IE55473B1 - An attachment for a cattle crush - Google Patents

Description

-7.- This invention relates to an attachment for a cattle crush, or cattle pen. More particularly, the invention relates to an attachment for a cattle crush, for enabling, for example, the lifting of a cow's leg off the ground during hoof-care treatment.

A cattle pen is known which incorporates means for lifting a cow's leg. This cattle pen has a number of disadvantages. First, it is of a complex construction and is thus expensive. It is also heavy and difficult to move around, and this task usually requires the help of 2-3 people or even a tiactor.

Further, the known cattle pen incorporates two mechanisms which are used respectively for lifting the front and the hind legs of the animal. It has been observed in cattle in particular that lameness occurs chiefly in the hind legs rather than the front legs. The incidence of hind leg lameness has been found to be as high as 95% so the mechanism for lifting the front legs is rarely if ever used. Nevertheless to exclude the front leg lifting mechanism from the known cattle pen in order to save on capital outlay would be undesirable for obvious reasons.

Another disadvantage of the known cattle pen is that cattle do not readily move into it, since it is rarely used. On the other hand, cattle will move more readily into the longer type of cattle crush which can accommodate a number of cows at one time, since the cows become used to this type of crush as they are put into it on many occasions.

A further disadvantage with the known type of cattle pen, is that since it is expensive and only used occasionally small farmers are reluctant to purchase one. 3 Thus, when a cow becomes lame and a veterinary surgeon is called it is extremely troublesome for him/her to treat a cow's hoof. If the veterinary surgeon should bring the known type of cattle pen to treat the cow in, then this must 5 be well cleaned, after use, to prevent the spread of T.B. and/or other diseases.

Thus, it is an object of the present invention, to mitigate the above referred disadvantages of cattle pens, which are used in particular, for cattle hoof-care 10 treatment.

According to the invention there is provided, an attachment for a cattle crush, said attachment comprising a frame and clamping means at one end of the frame for releasably securing the frame on a cattle crush or cattle 15 pen in a cantilever manner, said frame including lifting means which, in use, of the attachment is disposed above said cattle crush, for lifting and lowering the leg of an animal in the cattle crush.

The frame preferably comprises a clamp support member 20 for said clamping means, one end of said clamp support member being pivotally connected to one end of a frame member, such that said frame member can pivot from a position in side-by-side relationship with said support member to a position substantially perpendicular to said 25 support member.

The frame member preferably carries said lifting means, such that, in an in use position of the attachment, the frame member extends above and transversely across said cattle crush, substantially at right angles to said clamp 30 support member and the lifting means is located below said support membe r.

Preferably, the inside face of the clamp support member adjacent to said one end of the support member has a projecting shoulder, for supporting the frame member in a 35 perpendicular position relative to the support member.

Preferably, the clamp support member has a spring urged latch for engaging with the frame member to secure the latter in a position in side-by-side relationship with the support member when the attachment is not in use. 4 The clamping means preferably comprises a vice arrangement fixed to the other end of said clamp support member.

The lifting means preferably comprises a shaft mounted for rotation on the underside of said frame member about an axis substantially parallel to said frame member, the shaft being rotatable by a ratchet mechanism for raising and lowering a rope, one end of which rope is attached to said shaft, and the other end of which is adapted for securing to the leg of an animal in the cattle crush.

The shaft preferably has fixed thereto a pair of spaced apart lugs to which said one end of the rope may be selectively attached.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which, Figure 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of an attachment according to the invention, Figure 2 is a perspective view of the attachment of Figure 1 in a folded condition, Figure 3 is a perspective view of the folded attachment of Figure 2 secured on a cattle crush, Figure 4 is a perspective view of the attachment of Figure 3 in an in use position on the cattle crush, and Figure 5 is a front view of another embodiment of an attachment according to the invention.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein similar numerals have been used to indicate like parts, there is shown therein, an attachment generally indicated at 1. The attachment 1 comprises a frame 2 having a clamp support member 3 of square section tubular steel. The end 4 of the clamp support member 3 has fixed thereon a manually operated vice 5. The vice 5 comprises a housing 6 welded to the end 4 of the clamp support member 3. The housing 6 accommodates a moveable jaw 7 having welded thereto an inwardly canted jaw member 8. A fixed jaw member 9 is secured to the underside of the housing 6 and is canted toward the jaw 5 member 8. Each of the jaw members 8, 9 is provided with a support bracket 10. The moveable jaw 7 is moveable relative to the housing 6 in conventional manner by means of a handle 11. The end 12 of the clamp support member 3 has welded to the outside face 13 a socket 14.

