OutWintering Pads

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Hi
Just wondering if anyone has any knowlegdge of outwintering pads? Pros and cons, the type of costs involved etc/
Would anyone have installed them recently and if so how are you finding them?

Seinas

here's just a small article i wrote before;

The Teagasc Research Centre are continually doing R&D on the out wintering pad systems. This is an alternative way of housing livestock to conventional housing. It consists of a drained lying area outdoors on a bed of woodchips operated at a much lower stocking rate. The bed of woodchips is placed over a lined and artificially drained surface.

The main advantages are that the cattle have higher liveweight gains, there is a better feed conversion ratio, lower fat scores, higher feed intake and improvement in all round general health.
The disadvantages are that construction needs to be detailed, there is an annual requirement for bedding material, the farmer is exposed to the weather, there is solid waste due to the woodchips and effluent waste
The cattle can be self fed or the silage can be brought to them, therefore labour requirement isn’t high.
The following table shows the effects of out wintering pads over slatted units in relation to growth, kill out proportion, feed intake and efficiency;


Conditions Inside Outside

Surface Slats Pad
Space Allowance (m2/head) 10.8 10.8
Liveweight Gain (g/day) 1.289 1.419
Carcass gain (g/day) 701 782
Kill out proportion 537 535
Feed intake (kg DM/day) 10.5 11.0
Feed efficiency 15.0 14.1

F.D

Not sure exactly how they are drained or the waste is collected but I'd Imagine with all the rain we get there would be a lot of effluent waste with no real nutrient value when spread? how quick would the wood chip material break down when spread?
Seinas Have you any figures for other options e.g slats vs straw bedding or would they be similar, or it there anywhere on the net i could find them

Sam Kade

F.D wrote: »

Not sure exactly how they are drained or the waste is collected but I'd Imagine with all the rain we get there would be a lot of effluent waste with no real nutrient value when spread? how quick would the wood chip material break down when spread?
Seinas Have you any figures for other options e.g slats vs straw bedding or would they be similar, or it there anywhere on the net i could find them

http://www.agresearchforum.com/publicationsarf/2004/page015.pdf

Going by this link cattle thrive best on pads. There is only a slight advantage with straw over slats.

Muckit

Sorry, I Just thought I'd resurrect this tread again.....

Anyone here using them or taught about building one? I think they've been found to not be totally suitable for milking cows what with dirt and mastitis, but would they be good for fattening cattle, bulls say?

Has to be much cheaper than building a slatted shed.

Any thoughts?

stop thelights

Muckit wrote: »

Sorry, I Just thought I'd resurrect this tread again.....

Anyone here using them or taught about building one? I think they've been found to not be totally suitable for milking cows what with dirt and mastitis, but would they be good for fattening cattle, bulls say?

Has to be much cheaper than building a slatted shed.

Any thoughts?

I wouldnt be a big fan of them. Reading in the journal there about the green field dairy farm i think they said its costing 15k a year to maintain the pad. Its holding around 200 cows(open to correction). i know a fellow who works with a contractor. Spreading slurry off them he says is just pure water. Usually they go hand in hand with lined lagoons tho.:pac:

Over ten or so years u'd say u'd build a decent house for 150k( 10yrX15k ) plus have decent slurry for silage or maize ground.:cool:

Farmer Pudsey

These were all the rage a couple of years ago when ther was no other use for post peelings now however this is all used in woodchip so the raw material has gone through the roof also ideally you need to live in a low rainfall area Wexford rather than Galway or Kerry. I would be loath to invest in one now also the land value was never factored in the cost for any decent pad you would nearly half a acre

rocketjk

I do part time work for a lad has one. Expensive to maintain, he said it wound not be done in hind sight. lagoon beside it has to be emptied and is only the colour of slurry so its not much value. Ever drop of water on the pad is directed into the lagoon and if you think about would you like to be spreading half an acre of a run of waste water.
3 forty ft trailers of wood chip a year to cover the pad at €900ea i think and its going up each year.
Wet or frosty weather the top gets mucky
all in all 7-8grand for 80-100 cows

