How To Build A Lamb Walker

Motorized Lamb Walker

Inferior Show Projects are outdoors!

I'yard looking to turn a manual lamb walker into a motorized lamb walker and wanted some guidance. (But retrieve of a miniaturized horse walker).

I've never worked on something like this but I figured it would been an interesting project.

We're notwithstanding in the planning phase so I was curious if anyone had some input on what size motor and sprockets I should use.

The total bore of the apparatus is 14.5'ft and I am wanting it to plow at a maximum of 10rpms.

I'thousand thinking a 3 phase motor so I can accommodate the driven sprocket betwixt 2-10rpms.

Anyone e'er worked on something like this?

I don't know, but this makes me think about my dads story about his friends ffa sheep. Decided to tie it to a horse walker and not have to walk it himself.

Well they forgot nigh the sheep and came back to find a dead sheep being drug around in circles by the walker.

Your biggest challenge is figuring out your torque requirement. Worst case scenario is you'd exist pulling completely stationary weight (permit'south presume 200 lb/lamb) if the lambs determine to balk and non walk (see previous instance). This is why you'd want some sort of clutch in the organisation, or some overload protection to shut down.

HP = Torque * RPM / 5252

For a pair of 200 lb lambs that turn down to walk, your torque would be 400 lb * 7.25 ft = 2900 lb-ft, so HP = 2900 * 10 / 5252 ~= five.5 HP. Add together another 0.five HP to spin the arm and overcome bulldoze losses. Hopefully your lambs are well-behaved and are broken to lead, so in reality, you'd need a much smaller motor, since you wouldn't exist dragging stationary weight. 2 HP will likely get you shut for what you demand - information technology will requite you lot a linear pull forcefulness of 144 lb.

How do you plan to gear downward the motor? VFD's can exist useful, just you have to be conscientious well-nigh the torque vs. speed curve getting weird - it'southward typically not a linear relationship when you lot start irresolute the speed. Some of the old school homebrew walkers used lawnmower differentials - an old Cub Cadet transaxle would fit the bill very nicely. I don't remember the mill gear ratios, but you can buy aftermarket parts to gear them WAAAY down (for garden tractor pulling).

Places similar AutomationDirect take control components that are inexpensive and reliable - we employ them for a lot of applications in my research plan. And make certain you put a timer on then you lot don't end up with some unintended consequences.

I know very little nearly testify sheep. What I know virtually horses, donkeys, & cattle is that they have to be taught to lead. I would definitely make sure the sheep can lead earlier tying information technology to any automatic walker.

back in the twenty-four hour period showing lambs, we used an old 120v motor off of a evaporator AC to turn the belts around a fourteen in hub. The torque was very depression and the sheep could stop information technology at anytime. Equus caballus walkers are geared way to strong for sheep every bit a previous poster stated.

Information technology takes a bit to get them not to terminate information technology but subsequently a while they play follow the leader and it halter breaks them if you lot have someone pushing i of the poles. Besides the speed should be around a irksome steady walk for a person.

We even had a wild herd of finewools out of sonora that would run effectually it similar deer until one fell down..... That'due south about the time I switched to medium wools.

At this fourth dimension of yr they're about 180lbs and wont get much heavier. My set upwards has six tie arms.

They'd definitely be broke to lead past the fourth dimension its turned on.

Just need a way to get them some calorie-free exercise and get them used to walking with their caput upwards for extended periods of time.

I think the timer gear up is a bully idea I'd want some sort of rotary switch to control power and thus speed and so wire a timer in line to cut power afterward a 30 minutes or so.

My principal issue is how do I gear down the motor. I was planning on using a chain and was hoping to just utilize the sprockets together with the ability regulator to run it at an appropriate speed.

Volition that end upwards killin my motor?

AgEng98 said:

Your biggest claiming is figuring out your torque requirement. Worst case scenario is yous'd be pulling completely stationary weight (permit's assume 200 lb/lamb) if the lambs determine to balk and not walk (see previous example). This is why you'd want some sort of clutch in the system, or some overload protection to close down.
HP = Torque * RPM / 5252

For a pair of 200 lb lambs that refuse to walk, your torque would be 400 lb * seven.25 ft = 2900 lb-ft, so HP = 2900 * 10 / 5252 ~= 5.5 HP. Add another 0.5 HP to spin the arm and overcome bulldoze losses. Hopefully your lambs are well-behaved and are broken to lead, so in reality, you lot'd need a much smaller motor, since you wouldn't be dragging stationary weight. 2 HP will likely get you lot close for what y'all demand - it will give you a linear pull force of 144 lb.

