New Cattle Yards Make Calf Handling Easy

Improving Cattle Handling Efficiency on a New Zealand Dairy Farm

Marcus Spencer-Bower and Cally Holland call Swannanona home.  That’s where they manage one of the dairy farms that’s part of a 6th generation family farming operation.  They lead a team of 5, milking 960 cows on a 300 hectare effective platform, with a 140 hectare runoff.  They run the operations side of the farm and look after the runoff themselves.  Like all farming, it’s hard work but rewarding and enjoyable and they've settled in well on the dairy farm, working hard and making changes to make farming life a little bit easier, including adding a second Te Pari Yard with a Calf Race.

Adding a Second Yard to Support Young Stock and R1 Calves

There was a Te Pari yard on the big runoff when Marcus and Cally arrived, but they decided to add a second,  and three years ago installed a Te Pari SY167, including an integrated Calf Race.  “There’s lots of young stock, so it’s perfect for all the calves and R1s.  Then we’ve got the cow race as well, with the manual crush” explains Cally.  “It works really good for the system here.”

A Safe, Purpose-Built System for Calves and Young Cattle

The Te Pari Calf Race is a solid, cost-effective design built specifically for calves.  They run the R1 calves through the race, where they get their monthly drench, BBD, and a Multimin.  “We love the calf race,” says Cally.  “It works really good while they’re still a bit smaller, allows us to drench them orally quite easily, and they run through nice and easily.”

One of the reasons they run through easily is the curved race configuration.  Cattle will naturally keep their head up to see where they are going and a curved race will guide cattle who are encouraged to move forward as their view gently changes.  It’s also less stressful on cattle and prevents possible injury from sharp corners.  

Easy Weighing and Drenching with Sliding Gates and Platform

Taking it one step further, Marcus and Calley took up the option of adding two sliding gates, creating a small weighing area with a weigh platform.  “It allows us to weigh and scan calves really easily.  The platform is made and designed so that the calf has to stand on it and can’t step off.  We bang them through pretty quick” says Marcus.

Key Features of the Te Pari SY167 Yard Design

As for the Te Pari SY167 Cattle Yard, it’s tried and tested, proving popular over the years because of its versatility and a reputation for lasting.  Designed for handling up to 167 head of cattle, the yard prioritises efficiency and safety, so farmers can get the job done, and get it done without injuring themselves or the cattle. 

The 3 holding pens have a curved design to gently encourage cattle to flow easily from one pen to the next.  Then there’s the Circular Forcing Pen with its C-Force Gate, so you can reduce the size of the pen as cattle enter the race.  “The C-Force yard works really good for pushing calves up the race, and then also for setting a slightly smaller pen for pushing heifers up. It works really well too if you’ve got bulls as you can stand right behind them” says Marcus.

The reason why is that the C-Force Gate locks into place every 0.5m.  As cattle are pushed up, the gate locks quietly into bars on the outside of the pen, preventing the gate from being pushed back on the operator.  

Prioritising Animal and Operator Safety

Safety is rightly a big theme on any farm and it’s no different at Swannanoa.  “We really enjoy the Lenta manual crush with the vet section”, offers Marcus.  “A big safety feature on that is the anti-backing system.  With putting collars on all the heifers every year, the anti-backing system keeps the animal forward in the crush so she can’t suck her head back while she’s in the head bail and that prevents us catching any fingers or anything like that.”

Like all Te Pari yards, integrating different Te Pari products and customising to suit the farmers needs are possible, as Marcus and Calley proved with the addition of the custom Calf Race.  With 25 years experience, we’ve honed our approach and have a robust 5 stage process that runs from initial planning, site assessment, concept design and quote, site preparation, through to delivery and installation.  

Excellent Support and Customer Service from Start to Finish

“The process of working with Te Pari was a dream.  From the original stages of designing and figuring out which plan would fit us best, then they give you the concrete layout which is easy for builders to follow, and then obviously Te Pari builds the yards - it’s efficient, effective, and they’re always in touch. It’s really good customer service.” 

We like to think the level of satisfaction Marcus and Cally have now with Te Pari will continue, too.  Te Pari Yards are built to last with steel components immersed in molten zinc during the ‘hot dip’ galvanisation process.  This creates a really durable and thick outer layer of zinc and a bonded inner layer (Zn-Fe) that protects against corrosion.  It means we’re confident the yards will have Marcus saying the same thing for years to come…

“Te Pari would be our top recommendation for yard design.”

We’ll ask Marcus again in about 10 years to make sure that’s still the case, so look out for an update to this article around 2035.  

Watch the video testimonial from Marcus and Cally!