GB1359552A - Apparatus for use in feeding rearing or handling animals - Google Patents

Abstract

1359552 Feeding animals O A GOUGH 30 May 1972 [2 March 1971] 5742/71 Heading AIM A cratch, for feeding sheep or other animals, and which may form one side of a pen, has an arched surface providing a substantially horizontal surface 26 along which a man may walk to distribute hay or other fodder, and detachable outer side frames provided with spaced bars 22 allowing the animals to pass their heads through to feed from a central area defined between inclined mesh panels which are detachably secured to the top of the side frames and to the arched surface. Openings 28 forming the bottom row in each mesh panel are of greater dimensions than the others to allow the animals to feed more readily through the lower part of the panel. The underside of the arched surface may afford shelter to young lambs in bad weather. A number of cratches may be joined end-to-end and form one wall of a series of pens, being connected by transverse gates to a parallel mesh fence. A similar series of pens may be provided on the other side of the fence which may support a pair of drinking troughs. Each trough is inclined and has a series of spaced internal weir plates each with a notch at its upper edge to provide turbulence and prevent the water freezing in hard weather. Each weir plate has a lower. opening to permit draining of the drinking trough. Pens may be provided on one or both sides of the cratch. The arrangement is particularly useful for rearing sheep in a roofed building. The pens may be provided with a slatted floor, each slat having a convex upper surface and a triangular lower portion so as to shed dirt, and adjustable legs are provided for raising the equipment as the depth of litter increases.