Photo: Glenneis Kriel
A unique sheep crush
The first patent to draw the Farmer’s Weekly team’s attention is the automated sheep crush entered by Nico Jacobsz of Wesselsbron in the Free State, into Category A of Nampo’s Boerepatente competition. This category is for agricultural machinery, implements and equipment.
The crush is unique in that the floor, consisting of intermittently spaced pipes, can be raised once the sheep has entered the crush. The sheep, in effect, are immobilised making them much easier to handle.
Watch a video of how the sheep crush works here:
@farmersweeklysa 🐑 Innovation on the farm! Check out this automated sheep crush in action at #NampoBoerepatente 💡🚜 #AgriTech #SheepFarming #FarmersWeeklySA #FarmTok #AgricultureTikTok ♬ original sound – Farmer’s Weekly SA
Moreover, the crush has a cable on which equipment used during the treatment of the sheep can be slid from one side to the other, instead of workers having to carry these tools in backpacks.
Jacobsz, who owns a sheep feedlot, got the idea for the crush from a YouTube video in which an Australian farmer demonstrates a similar concept.
“I watched that video over and over, and then decided to build my own as nothing like it is available in South Africa,” he said.
He built the crush around August last year and was so happy with the results that he decided it had to be shared with other farmers.
“I used to work 300 to 350 sheep with eight workers in three hours but can now work 700 sheep with four workers thanks to the crush.”
He is especially excited about the crush’s potential to lighten work on sheep farms in the Karoo, as it can be transported to where it is needed on a wagon and farmers can then add a ramp to the front and back of the wagon to allow sheep to walk in and out of the crush. However, a mobile generator is needed to supply about 5kW of power to the crush.
The crush is currently available for R125 000.
Our favourite commercial plans entry
The team’s second pick is the Anaconda borehole air pump, entered by Dolf and his son Rynhardt Erasmus in category G, for commercial plans.
Erasmus explains how the Anaconda works:
@farmersweeklysa 💧 From 200L in 2 days to 1400L/hour?! This air-powered borehole pump, built by a farmer & family, needs NO cables, NO maintenance — and it’s lightning & theft-proof! ⚡🚫 Up to 200m away with just an air pipe! 💨 #FarmInnovation #BoreholeHack #NampoBoerepatente #OffGridWater #FarmTok #AgricultureTikTok #FarmersWeeklySA ♬ original sound – Farmer’s Weekly SA
The pump works with a compressor, which can be linked to the pump with an air pipe, up to 200m away from the pump.
Erasmus told Farmer’s Weekly that he, his dad, and uncle, Nelius Snyman, developed the pump because Snyman had a borehole with a lot of seepage, which made it difficult to pump water out.
“It basically took two days to pump about 200 litres of water. The air pump has greatly improved the situation.”
Erasmus said they have tested the pump over the past five years in two pilots. In the first pilot, a 2,2kW compressor is used with the pump, to pump water from a 188m deep borehole at roughly 900 litres per hour, whereas the other pilot works with a 1,5kW compressor and pumps 1 400 litres per hour from a borehole that is 97m deep.
The pump does not require any cables, making it theft and lightning proof, and does not have any moveable parts, so does not require any maintenance.
