The Farmers Mart Feb/Mar 2015 - Issue 38 | Page 36

The Willows

me. Calves need tagging, their
navels need cleaning and they
also need dehorning. Their
mothers, with their hormones
raging, will try to get to you
and so isolating the calf means
that you are safe from them.
I’ve seen cows biting at bars.
If you’re not careful you can
easily get hurt and this is an
effective way of cutting down
that risk,” he said.
“It has also proved very
useful for getting calves that
have been rejected by their
mothers to be able to suckle

36 Feb/Mar 2015 www.farmers-mart.co.uk

into them. That’s sometimes the
case if the calf has something
wrong with it, but it is still
important that calves get what
they need from their mothers.
With the Dales Way I can catch
the cow in the crate, put it in
the crush that is also part of
the crate, and then the calf can
suckle properly.”
The crate works off
hydraulics fitted to the Manitou
or any appropriate telescopic
handler/forklift. Pip put it on
display off the farm for the
first time at the Yorkshire