GB2386310A

GB2386310A - Livestock handling crate

Info

Publication number: GB2386310A
Application number: GB0311845A
Authority: GB
Inventors: George Candlish Clark
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1999-05-19
Filing date: 2000-05-19
Publication date: 2003-09-17
Anticipated expiration: 2020-05-19
Also published as: GB2386309A; GB2386310B; GB2386309B; GB0311844D0; GB0311845D0

Abstract

A livestock handling crate having an elongate upper body restraining member 16 extending along one side thereof which can move upwardly and inwardly of the crate to provide additional access to an upper portion of the animal in the crate. The restraining member preferably moves by means of rollers 12 at each end thereof and corresponding runners (10, Figs 4a and 4b) on the crate.

Description

1 "Livestock Handling Apparatus " 3 This invention relates to livestock

handling apparatus.

5 When treating livestock, and especially cattle, it is 6 well known to restrain the animal in a handling crate 7 having at one end a headgate. The animal's head passes 8 through the gate which then partially closes to prevent 9 withdrawal, while its body is contained within the 10 crate by side walls and a rump bar passing round the 11 rear of the animal. Side doors are provided on the 12 crate to give the farmer easy access to the animal. A 13 traditional problem has been to provide sufficient 14 access while still preventing substantial movement of 15 the animal, which can struggle before and during 16 treatment with consequent injury to itself and to the 17 farmer.

19 It is known to provide a horizontal main steel bar 20 extending along the side of the crate at a height of 21 about a metre from the base, below which the doors open 22 and close, and this gives reasonable lateral restraint 23 for the animal. However, many operations such as

1 cleaning have to be carried out manually at the rear of 2 the animal at the height of its thighs, and the bar 3 tends to interfere and make such operations awkward to 4 carry out.

6 In addition, while the rump bar provides rear restraint 7 for the animal it does not prevent the animal from 8 kicking its hind legs which again can be dangerous for 9 the animal and for the farmer.

11 A further disadvantage of some existing crates is that 12 access to the upper parts of the animal are restricted 13 by steel bars extending along the sides of the crate 14 above the doors and the horizontal main bar. To 15 improve this it has been suggested to split these bars 16 midway along their Jength and provide them with hinges 17 so that they can be pivoted outwardly in the manner of 18 gates when access to the animal is required. This 19 causes the gates to project outwardly from the side of 20 the crate at which the farmer is working, and can cause 21 him injury.

23 According to the present invention there is provided 24 livestock handling equipment comprising a handling 25 crate having an upper-bodyrestraint elongate member 26 extending along one side thereof, the elongate member 27 being movable upwardly and inwardly of the crate to 28 provide additional access to an upper portion of an 29 animal in the crate.

31 The movement of the upper-body-restraint elongate 32 member is preferably provided by means of rollers at

1 each end thereof engaging corresponding runners on the 2 crate. The runners preferably include a portion shaped 3 to direct the movement of the rollers and thereby also 4 of the elongate member from a vertical to a horizontal 5 direction and vice versa; said horizontal movement is 6 inward of the crate.

8 The upper-body-restraint elongate member preferably 9 comprises a plurality of spaced bars extending along 10 the side of the crate.

12 The spaced bars preferably move from a vertically 13 spaced relationship to a generally horizontally-spaced 14 relationship 16 An embodiment of the invention will now be described by 17 way of example with reference to the accompanying 18 drawings, in which: 20 Fig. 1 (a), (b), (c) and (d) are respectively 21 front, top, side and rear views of a cattle 22 handling crate of this invention; 24 Fig. 2 (a), (b), (c) and (d) are views 25 corresponding to those of Fig. 1, with side doors 26 omitted and upper restraint bars in their out-of 27 use position; 29 Fig. 3 is a side view of the upper restraint bars 30 shown in Fig. 1;

1 Fig. 4 (a) and (b) are perspective views of the 2 front and rear track members respectively for the 3 upper restraint bars shown in Figs. 1 and 2; 5 Fig. 5 (a) and (b) are side views of rear and 6 front side doors respectively of the crate of Fig. 7 1; and 9 Fig. 6 (a) and Fig 6 (b) are respectively a side 10 view of a portion of the rear door of Fig. 5 (a) 11 with the kick bar in its out-of-use position and a 12 rear view corresponding to Fig. 6 ( a) with the 13 kick bar in its in-use position.

15 Referring to the drawings, the cattle handling crate of 16 this embodiment of the invention has a frame indicated 17 generally by the reference numeral 2 comprising a lower 18 portion 4 and an upper portion of end track members 19 and 8 whose opposed faces have channels 10 formed in 20 them which receive rollers 12 mounted on pins 14 at 21 each end of side restraint members 16. These restraint 22 members consist of a pair of longitudinal spaced bars 23 18 from the lower of which depends an angled lower 24 strut 20 connected at one end to one of a pair of end 25 supports 22 27 Below the restraint members 16 an angled beam 24 28 extends along the length of the crate, having an 29 inclined rear portion 24a which descends from a height 30 of 1320mm above a base 26 where it joins the rear of 31 the frame 2 to a height of 960mm at a front portion

1 24b. The front portion 24b is horizontal and extends 2 along about onethird the length of the frame 2.

