Every farm should have one

Taranaki dairy farmers Greg and Sonya Hurley are still enjoying the benefits of using their Wrangler cattle handler, a decade after they bought it. The couple milks 400 cows on 120ha at Hurleyville, near Patea, and bought their Wrangler in 2007. “We had no facilities to do lame cows,” Greg says. “We used to have to tie their leg to the rail in the cowshed, which wasn’t good.” Using the Wrangler, cow and farmer can now experience the hoof trimming process safely. “We like the Wrangler’s head bail design, and we find the belly straps excellent – there’s no way the cow can go down,” Greg says. The Hurleys and their two staff not only use their Wrangler to treat lame cows and undertake annual hoof trimming, but also find it handy for vet visits and calving season. “The Wrangler is incredibly versatile,” Greg says. “It’s excellent to calve cows in, and we’ve just had the vet in to administer mag bullets and we used the Wrangler for that. “The vets just love Wranglers. After all, there are health and safety issues to take into consideration now.” The Hurleys wouldn’t be without their Wrangler, and say other farmers would benefit from having one on farm. “Every cowshed should have one,” Greg says.