How do y'all plan to gear down the motor? VFD's can be useful, but you have to be careful almost the torque vs. speed curve getting weird - information technology'south typically not a linear relationship when you start changing the speed. Some of the old school homebrew walkers used lawnmower differentials - an old Cub Cadet transaxle would fit the bill very nicely. I don't remember the factory gear ratios, but you lot can buy aftermarket parts to gear them WAAAY downwardly (for garden tractor pulling).

Places similar AutomationDirect have control components that are cheap and reliable - we use them for a lot of applications in my research program. And make sure you put a timer on then y'all don't end upward with some unintended consequences.

Proud to run into that AGEN degree put to utilize!

When I was in high school raising show animals, y'all could tell the kids that exercised their lambs the like shooting fish in a barrel way compared to the kids who exercised their lambs by chasing them in a run. The kids who chased their lambs were much more than fit.

Gut an old treadmill? I think they are DC servo motors and make pretty skilful torque. Already would have speed controller. Maybe worth a look. You can probably find one for complimentary.

Yous may be able to plough the motor on its end and commodities a deejay with arms.

I grew up showing sheep in 4-H (my grandfather was the county amanuensis in Midland for 30 some odd years)

We ran our sheep, never walked them. Are you lot walking them for practise? We would take them to the stop of the pasture and turn them loose with about a 5-x second head beginning ahead of our sheep dog. The showtime few times were quite the rodeo, until the sheep learned they got fed when they got dorsum to the barn.

Why exercise you have to exercise the lambs? Serious question

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You want sheep lean and muscular. If they just sit and eat all solar day without exercise they tin become over weight. I think the first yr I showed, came in final place in my class I looked similar I was showing a squealer in wool vs. racehorses

The but reason to put them on a walker is to teach them to walk and keep head up. There is no practice value. If you lot want musculus, and firmness, etc., employ dogs and / or a treadmill. We used both and alternated days. Dogs and treadmill work different areas. Don't ever put them on a walker and leave, even if they are used to it. They tin can die instantly. Know a young man who built a lamb walker that worked great. Can you lot PM?

I have done a lot of work on the horse walker manufactured by Priefert in Mt Pleasant.

They basically have a control box with a VFD, an small display that shows RPM'south, counts cycles, etc..., and a first/stop button. They turn the equus caballus walker using a 3HP motor plugged into a gear reducer. They have quite a few sensors on theirs that yous probably don't need. Theirs shuts down if the horse pulls back difficult enough/plenty times. It has automobile shut-off if its dragging a horse, etc...

Nigh VFD'southward take a small number of I/O, so if y'all want to program any logic into it, information technology makes it possible without a PLC.

Y'all definitely demand the ability to slowly ramp the motor upwardly and downward. If you don't have a VFD, or at the very minimum a soft kickoff, your going to wiggle the animals head off when you lot offset it upwardly.

Go to the San Antonio, San Angelo , and/or Houston Ag mechanics shows. There volition be a couple that the loftier school kids have congenital. They can answer any questions on how and probably give you lot their plans.

Bear witness Steers are broke to lead by tying them up for extended period of fourth dimension while using a nail and brush to rub them all over. Besides atomic number 82 them to feed and water after they have been tied up. Sometimes we will use a wire hater under a rope halter to aid make them atomic number 82 & for control. If one is actually stubborn or mean and so they continue donkey for a week or two.Sometimes a nose ring is needed.

I want to repeat the thoughts of running vs. walking. Think of a dart rail athlete vs a marathon athlete. The sprinter has much more muscle definition than the marathon runner.

Running sheep or goats beingness chased by a domestic dog provides the adrenaline that will make the muscles pop in the show ring. Run them difficult & fast for a relatively brusk duration.

1st year with a lamb.

we only started with a treadmill last week. Nosotros dont have the setup nonetheless for dogs. How often should nosotros treadmill? frequency, elapsing, etc? any aid is appreciated..

In high school, one of my buddies thought it would be a swell idea to walk his caprine animal using the riding lawn mower. Information technology worked well until the rope got caught on the bicycle and drug the goat underneath. Luckily the goat lived, but the broken horn didn't help him during the show

Do you take iii phase power? If non you can use vfd that converts unmarried to 3 phase power. For variable speed you volition demand to apply 3 phase motor.

I work for vfd manufacturer. Email with questions if you take whatsoever.
Myusername @ aggienetwork.com
(No spaces).

Our walker has 8 8' arms and a 1 horse electrical motor, concatenation drive to a big sprocket on the post. Rather than variable speed motor, we use necktie points at different parts of each arm to vary walking speed, seemed simpler and more than reliable. That combo will drag lambs, although we get them walking manually before tying on. As others have said information technology's less for conditioning and more for heads up, constant step walkingalthough you lot tin can burn a trivial stop if you lot keep them on long enough.