The frame 2 further includes a frame member 15 of square section tubular steel. The end 16 of the frame member 15 has fixed thereto a pair of extension brackets 17 by which the frame member 15 is pivotably mounted on the socket 14, by means of a bolt 18. The end 19 of the bolt 18 is held in position by means of a split pin 20. The inside face 21 of the clamp support member 3 adjacent the end 12, has fixed thereto, a shoulder 22 on which the extension brackets 17 can rest, to support the frame member 15 in the position shown in Figure 1, so that the frame member 15 is substantially perpendicular to the clamp support member 3.

A pair of spaced apart bushings 25, 26 are secured to the underside 27 of the frame member 15 in conventional manner, by means of brackets 28, 29 respectively. A hollow cylindrical shaft 30 is rotatably mounted in the bushings 25, 26. The end 31 of the shaft 30 has a collar 32 which prevents the shaft 30 sliding through the bushing 25.

The other end 33 of the shaft 30 has mounted thereon a suitable manually operated ratchet mechanism 35 for rotating the shaft 30. The ratchet mechanism 35 comprises a cogwheel 36 secured on the shaft 30. An operating handle 37 is secured to a substantially 'U' shaped support member 38, having side members 39, 40 which are pivotally mounted on the shaft 30 by means of circular collars 41, 42 respectively, such that the cog-wheel 36 can rotate between the side members 39, 40. A ratchet member 45 is pivotally mounted in conventional manner between the side members 39, 40. The ratchet member 45 includes a release handle 46 and a tooth member 47, which is spring urged by means of a coil spring 48, to engage with the teeth 49 on the cog-wheel 36. The coil spring 48 is secured to lugs 50, 51 on the side member 39 and the tooth member 47 respectively. The tooth - 6 - member 47 may be disengaged from the cog-wheel 36 by pivotting the release handle 46 towards the operating handle 37.

The ratchet mechanism 35 further includes a locking member 52 for locking the cog-wheel 36 in a desired rotational position. One end 53 of the locking member 52 is pivotally mounted on the front face 54 of the frame member 15, by means of a pair of lugs 56 in conventional manner.

The free end 55 of the locking member 52 projects downwardly to engage with the teeth 49 on the cog-wheel 36, this, allowing rotation of the cog-wheel 36 in the direction of arrow A, but preventing rotation in the opposite direction.

A bracket 58 is fixed on the locking member 52 for disengaging the locking member 52 from the cog-wheel 36. This is accomplished by the operating handle 37 which when raised causes the locking member 52 to be raised as shown in Figure 4.

The shaft 30 has mounted thereon a pair of spaced apart lugs 60, 61 each of which has an enlarged head portion 62. One end 64 of a length of rope 65 is secured around one of the lugs 60, 61, the free end 66 of the rope 65 has a hook 67 attached thereto.

When the attachment 1 is not required for use, the frame member 15 is pivotted so that it resides in side-by-side relation and abuts the outside face 13 of the clamp support member 3 as shown in Figure 2. A conventional latch 68 is mounted on the outside face 13 of the clamp support member 3. The latch 68 comprises a latch member 69 slidably mounted in apertures in a pair of lugs 70. A coil spring 71 mounted on the latch member 69 between the lugs 70, serves to bias the latch member 69 so that its end 72 engages in the open end 73 of the frame member 15.

In use, the attachment 1 is secured by the vice 5 on the middle one of three side rails 80 of a cattle crush 81. The attachment 1 is positioned on the cattle crush 81 so as to be adjacent the rear end 82 of a cow 83 as shown in Figure 3. The frame member 15 is then released from the 7 clamp support member 3 by operating the latch 68 and pivotted through an angle of 270° so that the extension brackets 17 are supported on the shoulder 22 on the clamp support member 3.

For working on the right hind leg 75 of the cow 83 the end 64 of the rope 65 is secured around the lug 61, such that when the rope 65 is lowered the free end 66 is adjacent the right hind leg 75. The rope 65 is lowered by releasing the locking member 52 from the cog-wheel 36 and pivotting the release handle 46, towards the operating handle 37 as shown in Figure 4. The rope 65 may then be simply pulled downwards and attached around the leg 75 in conventional manner. The leg 75 is then lifted upwards by reciprocating the operating handle 37, causing the shaft 30 to be rotated and the rope 65 to be wound on to the shaft 30. When the leg 75 has been raised to the required height, the locking member 52 secures the cog-wheel 36 and thus the leg 75 at the required height. Thus, the leg 75 can be positioned so that, hoof-care treatment, for example, can be carried out.

The leg 75, can be quickly lowered by releasing the locking member 52 and the tooth member 47 from the cog-wheel 36. Alternatively, the leg 75 may be lowered to the ground incrementally by use of the ratchet mechanism 35. This is achieved by releasing the locking member 52 from the cogwheel 36 - but not the tooth member 47. The operating handle 46 may then be allowed to pivot upwards in a direction opposite to that of arrow A, and after a certain degree of rotation the locking member 52 is engaged, once again, with the cog-wheel 36. Now the tooth member 47 is released from the cog-wheel 36 and the operating handle 47 rotated downwards a certain amount in the direction of arrow A, and then engaged with the cog-wheel 36 once again. The procedure is then repeated until the leg 75 has been fully lowered.

