Calf Dehorning Crates

[Saffy]

I am considering buying a calf dehorning crate and am looking at an IAE.

They do both a small and a large, rather obviously I am thinking the small would likely be more suitable.

I have quotes for with and without handles and wheels.

Question do you use a dehorning crush, if so what make and what are the dimensions? Do you find them good? Are they too big for Dexters?

This is what IAE say about their crush:

Small Calf Dehorning Crate 915mm long x 380mm wide x 1020mm high c/w wooden floor
Optional wheels and handles if required
Calves walk in and back out
Yoke arm in fixed front section has adjustable ratchet catches
Supplied with adjustable wooden head rest and rope restraint
Supplied with belly strap and backing up bar

It will be an expensive item for me if I buy one but will probably last me a long time, I have their Yearling/Dexter crush bought new when I had my first Dexters, it is showing no signs of wear and I wouldn't be without it.

Any info about dehorning crates, let me know it might be useful...thanks!

Stephanie

[Mark Bowles]

I have one, I built a false floor as shorts cant reach the chin yoke. Be carefull when you use it, you can secure the calfs head with the rope attachment provided but the yoke can cut off the air supply, not good, but as long as you know this it should be fine.

[Jac]

I have the small IAE dehorning crush. It is an excellent aid but like Mark says you have to be very careful how you use it. It requires two people for safety reasons - one to do the disbudding and another to offer resistance at the back end of the calf as its natural instinct is to push back. If the calf manages to get its front leg in a position of leverage on the front of the crush, the back restraining bar flicks off allowing the calf to move backwards with potentially fatal results. By the time you have undone the rope attachment around the nose they have hung themselves.

[SteveM]

along same lines from us, bought the large IAE crush unused from a local farm sale, made a false bottom and smaller head board for it. since then bought a smaller Ritchie one that we can just pick up and carry, light enough to through over a gate. the large IAE comes in handy for vet to castrate 5-6 month old steers, and any jobs on them before the are big enough for our nugent and IAE cattle crushes which both have self locking headstocks

[Lyonoo]

Hi
I have only been keeping dexters for a couple of years and I am no where near as experienced as many people on this forum. I also had the your same problem I wanted to buy a crate for dehoring and banding my young calves but because of the size and the costs of the crates and I have so few dexters ( at the moment )I wasn’t confident that the crates on the market weren’t going to be the right size.
In the end I found this calf staller from www.oneilleng.ie in Ireland

I have used it a few times now and two people are required to used it but I am sure with experience it could be used by one person, even the vet that came to dehorn the calves was very impressed with it. It is well built and easily moved from shed to shed , you can adjust its height depending which rungs of the gate you attach it to and It could even used it in the field if required if you have a gate handy.

Hope that’s of some help

[Jac]

That looks very interesting Lyonoo. How quickly does it release?

[SteveM]

have seen one of those grafted onto a calf crush on a herd visit a couple of years ago

[Lyonoo]

That looks very interesting Lyonoo. How quickly does it release?

There is a quick release button that releases the paddle furthest away from the gate allowing the calf’s head to be released there also is a bar that comes down on top of the calves head to stop him throwing it upwards
There is a video on YouTube showing it in use I did try to attach the link but with no success so if you search for “ calf staller “ you should find it .

[Jac]

There we go - video at bottom of page.

http://www.oneilleng.ie/index.php/produ ... p-staller/

[Saffy]

Ordered a dehorning crate months ago and it arrived last week, so it got used today at last!

It has plus and minus points. As I had already been warned it IS easy to end up hanging a calf!!! This could have happened today! We had already decided we were going to put a false bottom in it but wanted to use it once and decide how deep it needed to be. It needs to be about 3 inches for our calves, which will hopefully make all the difference. Apart from nearly hanging a calf...all went well!

[Jac]

As I had already been warned it IS easy to end up hanging a calf!!! This could have happened today! We had already decided we were going to put a false bottom in it but wanted to use it once and decide how deep it needed to be. It needs to be about 3 inches for our calves, which will hopefully make all the difference. Apart from nearly hanging a calf...all went well!


DSC_0141.JPGDSC_0142.JPGDSC_0143.JPG

Do post again when you have tried it with the false bottom. Glad your calf was OK, mine was touch-and-go. If it hadn't have been for the swift actions of the vet pumping its chest and giving an anti inflammatory it would have died. It was in a terrible state for 24 hours. I think these crates should carry a warning if a vet can hang one anyone can.

[Saffy]

I will try to remember to do that with pics of the extra floorJac BUT we have finished calving and none are due until November...to my knowledge that is! I have to confess we didn't use the belly strap on the first one, we did afterwards and I think that makes quite a difference, the belly strap needs to almost pick the calf up. But they are very agile and work so hard at getting a front foot over. I reckon what happens if they are a bit small - first we shut the neck in fairly tight and don't realise the effect of then strapping the nose down as it angles the neck too sharply and holds it too firmly against the yoke. That I believe is what cuts the airway off. As we were doing several other things it was actually a vet that did it here and he didn't strap the nose down at all after that. I think the false floor will change the head angle and strapping the nose down won't cause the same problem, I think the airway got closed off BEFORE the calf went down not after with our calf...and yes it is a design fault when the calves are too small. Hopefully a false floor will sort it.

[Saffy]

Right...I have spoken to a gentleman at IAE about this. Can I just check with both Jac and Mark that your crates were from IAE. I explained to them that I think they have a design fault and it needs to be addressed before a calf actually dies. As their crate is designed for smaller calves we as Dexter owners are more likely to buy it! We are trying to add a false floor to ours now to make it safer but really IAE should offer this or at least advice on usage and dimensions etc. They have asked me to check that it is their crate that other owners are having the same problem with. Thanks.

Edited to say having revisited Youtube and looked at this again:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1wCXSPqVnQ

Other breeds are standing even higher in the crate than I expected and I am thinking a 6 inch removable floor might be required. Maybe Mark would be kind enough to comment, I think you have made a false floor for yours? Also possibly IAE will come and cast their eye over the problem themselves?

[Jac]

Yes mine is an IAE but not so shiny now. Yes the calves are much bigger in the video. The one vet who had the accident won't use it now and expects someone to restrain the calf. Am aware that this site is also popular with those new to cattle. As you are probably aware Stephanie believe you also have to watch for something called radial nerve paralysis with pressures from belly bands. Whether this applies to calves that are light I don't know but it does with adults if the band is 'over' supportive. Social media can be a blessing or a curse.

[Saffy]

IAE have been back in touch this morning and are probably going to design a false floor option for people that keep small breeds.