When installing a cattle guard one item that will most likely be needed is a concrete pier. The concrete pier will act a solid footer for the cattle guard to rest upon. This will ensure the cattle guard can withstand the heavy loads being traversed over the cattle guard. The concrete pier can be poured on site or can be constructed off site and dropped into the trench made for the cattle guard. The State Highway and Transportation Officials publish load capacities for vehicles with reference to cattle guards. Farm and Ranch Depot sells concrete piers and can have them delivered with your cattle guard purchase which will ensure you have the right size pier for your particular cattle guard.
Yes, we absolutely sell an energy free, no freeze animal waterer. These would be our Polar-Max Drinkers! Our Polar-Max cattle waterers need absolutely NO energy to stay unfrozen, all you need is the right size of drinker for the amount of animals needing water. You can provide water for any type of large animal including cattle, horses and even wildlife! These large animal waterers are built to last. We had a customer that just replaced his Polar-Max drinker after 30 years!
Milk Bars are designed to feed any type of calf passive and/or aggressive. Milk Bars are designed to make sure all nursing calves get their own portion. Each calf gets his own portion because the milkbar nipples are designed to feed a low and slow amount. No matter how aggressive the calves are they can only drink so fast, so they will stay on the same nipple. Also keep in mind, for example, having only ten calves in the pen with a 10 compartment milk bar feeder is the best option, so each calf has his own nipple. Once the calves start drinking faster than 1 minute 45 seconds they need new nipples to avoid drinking too fast and cross sucking.
The answer to this question is YES! You will save time because Milk bars are specifically designed to allow calves to feed on their own. When you use a milkbar it eliminates the time spent feeding each calf individually from a bottle. You can also be certain that each calf is getting the right amount of nutrition if you purchase a milk bar with individual compartments.
Milkbars also provide a health benefit to your calves. Since the milkbar nipple allows only slow feeds, this will cut down on scours since the milk will enter the abomasum, not the rumen.
It has been shown that calves raised in a group do better than calves in isolation. Milk bars provide a much needed social aspect to help you calves be happy and healthy!
Milkbars are designed to make feeding nursing calves easy and convenient. They allow you to feed multiple calves at a time. No more individual feeds for each calf with a bottle! You can use them to feed 1 to 12 calves at a time. You can purchase milk bar nursers with 1/2 gallon compartments, allowing you to see that each calf is receiving the proper amount.
Milk bars are growing more and more popular as the word gets out about them. See our category devoted to every type of milk bar here.
Livestock scales are an essential part of the farming, ranching, and veterinarian industry. Livestock scales are used to weigh farm animals such as sheep, goats and different types of cattle. Livestock scales are incredibly durable in order to withstand the large animals in which it is commonly used for.
Most quality livestock scales are made from steel and have the potential for weighing animals that reach weights well over 1000 pounds. However, livestock scales are commonly used to weigh animals that weigh under 700 pounds depending on the type and model. Livestock scales have also been used in other areas such as city Zoo’s. Which ever the animal that is being weighed, livestock scales are constructed to handle the movement and power of large untamed animal.
Being constructed of stainless steel, livestock scales are generally built to withstand the elements such as rain, snow, and heat. These scales are an essential part of ensuring animals are in good health. They are also commonly used for the purchasing and selling of livestock animals.
Milking cows by hand can be extremely difficult especially when you are milking 10 or more on a regular basis. This is where a portable bucket milking system can really speed things up saving time and money. Portable milkers allow you the option of milking multiple cows at one time. Using a portable milker, milking clusters, milking buckets and a dual upgrade kit for a portable milker will give you the option of milking several cows at one time within minutes.
As dairy cows, sheep, or goats enter into stalls to feed the portable milker can be used to milk the animals at that time. Hook up the milking clusters, turn on the portable gas milker or portable electric milker and watch the milking process begin with ease. After minutes you can remove the milking clusters and transfer them to the next set of udders all the while collecting the milk within your milk bucket.
Plate Coolers are an extremely important tool to the milking process. Plate coolers will ensure huge energy savings and cool milk quickly before entering into the refrigerated storage tank. By using a plate cooler you lower bacteria count and save a great deal on energy costs. Farm and Ranch Depot’s plate cooler are exactly what your dairy farm needs in order to help your profit margins grow and provide high quality milk. These stainless steel milk coolers take the heat out of the incoming milk and transfer it to water which can then be used for other purposes. A plate cooler is an excellent way to have an energy efficient, low overhead dairy farm.
Most dairy farmers use milking machines to extract milk from their cows. Milking machines include 5 different components.
- Teat Cups which contain a shell and a liner attach directly to the cows teats
- A claw is where milk pools after it is removed from the cows teats
- Vacuum Tubing provide suction to the teat cups
- Milk Tubing takes the milk away after it is extracted
- Pulsators controls the on-off cycle of the vacuum
Some farmers use an automatic take off or detacher that will remove the machine from the cow automatically after milking is complete.
Here at Farm and Ranch Depot we sell everything dairy farmers need to build their own complete milking machine systems. We also sell a wide variety of customizable portable and bucket milkers.
Milking equipment has made great strides since the days of hand milking. Portable milking or bucket milking has increased production while greatly reducing the manual labor involved in hand milking a cow. Bucket milkers consist of 3 main parts. First you need to choose a base unit. Farm & Ranch Depot sells 3 different types of base units, portamilker, portamilker II & Superkart; these can be bought with a gas or electric engine. Next you would need to choose a bucket & lid assembly. Farm & Ranch Depot sells a wide variety of stainless steel milking buckets or poly milking buckets. Your last step in completing your portable milker is to purchase a milking cluster. We sell milking clusters for cows, goats & sheep all shipped directly to your front door!
