This ingenious hip clamp makes quick work of lifting up sick or injured cattle too weak to stand on their own.

The cattle hip clamps he makes are not totally his own brainchild, says Chris Greyling from Limpopo in South Afica. Chris, who previously installed and maintained borehole pumps, says a neighbour, cattle farmer Neels van Rooyen, saw a similar clamp at a vet 30 years ago and copied it for himself.

“This clamp functions so easily and effectively that it quickly became well known in the area. Everyone with a sick or injured animal would borrow Neels’s clamp. A problem arose when Neels needed his clamp and he first had to arrange for it be returned or go and fetch it himself from the last person who’d borrowed it. That’s when Neels asked me to manufacture some clamps so that the other farmers could buy their own,” says Chris.

SIMPLE SYSTEM

According to Chris, the success of the cattle hip clamp lies in the simplicity of its design. It is made up of two U-shaped pipes hinged on a central hoisting bar with a sturdy loop at the top. The pipes are 25mm in diameter and 2mm thick. The U-shaped pipes are slightly bent so that the U shape fits neatly over the cattle’s hip bones.

A cross member is welded to the one U-shaped pipe on which a long, threaded rod swivels. On each of the two ‘legs’ of the other U-shaped pipe, angle iron stoppers have been welded. A sliding bar which moves up and down the long rod is held in place by these stoppers.

A large wing-nut, which turns on the threaded rod and pushes against the sliding bar, forces the two U-shaped pipes together to fit over the cattle’s hip joints. All that remains is to hoist the animal with a block and tackle.

The greatest benefit of this cattle hip clamp is that it can lift an animal without any pressure on the abdomen. Internal injuries are thus averted. Sick or injured animals can be treated with ease as the hindquarters are kept stable. The hip clamp also needs fewer labourers than other methods.

The price is available on request. Orders will have to be picked up in South Africa.

ENQUIRIES: Chris Greyling, cell 002772 290 6368