Crush saves trim time on goat unit
A simple levered crush has cut the time it takes to trim a goat’s foot to less than five minutes per animal on a Welsh milk production unit – and made the job more comfortable too.
Milk producer Pete Jenkins, who runs a herd of 500 goats, developed his own crush to make foot-trimming both easier and quicker.
Foot care is fundamental to the management system at Dyffryn Farm, Llanboidy, Carmarthenshire. The milkers need their feet trimmed up to three times a year, which previously meant standing the goats up and bending to lift their feet.
“Doing 10 was OK, but it was a real chore. I was working in my own light and the bending really took its toll on my back,” says Mr Jenkins, who farms in partnership with his wife, Bun.
“We knew someone who was using a roll-over crate, but goats don’t have the fleece and packing of sheep and their large udder is a problem too. Basically, goats don’t like being put on their bottoms, they like being stood up.”
He realised he needed something that would give him all round access and keep the goats secure at a comfortable working height.
He designed a galvanised steel crush which incorporates a simple system of levers. “It has made life a lot easier. It takes between four and five minutes a goat,” he says. “We can get through 80 goats in a single day, which we couldn’t have done previously.”
If he is trimming a kid’s feet he can remove the sides of the crush and keep the kid secure by locking its head in the yoke. If he needs to make the yoke narrower he uses cardboard secured with insulation tape. For portability, the crush has retractable wheels.
It has proved useful for many jobs aside from foot-trimming. “It is really useful if we are injecting a goat, changing an eartag or clipping the udder,” says Mr Jenkins “Our vet likes it too if he needs to examine or stitch a goat.”
The crush has improved the system at Dyffryn Farm and made expansion easier. This year the Jenkinses will be milking 280 goats. Although they currently milk in a 16/32 parlour, they are upgrading it to a 24/48 to cut milking times by an hour.
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