4 Between the beam 24 and the base 26 of the crate are a 5 pair of doors 28a and 28b hinged to the rear and front 6 of the frame 2 respectively, and lockable to the base 7 26 through bolts 44 which can be released by a foot bar 8 32. The doors 28a and 28b are inclined inwardly of the 9 crate towards the base 26 along fold lines 31a and 31b 10 respectively.

12 At a front portion of the rear doors 28a kick bars 34 13 are mounted on pivot pins 36 each passing through a 14 pair of supports 38. An operating handle 40 extends 15 from an upper portion of each kick bar 34 and is used 16 to pivot the kick bar 34 between an upright out-of-use 17 position as shown in Fig 6(a) where it lies 18 substantially flush with the rear door 28a and a 19 horizontal in-use position as shown in Fig 6(b) where 20 it extends in a direction across the crate. Thus in 21 their in- use positions the kick bars 34 co-operate to 22 form a generally continuous barrier across the crate at 23 a height of 600mm above the base 26; the kick bars 34 24 can be locked in their in-use and out-of-use positions 25 by means of sliding bolts 30.

27 In their out-of-use position, the sliding bolts 30 pass 28 through the supports 38 along one side of the kick bar 29 34 adjacent the handles 40. Each kick bar 34 is 30 prevented from pivoting in one direction by the sliding 31 bolt 30 and in the other direction by the operating 32 handle 40 which lies flush with one of the supports 38.

1 To move the kick bar 34 into an in-use position, the 2 sliding bolt 30 is removed and the handle 40 is lowered 3 towards the base 26, pivoting the kick bar 34 about 4 pivot pin 36 into a horizontal position. The sliding 5 bolt 30 is then passed through the supports 38 to 6 restrict movement of the kick bar 34 to an out-of-use 7 position. 9 In use, the front end of the crate is secured to a 10 headgate (not shown) for receiving and restraining the 11 head of an animal, for example, a cow or bull.

13 The animal's body extends from the headgate along the 14 inside of the crate, and the doors 28a and 28b and side 15 restraint members 16 protect the farmer from injury in 16 the event of the animal becoming agitated.

18 Once in place in the crate, the animal may be further 19 restrained by a rump bar (not shown) extending from the 20 frame and around the hind quarters of the animal. The 21 kick bars 34 are then pivoted into their in-use 22 position in which they extend across the crate 23 intermediate the front and rear legs of the animal.

25 Access to the animal can then be gained by opening 26 outwardly either or both of the doors 28a and 28b on 27 each side of the crate, although it should be 28 appreciated that opening the rear doors 28a takes the 29 kick bars 34 out of their in-use position; this can 30 provide a safety release in the event of the animal 31 going down in the crate. The beam 24 maintains side 32 restraint for the animal and protects the farmer from

1 the animal's sudden lateral movement The kick bars 34 2 prevent the farmer being injured by the animal kicking 3 its hind legs and co-operate with the rear doors 28a to 4 prevent the animal twisting sideways. The inclination 5 of the beam 24 at its rear portion 24a allows clear 6 access to the animal's hind quarters for cleaning and 7 other operations.

9 For access to the upper parts of the animal, either or lo both of the restraint members 16 are lifted to cause 11 the rollers 12 to run upwardly and then inwardly of the 12 crate along the channels 10 of the track members 6 and 13 8 until they engage central stops 38 on the track 14 members 6 and 8; in that position the restraint members 15 are parked well away from the working area.

17 The crate of this embodiment of the invention thus 18 provides a safe and easily-adaptaLle crate for 19 restraining an animal while the farmer works on it.

21 Modifications and improvements may be made without 22 departing from the scope of the invention

Claims

1 Claims

3 1. Apparatus for handling livestock comprising a 4 handling crate having an upper-body-restraint 5 elongate member extending along one side 6 thereof, the elongate member being moveable 7 upwardly and inwardly of the handling crate.

9

2. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 wherein 10 movement of the elongate member is provided by 11 means of rollers at each end thereof which 12 engage corresponding runners on the crate.

14

3. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 2 wherein the 15 runners include a portion shaped to direct the 16 movement of the rollers and thereby also of 17 the elongate member from a vertical to a 18 horizontal direction and vice versa.

20

4. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim 21 wherein the elongate member comprises a 22 plurality of spaced bars extending along the 23 side of the crate.

25

5. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 4 wherein the 26 spaced bars move from a vertically-spaced 27 relationship to a generally horizontally 28 spaced relationship.

30

6. Apparatus for handling livestock substantially 31 as hereinbefore described with reference to 32 the accompanying drawings.