The Sheep Conveyor

A sheep conveyor is the most wonderful invention.  You push the sheep up the race and up onto the conveyor until they step on, and suddenly they are just held up by the V shape of the machine with nothing under their legs.  They are then carried the length of the machine by belts, as they have things done to them e.g. vaccinations, ear tags inserted into ears.  When they get to the end of the belt there is a platform they can just walk off.  Although our sheep walk off! don't think so! they leap.

As the 2ths needed two vaccinations, plus a tag in their ear, we got the conveyor in.  Saves "The Bosses" back.  As by the time you have been up the drafting race doing the procedures (in this case 3 times) you usually have sheep jumping out.  And Perendales take no prisoners, as they are such active sheep.  It is also far easier on the sheep as they are through the yards very quickly, today about an hour and a half, whereas one person battling in the race  takes a day.  Unbelievably though a couple of the sheep actually managed to jump out even though there was nothing under their feet to push off with. 

We try not to give our animals too many treatments of anything in their life, but some things you have to do.  Lambs are drenched about 3 times a month apart, as young animals are far more susceptable to intestinal worms than older animals.  Some of our ewes don't even have another drench  in their lives once they get to 2 years old.  Although the majority get one a year.
Only very sick animals get antibiotics and they don't end up in the human food chain, and no hormones are given ever.  NZ has very strict policies on these issues, although occasionally beef cattle do have hormones, but only for very select markets, and infrequently now, and they have to be specially tagged to identify them so they don't go to the wrong place.

The abortion vaccinations are important, as there is nothing more soul destroying than picking up hundreds of nearly full term dead  lambs.

Setting up



The conveyor in action, you can see the sheep's feet hanging down, and the end one about to leap off having arrived at the platform




No. 3 daughter watching progress and another 2th about to take the leap