Just reread the post and I sound pessimistic about them, they are great for in calf cows, cows seem happy enough on it, healthy as they are outside but the cost is too high to justify them

bob charles

had a couple for a good few years, probably built them about 10yrs ago and gave up on them about 5 yrs ago. When everything was going well they were brillant but when it poured rain or got dirty they were a disaster. They would be okay if it was been used along side a existing shed but as a stand alone they didnt work. Also for a finish we couldnt satisify authority with the structure and any new pads I would think would have to be lined to keep the authority happy

pakalasa

I always thought that a small one near an existing shed would be great for lame animals or cows near calving.

Muckit

Enough said They seem to be a big no no is the message I'm getting.

Are slatted sheds with slat mats the top of the job?

F.D

Muckit With The price of straw after falling so much would a slatted shed with straw lye back be a good option or even a straw shed with a scraped feed passage, at least the dung will break down quick enough, and u have decent slurry
I havent seen in any of the greenfields updates a mention of them spreading the used woodchip i wonder is it sitting in a pile somewhere rotting down, and will it be another expence to spread ?

Tora Bora

F.D wrote: »

Muckit With The price of straw after falling so much would a slatted shed with straw lye back be a good option or even a straw shed with a scraped feed passage, at least the dung will break down quick enough, and u have decent slurry
I havent seen in any of the greenfields updates a mention of them spreading the used woodchip i wonder is it sitting in a pile somewhere rotting down, and will it be another expence to spread ?

I saw on TV news last week, that some renewable energy company, have just got planning permission to build a new power plant in Offaly (I think), which will burn straw as it's main raw material:eek::eek::eek: Longer term it will also be able to burn miscanthus and willow etc,..

Can you imagine the effect that will have on price of straw, never mind availability

blue5000

Tora Bora wrote: »

I saw on TV news last week, that some renewable energy company, have just got planning permission to build a new power plant in Offaly (I think), which will burn straw as it's main raw material:eek::eek::eek: Longer term it will also be able to burn miscanthus and willow etc,..

Can you imagine the effect that will have on price of straw, never mind availability

I think that could be Edenderry power Tora? They have to be sourcing 20% of their fuel from renewable sources by 2020. Maybe someone on here knows more about it but I think they'll be needing something like 200,000 tons of straw, open to correction on this, but the big issue is they are not passing back the carbon credit to farmers. The price they will pay is based on what they can buy peat (off themselves) for:D

bob charles

F.D wrote: »

I havent seen in any of the greenfields updates a mention of them spreading the used woodchip i wonder is it sitting in a pile somewhere rotting down, and will it be another expence to spread ?

Remember if this stuff is stored heaped over the closed period that it has to be on concrete and run off collected. Wood chip also locks up a serious amount of nitrogen when breaking down so you have to up the N levels

Markcheese

I suppose if u can get the money from the bank to build tanks and sheds then no bother, but if money is limited it'd get u going....if the run off is water could u not spread it with one of those rotary sprayers they use for parlour washings...if the pad is central on the farm it's great for extending grazing....

F.D

Markcheese wrote: »

I suppose if u can get the money from the bank to build tanks and sheds then no bother, but if money is limited it'd get u going....if the run off is water could u not spread it with one of those rotary sprayers they use for parlour washings...if the pad is central on the farm it's great for extending grazing....

good idea on the extended grazing, and i suppose if you had your own tanker you could cut down the cost of spreading the effluent but i'm sure if you told your bank manger your running costs of the wood chip pad vs the payments on the shed there might not be much between them

pms7

Have one with 3 years for cows. Works well but 'water' spreading and chips are a signifant cost. I think with cheaper building costs now, better to go with shed.

keep going

did a lot of thinking before grant time 06-07 and nearly went with the pad but glad i went with the house. the biggest reason was the lagoon scared me with young kids. also getting the slurry back on the silage ground is an issue.mind you i dont know are houses so cheap either