cattle handling system?

A cattle handling system is a way to hold cattle in a safe manner and feed them into a cattle crush, allowing the stockman to work on them.

It is very important to have good cattle flow in your handling system to keep the animals calm, meaning that your system should be designed by someone who has an understanding of cattle behaviour and effective livestock handing techniques. Luckily, here at Thorburn Group, we have one of the top livestock handling experts in the country, Ian, who has worked with livestock for over 30 years, in which time he has developed a deep knowledge of what systems the cattle react well to.

Ian has designed systems all over the UK, creating a reputation as one of the best in the business. If you are considering investing in a cattle handling system, get in touch with us today.

What equipment is needed to handle cattle?

There are a few key pieces of equipment that are needed to handle cattle efficiently. One basic essential is you need strong, robust gates. We can make bespoke gates to fit whatever size your cattle court is.

The second is a cattle race, which is a system providing a safe means to feed the cattle from where you lead them towards a cattle crush. This allows the stockmen to move the animals safely, confident they won’t be escaping. A race also allows you to work with fewer stockmen, reducing your man hours.

Finally, the most crucial piece of equipment is a cattle crush. This is where you will restrain the cattle in order to work on them, whether that is weighing them, dozing or any other routine procedures.

The ideal set up for any farm holding cattle will be the following:

Cattle Court > Holding Pens > Forcing Tub > Race > Cattle Crush

If you are looking for advice on what the best set up is for your farm, get in touch with our livestock expert Ian, who will be able to offer his advice, and provide you with a quote for a bespoke system.

What is the simplest way to restrain cattle?

Depending on what part of the animal you are looking to restrain, will determine the appropriate piece of kit. The simplest way to restrain cattle is with a cattle crush.

There are many different types of cattle crushes on the market, here at Thorburns we offer a few different variations, including Manual Crates, Manual Squeeze Crushes and Hydraulic Variations. Discover our full collection here.

Robust and strong gates will also help you restrain your cattle, as they direct the animal to the desired location, as well as lowering the risk of injury to the handlers.

If you are looking to control the head of your livestock, a chin scoop on a good head yoke is your best option. This keeps their head locked in one place. It is always best to be safe, view our collection of headstock here, including our patented forward catch headgate.

What are the types of handling facilities for cattle?

There are a number of different handling facilities for cattle, the first one is a mobile unit, which is a trailer, with a race attached at the back, that transports your cattle crush to where the cattle are located. This is an ideal solution for farms whose cattle are spread out over miles of land, or not all located on the same farm. It works as the race goes into a funnel, then the cattle funnel through the race into the crush safely.

A fixed cattle handling system is best for farms where all the cattle is located close together. This is a unit that is built in the yard, and you bring the cattle to it, using holding pens and a race, to guide the cattle into the cattle crush.

What should you consider before investing in a livestock handling system?

If you have decided you would like to invest in a handling system, there are a few things you should consider when in the planning stages.

These are our top 5 considerations:

Numbers: How many animals do you have? How many will you bring out at a time?

Drafting: How do you currently draft your animals? How would you ideally like to draft them with the new system?

Features: Are there any different features you would like to add, such as a forcing tub, drafting facility or loading facility.

Finish: What finish do you want on the system? This is a pretty crucial decision, so having a good idea before the design process starts is always a benefit.

Design: Do you have any thoughts on how you would like the system to fit your yard? We are always more than happy to work to a customers specific requirements, as we want you to get the most out of your system.