agriculture · Equipment & asset finance
Livestock equipment finance
Good yards and handling gear save labour, injuries and time in every muster. We fund the whole setup rather than piecing it together over years.
What is livestock equipment finance?
Livestock equipment finance is funding for cattle and sheep handling infrastructure — crushes, yards, races, scales, dairy plant and feeders — secured against the equipment. Australian graziers and dairy farmers finance this gear to improve safety and throughput, and lenders commonly allow seasonal repayments.
Livestock handling equipment is bought for three reasons: safety, labour and data. A well-designed race and crush lets one or two people work stock that used to take a crew, dramatically reduces injury risk, and makes routine tasks like weighing, drenching and pregnancy testing fast enough to actually do on schedule. Electronic identification and scales then turn that handling into usable production data.
Because much of this gear lasts twenty years or more, financing it over five to seven years is comfortable and spreads the cost across the production it enables. The one thing to sort out early is what is portable and what is fixed. Panels, crushes, scales and feeders are equipment. Concrete, permanent yards and sheds are improvements to land, and are financed differently.
Livestock equipment finance at a glance
| Typical price range | $15,000 – $500,000 |
|---|---|
| Finance term | Up to 84 months |
| Useful life | About 20 years |
| New or used | New yards and crushes are the norm because build quality determines safety and lifespan; used dairy plant and portable yards trade actively and are financeable. |
| Indicative rates (Agricultural equipment finance) | 6.7% – 14% p.a. · rate history |
| Finance structures | Agricultural equipment finance (recommended), Chattel mortgage, Equipment loan |
How lenders assess livestock equipment finance
Portable and free-standing equipment such as crushes, scales, portable yards and feed-out gear is straightforward to finance as equipment. Permanent yards fixed to land are harder to secure and are often funded through a secured business loan or against property, sometimes combined with the equipment on one facility. Dairy plant including vats, plate coolers and robotic units is well understood by agricultural lenders. Seasonal or monthly repayments are both available, and property-owning farmers typically access sharper pricing.
Before you buy
- Design the yard flow around how cattle actually move before you buy panels; a cheap yard that fights the stock costs more in labour forever.
- Buy a crush with a good weighing platform and load bars — accurate weights drive better selling decisions.
- Separate portable equipment from fixed construction on your quote, since the two are financed differently.
Commonly financed
Arrowquip Q-Catch crush · Thompson Longhorn cattle handling · Gallagher TWR scales and readers · Proway sheep handling systems · DeLaval and Lely dairy plant
Estimate livestock equipment repayments
- Number of repayments
- 60
- Balloon at end of term
- $51,600
- Total interest (est.)
- $70,462
- Total repaid (est.)
- $328,462
This calculator provides an estimate only and does not account for fees, charges or the specific terms a lender may offer. It is not financial advice or an offer of finance.
Key terms
What is livestock equipment finance?
Livestock equipment finance is funding for cattle and sheep handling gear, dairy plant and feeding equipment, secured against the equipment. Terms commonly run 48 to 84 months and seasonal repayments aligned to livestock sales are often available.
Can permanent yards be financed as equipment?
Generally not. Yards fixed permanently to land are treated as improvements to property rather than movable equipment, so they are usually funded through a secured business loan or against the farm property. Portable panels and free-standing crushes can be financed as equipment.