Lift Raises 600 Ft. Of Cattle Panels

Lift Raises 600 Ft. Of Cattle Panels DAIRY EQUIPMENT & IDEAS Dairy Equipment & Ideas 32-5-17 Moveable cattle panels let Roger Henry's dairy cows get the rest they need. With the help of an old silo unloader winch, Henry can now lift an entire 600-ft. stretch of heavy fiberglass rod panels with the flick of a switch. "I started with wire hog panels, but they got beat up too badly by the cows," explains Henry. "The 3/4-in. fiberglass rods are heavier, but the winch doesn't have any problem lifting them." With 350 head in his milking herd, every loafing stall is in demand. Until he installed the panel, a section of stalls had to be closed off because they were on the return alley from the parlor. Since the Henry's milk three times a day, those stalls were out of use several hours a day. "Because of the limited space, we wanted to be able to put panels in place to cordon off those stalls. This lift lets us raise the panels out of the way quickly for easy cleaning," explains Henry. The silo unloader winch handles the lift just fine. Henry mounted it to rafters above the panels. The pulley drive runs to a gearbox that turns a 1-in. steel rod which runs the length of the panels. Plastic rope tied to the panels wraps around the rod when the winch is activated. "It is all controlled by a two-way switch on the wall," explains Henry. Henry's only real costs were the fiberglass panels. The 2 hp winch was salvaged, and the ropes were made from plastic bale twine. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Roger Henry, 3910 County Rd. 10 N.E., St. Charles, Minn. 55972 (ph 507 932-3681).

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