Why Your Farm Should Have a Custom Cattle Yard Design
While a good craftsman never blames his tools, it’s also undeniable that the right tools makes a job easier. Having the right cattle yard on your farm is no different. All too often, we hear from farmers who have been breaking their backs because their yards make their jobs harder. Optimising the flow of cattle becomes a lot easier with a custom cattle yard design.
Custom Cattle Yard Design
In addition to promoting the flow of livestock far more effectively than pre-planned designs, custom cattle yard designs are built to the exact requirements of your farm. Not unlike fitting a square shape into a round hole, pre-planned cattle yards are often clumsily placed in spaces, which present challenges. On many farms the location of a cattle yard is often set for one reason or another. In situations like these, nothing beats the adaptability of a custom cattle yard design. Existing fence lines, structures and other obstacles or features can be incorporated into the design or worked around as needed.
Cattle Behaviour
As natural herders, cattle like to follow the path taken by the herd. Some cattle yard designs fail to consider natural instinct and other behaviours which can make handling tasks easier.
Poor quality cattle yard designs can present serious challenges when handling animals. One issue is stressed animals which become a danger to themselves, other livestock and any handlers in the yard. A custom cattle yard design accounts for all behaviours, balancing them with the physical limitations and requirements of the site.
Promoting Flow
Custom cattle yard designs can be carefully planned to promote the flow of livestock on your farm. By taking into account site location, slope, shade and a variety of other factors, custom designs can save handlers time and effort when moving and working with cattle. The elimination of corners in the yard is popular because it encourages animals to ring or to move around in a circle. Without corners, there’s no natural end or place to stop and cattle are free to continue moving with each other until they need to exit a given yard. By promoting flow in this manner, a custom yard increases safety for both handlers and livestock.
Built Specifically for Your Farm
Steel fabricators can work closely with you to consider and address any specific features or nuances that exist on your farm. A custom design’s flexibility means that compromises are rarely required in the layout of the cattle yard. For instance, an existing design might have a gate that can only face a certain way in order to fit into the site space. This might mean cattle are forced to face the sun or endure other obstacles. A custom cattle yard design can be shaped so that these kinds of issues never present. CAD software can also allow farmers to visualise exactly how the design will fit into their farm.
Just like a tailored piece of clothing, a cattle yard built specifically to your requirements will always be a better fit than a catalogue selection. The right yard is the one that addresses the specifics of your farm and keeps people and animals safe. For more information on custom cattle yard designs, get in touch with the team at Steel Supplies Charters Towers.