It will be understood that for raising the left hind leg 84 of the cow 83, the end 64 of the rope 65 is preferably secured to the lug 60 on the shaft 30.

The reason for attaching the clamp support member 3 to the middle one of the three side rails 80 is that when the leg 75 is lifted, most of the weight is effectively carried, by the clamp support member 3 leaning against the topmost 5 one of the three side rails 80.

Referring now to Figure 5 there is shown therein another embodiment of an attachment according to the invention wherein the same numerals have been used to indicate similar parts in the previous embodiment of the 10 invention. The only difference between this embodiment and that described previously is that the vice 5 located at the end 4 of the clamp support member 3 has a moveable jaw 80 which moves in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the clamp support member 3. The moveable jaw 80 is fixed 15 to a sleeve 81 which is slidable over the end 4 of the clamp support member. The sleeve 81 has a handle 82 for rotating a spindle 83 which is screw threaded into the end 4 of the clamp support member so that the moveable jaw member 80 can be moved towards and away from a fixed jaw member 84 fixed 20 on the clamp support member 3 on the inside face 85. Each of the jaw members 80,84 is provided with a support bracket 10, the jaw members being canted towards each other. For the purpose of providing screw-thread engagement between the spindle 83 and the end 4 of the clamp support member, the 25 latter may be of substantially solid construction.

It will be understood that the invention will have application, not only with cattle crushes, but on other types of livestock handling pens or crushes, in particular, those for sheep, pigs, cows and calves.

The invention has the following advantages namely:- 1. It is suitable for use by one person, for example, a vet, farmer, or other hoof care expert. 2. It is readily attached to any cattle crush and anywhere along the length of the crush. Thus, it 35 is suitable for use with different lengths and sizes of animals. 9 3. The attachment is light in weight - approximately 35 lbs, is readily collapsible and is thus readily transported, for example, in a car. 4. The attachment can lift a leg without causing stress to the animal and can hold the leg in any desired position, and the leg may be lowered slowly or quickly.

. The primary use of the attachment is in hoof care treatment (of both front and hind legs), however, it may also be used for holding an animal by the nose or head, for example, for examining ear tags. 6. The vice may be adapted to fit any type of crush. 7. The attachment is inexpensive to produce, and thus, will have application on farms of all income brackets. 8. The attachment is readily stored to prevent rusting. 9. The attachment can be used for example in the milking parlour, where cattle are usually put through twice-daily.

. It is must easier to put cattle into a long crush which is used, for example, for T.B. testing, than into a single cattle pen. 11. The attachment itself does not get dirty as the animal does not actually come into contact with it and this is important as only a minimal amount of cleaning, if any, may be required if the attachment is to be used, for example, by a vet on different farms. 12. The attachment can be used on rails which may be on either side of the crush.

Claims (8)

10 CLAIMS :-

1. An attachment for a cattle crush or cattle pen comprising, a frame, and clamping means at one end of the frame for releasably securing the frame on a cattle crush in a cantilever manner, said frame having lifting means which, in use of the attachment is disposed above said cattle crush Cor lifting and lowering the leg of an animal in the cattle crush.

2. An attachment as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the frame comprises a clamp support member for said clamping means, one end of said clamp support member being pivotally connected to one end of a frame member such that said frame member can pivot from a position in side-by-side relationship with said support member to a position substantially perpendicular to said support member.

3. An attachment as claimed in Claim 2 wherein an inside face of the clamp support member adjacent to said one end of the support member has a projecting shoulder for supporting the frame member in a perpendicular position relative to the support member.

4. An attachment as claimed in Claim 2 or 3 wherein said frame member carries the lifting means such that in an in use position of the attachment, the frame member extends above and transversely across the cattle crush substantially at right angles to the clamp support member and the lifting means is located below said support member.

5. An attachment according to Claim 4 wherein the lifting means comprises a shaft mounted for rotation about an axis substantially parallel to said frame member, the shaft being rotatable by a ratchet mechanism for in use raising and lowering a rope, one end of which rope is attached to said shaft and the free end of which rope is XI adopted for securing to the leg of an animal in the cattle crush.

6. An attachment according to any one of claims 2 to 5 wherein the clamping means comprises a vice arrangement 5 mounted on the other end of said clamp support member.

7. An attachment according to any one of claims 2 to 6 wherein the clamp support member has a spring urged latch for engaging with the frame member to secure the latter in a position in side-by-side relationship with the support 10 member when the attachment is not in use.

8. An attachment substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 1 to 4, or Figure 5. F. R. KELLY & CO., AGENTS FOR THE APPLICANTS.