SELF-MADE HANDLER EASILY MANAGES GOATS
A civil engineer from Polokwane had to come up with ideas to keep food on the table when work starting drying up in recent years. Boer goats were finally the answer. On top of that, his mechanical prowess comes in handy in the plans he devises.
When work started drying up for Theo du Plooy, a civil engineer from Polokwane he turned to Boer Goats and Kalahari Reds to stay afloat. Theo always knew construction was a cyclical business, which prompted him to consider side-line business opportunities from early in his career.
Initially game farming made a lot of sense – returns were good and it was easy to manage, but then in 2016 the value of game animals – especially the colour variants he bred, started to depreciate.
“I knew I had to find an alternative, but I didn’t want to become a cattle farmer. I hoped to still utilise the infrastructure I built for handling game,” Theo says.
By chance he ended up accompanying his old friend Mr. Ruan Smit, a Boer Goat breeder from Polokwane on a visit to another breeder, Xander Deysel, to view his stud.
A seed was planted and in 2019 Theo bought ten rams from Xander to see how they would fare on his farm situated near Vivo behind the Soutpansberg.
The goats took to this area’s veld like ducks to water and they thrived!
That same year Theo relied on Xander to help him buy 120 ewes from the Karoo and then he bought another 90 and shortly after another 50 from breeders in the Soutpansberg region. He also invested in a couple of good breeding rams.
A NEW PLAN
From the outset his passive capturing kraal and loading facilities at the game boma’s worked perfectly for the goats, but Theo soon realised he needed a plan to ease the inspection, dosing and dipping process of his goats.
It took him along with six workers all day to dose and dip about 250 goats.
“I started to research sheep-handling systems on the internet, remembering how I saw a farmer in Australia capture hundreds of free-ranging goats and loading them on trucks for the meat market during a visit to that country.
“I read up all I could on sheep-handling systems and watched YouTube videos of the products manufactured and used in Australia and New Zealand. I even enquired about the costs of buying and importing such a system. A second-hand system from Australia would cost about R250 000 excluding shipping to South Africa.”
The idea of a more affordable handling system built from locally available materials started to take shape in Theo’s engineering mind.
“First, I made a few sketches and then I started to design my own system on the computer.” He carefully considered every step a goat would take from entering the race all the way to where it exits the dip pool.
Theo also visited other goat farmers in the area to enquire about the mistakes they had made and lessons they had learned
in handling their goats.
With a final set of blueprints in hand he went and bought the steel. He cut all the sections to his precise measurements and started to assemble his mass handler in the garage of his Polokwane home.
The final product is a system that neatly lifts 20 mature goats without hurting or injuring them off the ground where they can easily be inspected for parasites in their eyes and ears and dosed.
With their legs suspended in mid-air and their bellies resting on the ladder frame once they are elevated, there is no risk of a goat jumping or jerking and causing injury to itself, the handler, or other goats.
Handling time and the accompanying stress, injuries and exhaustion of both goats and handlers are just about eliminated thanks to this fast and efficient system.
WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
The race is a modular system of galvanised, gate-like sections made of square tubing in such a way that they hinge on one another.
It can be configured and reconfigured by simply removing hinge-pins and moving sections to where they are needed and reinserting the pins.
At the heart of the system lies the galvanised mass-handler, a framework of six metres long and one metre wide. A 100x8mm angle-iron frame is clad with 2mm steel plates up to working height on its long sides to protect the inner frame that elevates the goats or sheep.
A horizontal suspension “ladder” comprises 20mm steel pipes that are suspended from the inner frame with short lengths of chain.
Along the length of the ladder, two chains run in parallel to each other across the 20mm pipe sections. The chains are welded onto the pipes to ensure equal spacing between all the pipes when the goats or sheep are lifted off the ground.
The inner frame from rectangular steel fits precisely into the main framework in which it is suspended from 8mm steel cables.
A hydraulic cylinder that Theo couples to his tractor’s hydraulic system supplies the lifting power. It simply pushes against the cable system, which runs from inner frame to the cylinder via motor-gate wheels mounted on the corners of the main frame
He says the entire handling system is built from components that are readily available at hardware stores and co-ops.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
This handling system enables two workers to inspect, dose and dip Theo’s current flock of 400 goats in less than three hours.
Every three weeks all the goats are marched down the race and lifted in groups of 20 adults or 35 weaned lambs on the mass handler. They only realise what’s happening when the gate behind them closes and the handler starts lifting them off the ground. With their legs suspended, it is safe and easy to work with them.
Once all the goats on the lift are inspected and dosed, the lift is lowered and the animals end up with their feet firmly on the ground. The front gate is opened, and they continue down the race to the dip which is 2,5m long and 1m deep. On the far end they walk up the steps of the dip and dry off on a concrete slab before returning to their respective camps.
ADVANTAGES
“A job that took my entire labour force all day, now takes four workers three hours,” says Theo.
The handler is designed in such a way that anyone can use it without injuring themselves or accidentally damaging the system. To top it all one doesn’t have to be particularly big or strong to handle goats or sheep on this mass handler, whereas only the strongest men on the farm would previously get picked for handling and dosing the goats.
Because all the steel on the system is galvanised, there is no risk of rust. “I want this system to last,” he says and adds that he plans to expand his herd to 1 000 breeding ewes over the next year. “I wouldn’t be able to handle such a large flock every three weeks without this handling system.”
INTERESTED?
Theo will build this handler for other farmers and will deliver it anywhere in South Africa where he will assemble and test it before hand-over. For a mass handler like the one on his farm that works off a tractor’s hydraulic system, he will charge about R140 000 including VAT, and one with an electrical hydraulic pump will set you back about R170 000 including VAT. For more info contact Theo du Plooy at: 082 783 2259 or theo@civilstruct.co.za