The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Harebell on September 04, 2014, 11:23:10 am
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I’m trying to improve my semi-permanent sheep race/holding area for my small flock of sheep. I think it would help if I had some hurdles with solid sides, so the sheep can’t see through them and I can direct them through the race part easier. Does anyone know where I can get some cheap(ish) solid sided hurdles or know how I can adapt normal lightweight galvanised hurdles for this task? :sunshine:
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Seen something on the internet were they used the green wind protection stuff for allotements attached to the fence and hurdles. Seemed to work for them ?
We made our race out of pallets and filled in the gaps at the bottom, works for our Boreray :thumbsup:
Put round posts inside each pallet and knocked them in the ground, very sturdy :sheep:
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We have a hurdle and gate man who turns up on the doorstep about once a year, with a trailer load of his wares. We bought solid sided hurdles from him a few years back, as well as a sliding divider for separating out the sheep into two groups. The solid ones are very heavy but otherwise have done us well. The top part is open for the depth of one bar in normal hurdles and lambs can hop through this (they climb on their dams' backs) so we put ordinary hurdles round the outside when the lambs are young. Our main reason for using the solid sided hurdles is to prevent damage to the horns of multi-horned Hebs, as these are quite delicate in lambs.
Now I know you'll want to know how to contact this chap.....well, I haven't got a clue ;D, he just turns up. But I think if you were to google hurdle and gate fabricators you might be lucky. His family make all the gates etc and I think he's based somewhere like Lancashire.
Aha - Mr F has just said the contact details are on the hurdles, so when we go up there we'll check for you.
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Stockpen Ltd 07780 532 078 Only a phone number on the hurdles. I'm assuming they deliver all over the country, or they wouldn't come up here.
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We used the wind protection stuff to fairly good effect when putting up a race prior to our sheep being sheared. It definitely made a difference to their calmness on the day. We put it all together about a week before and fed them treats beside it daily and some took to sleeping in the race as it more sheltered !
Our back up plan it that hadn't worked was to get some sheets of marine ply, treat with preservative, and attach to the hurdles we have. If it was done with cable ties the extra panels could be removed when not needed.
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Googling has them in East Kilbride - but that could be just the registered office. Sounds like it might be a Scottish operation, anyway.