Sheep Handling

Enhanced safety
A safer working environment is created, as a handling system reduces injury to both the sheep and handler

Improved animal welfare
This seamlessly moves into this point, due to the reduced number of injuries, you will see an improvement to the animal’s welfare. Along with the fact a handling system is proven to reduce stress and therefore improve overall wellbeing.

Bespoke
At Thorburns we can design you a system completely bespoke to your individual requirements, whether that is utilising an area of dead space or accommodating a specific breed.

Increased efficiency
A handling system helps you complete tasks quicker and easier, saving you time and labour. This makes it more straightforward to monitor and manage your flock, and the various tasks needing completed.

Return on investment
With efficiency increased savings are made on labour and resources. Our handling systems are designed so they last for years to come, using strong and sturdy materials.

Much like cattle handling, there are numerous different options for sheep handling systems, and no one is better than the other, the most suitable option really depends on the infrastructure of your farm.

The most popular option at the minute is the mobile handling unit which you can set up in the field, the Clipex Sheep Handler is an example of this option. Thorburn Group are the main agents for Clipex in the UK. The mobile unit is perfect if your sheep are scattered miles apart, or you don’t have a central base to work on. Another positive of the sheep handler is it calms the sheep down, as it applies slight pressure to them, which is perfect when you need to work on the sheep.

There are a few different options for equipment that is used to handle sheep. There is a dozing race, which is first filled with sheep, then the stockman goes in to the back of the race to doze the sheep, once each one is dozed they put the sheep behind them, working until they reach the front of the pen.

Another handling option is a shedding race, where the sheep are single file and they run through the race, there is a gate at the end which separates them into one pen or another. They are separated based on the farmers requirements or policy. This could be weight, blood line, sex, twin, singles, triplets. There are a number of different ways you can shed sheep using the sheep race. We stock the Clipex V-Draft Race, which is perfect for shedding sheep manually.

Please contact us for more information on each option. We also stock hurdles, pens and gates, if you are building a system.

While a bespoke sheep handling system boasts a huge number of benefits including an increase in efficiency and speed, the biggest by far is the fact they can be made to suit your steading. Regardless of the awkward size or shape of your steading, we can create a system that fits perfectly provides an effective solution.