Treadmill is great one time lambs are where we want them finish-wise, nosotros run them frontward for 10-12 minutes, and then do 30-2nd flare-up sprints backwards, 6 to eight reps. This works nifty every other solar day and allows you to go along feeding without adding fat over their ribs.

Nosotros track some as well, every bit others said, the adrenaline gives an crawly workout in only a few laps. But have had some pretty bad wrecks as well. I actually like the running to feed option, down a route or beyond a pasture, if you have the space and the time.

With either treadmill or track you can make a divergence in just a calendar week or then. But have to be pretty difficult with themget em trained to crank that treadmill to 100%.

Lots of tricks in the lamb game...good luck!

college of AG said:

1st year with a lamb.
we only started with a treadmill final week. Nosotros dont have the setup yet for dogs. How often should we treadmill? frequency, elapsing, etc? any help is appreciated..

Every other twenty-four hours. And nosotros never started earlier around 90-100 lbs., Oct/November. walk them backwards with front feet in a platform, three-5 minutes.

we are ii.5 months from show and plenty of cover.

Walk backward or dart backwards?

Right now he is doing a quick walk 3 mins Xs iii reps. Just started and then we could speed it up now that she is getting the idea.

Distressing to derail the thread a little. Wish i had some technical help for y'all.

Never believed walking gave whatever value beyond instruction them to pb or walk in ring. We varied the speed but it was e'er a strong conditioning. Want that lamb's tongue hanging out at cease of three-v minutes.

hillcountryag86 said:

Desire that lamb's tongue hanging out at end of iii-5 minutes.

Yes sir

Hillcountry speaks the truth about getting a dog. You're on the correct rail with the walker/treadmill, but you'll never go them as house every bit one who's been ran with a dog on a rails. I've handled sheep that are ran by kids who actually bought in and ran their asses off trying to go their sheep at that place and it was still night and day compared to the sheep ran with a domestic dog. My best guess is that running them with a domestic dog unlocks some sort of fight or flight stress response and makes them become from being business firm to being lights out awesome to handle.

EagleFordEarl said:

Hillcountry speaks the truth about getting a dog. You lot're on the correct track with the walker/treadmill, but you'll never get them as firm as one who'southward been ran with a dog on a runway. I've handled sheep that are ran by kids who actually bought in and ran their asses off trying to become their sheep in that location and it was still dark and twenty-four hours compared to the sheep ran with a dog. My all-time guess is that running them with a dog unlocks some sort of fight or flight stress response and makes them get from beingness firm to being lights out awesome to handle.

This. A treadmill is a adept complement to a dog but information technology will never come close to creating muscle and firmness that a dog tin can. If you could only take one grade of do, buy a good track domestic dog. If you are really serious about the majors, a dog is an accented must.

well, maybe for the future.. we are only marginally serious about canton show

We have an offering to rails a few days a week but have to trailer there.

I'd be trailering or putting that lamb in a box on the back of your truck. If you're really serious. Lambs are the well-nigh labor/time intensive project in the programme, and information technology'due south tremendously rewarding when you become it correct. Only realize in that location aren't many lambs that make the sale that simply luck into that hole.

thanks gentlemen for your advice.

Looks similar I will be making a call tomorrow to ready some tracking.

For the futurity, estimate cost of a track dog?

A concatenation and sprocket volition certainly work. Belts and sheaves would exist a little more forgiving.

Spinning down a motor with a VFD may non provide enough torque to practise what you want IF you planned to couple it directly or with a low ratio gearbox in between. That existence said, it will do a neat task at starting and stopping the motor gradually as suggested above. I'd suggest using an inverter duty motor - they tend to last longer with a frequency drive in my experience.

I looked up the sometime CubCadet teansaxle ratio - starting time gear is 96:1. Use a 3:ane to 5:1 chugalug/chain setup on the input shaft and you lot'll get betwixt 3 and 6 rpm on the axles.

At that place were some sisters in our canton who won almost every yr in the canton show, as well equally larger shows. They had a treadmill with a reversible option and walked/ran them both means. But the main thing was they spent a expert deal of time getting them to pb.
Some of the kids had dogs and they also did well. But a good number of their animals had scars and gashes come evidence time due to running into fences, posts, etc.

The walking is just because some shows can really drag on and getting them used to walking with their head up for extended periods is beneficial.

I've got a converted treadmill and a track for running them.

I can't PM but my email is username @gmail.com

Oh no doubt. We halter broke our sheep early on in the process, it's been a while, but I think we tried doing that earlier we started running them with the dogs.

When we halter broke, we only spent a few hours on The weeknd'southward leading them around their pins, and and so working on getting them set and used to pushing.

Wow, some memories are coming back that I hadn't thought of in years!

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