Building a 80xcubicles Shed & Slatted Area

19driver83

Need to build a cubicle shed, currently milking 60. Thinking of building it to hold 80 cows and an area for replacements.

Im planning on only keeping replacements to minimise workload and as current calf prices are so high I see no point in rearing any more calves than I need to.

Query - As all farm builing grants have been scraped, I would like some advise on building designs, keeping in mind I want to keep costs down but build a shed that will last. I dont want automatic scrapers.

Also, suggestions on building contractors to be used in Cork...and of course costs!

Tipp Man

How are you going to have cubicles without scrapers?

Are you planning on having the cubicles parallel to the tank and right beside it so cow would be stepping off cubicle onto the slates?

Would cows have enough space with that?

stanflt

scrapers are the only way to go to keep costs down- the journal usually has articles on cost effective buildings:)

19driver83

Tipp Man wrote: »

How are you going to have cubicles without scrapers?

Are you planning on having the cubicles parallel to the tank and right beside it so cow would be stepping off cubicle onto the slates?

Would cows have enough space with that?

Was planning on having concrete slats where the cows step off the cubicles. Would you advise against this? I see scrapers as being another item to maintain and they eventually make the floor slippy and dangerous to the cow.

Tipp Man

stanflt wrote: »

scrapers are the only way to go to keep costs down- the journal usually has articles on cost effective buildings:)

They had a decent shed from a fella up in meath there last week;)

Tipp Man

19driver83 wrote: »

Was planning on having concrete slats where the cows step off the cubicles. Would you advise against this? I see scrapers as being another item to maintain and they eventually make the floor slippy and dangerous to the cow.

To clarify are you talking about having a T shaped tank with the passage down the middle of the cubicles being a slatted tank? And then the top of T is the feeding passage?

19driver83

To clarify are you talking about having a T shaped tank with the passage down the middle of the cubicles being a slatted tank? And then the top of T is the feeding passage?[/QUOTE]

Correct....good or bad idea???

stanflt

something like this maybe

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19driver83

Thanks Stanfit.

Thats looks good, utilising all the space. Steel appears to be a minimum.
Negative - Doesnt appear to be much ventilation.

stanflt

19driver83 wrote: »

Thanks Stanfit.

Thats looks good, utilising all the space. Steel appears to be a minimum.
Negative - Doesnt appear to be much ventilation.

loads of ventilation-

a real airy shed=space sheeting and vented sheeting all round

19driver83

loads of ventilation-

a real airy shed=space sheeting and vented sheeting all round[/QUOTE]

I must say I like it! Looks simple but effective
How have you configured the feeding area? Any photos?
Do you have a croosover path at the back? Is this a shed you built? How many animals does it hold? Any idea of cost?

Tipp Man

Nothing at all wrong with a T shaped tank and slatted passage - plenty of guys round here have them - we are all scrapers ourselves. Cows supposed to be cleaner on scrapers but not sure if that is true or not

however not sure if it is any cheaper - your tank will be large, the length of the cubicle shed and then the feed barrier. Actually for 80 cubicles i assume you will have 2 tanks with the cubicles and then a long feed passage tank - so 2 T's. Thats a lot of tank and alot of slats which means a lot of money.

I think scrapers would be cheaper. If you currently have alot of storage the cheapest and best option would be to follow stanfits picture and scrap the s##t to the existing storage. Or maybe scrap to a small reception tank and then pump into overground storage if you have it

stanflt

19driver83 wrote: »

loads of ventilation-

a real airy shed=space sheeting and vented sheeting all round

I must say I like it! Looks simple but effective
How have you configured the feeding area? Any photos?
Do you have a croosover path at the back? Is this a shed you built? How many animals does it hold? Any idea of cost?[/QUOTE]

holds 56- no cross over as heifers are grouped in 28s not mixed
built shed last back end- cost 850/cubicle including crush area

Tipp Man

19driver83 wrote: »

I must say I like it! Looks simple but effective
How have you configured the feeding area? Any photos?
Do you have a croosover path at the back? Is this a shed you built? How many animals does it hold? Any idea of cost?

He's in last weeks journal (or maybe week before) with a write up in the buildings section

Think there are pictures of it on here somewhere as well

blue5000

OP are you going tmr with diet feeder or will you be feeding silage only, You will need about 2ft per cow on feed passage, with a 'T' shaped shed you will need about 160 feet of head space for feeding. Could you feed at both sides/ ends?

19driver83

Tipp Man wrote: »

He's in last weeks journal (or maybe week before) with a write up in the buildings section

Think there are pictures of it on here somewhere as well

Read the article, pictures are not shown on website I think. Would be interested in seeing them though. Thanks a mill.

19driver83

blue5000 wrote: »

OP are you going tmr with diet feeder or will you be feeding silage only, You will need about 2ft per cow on feed passage, with a 'T' shaped shed you will need about 160 feet of head space for feeding. Could you feed at both sides/ ends?

Good point. Was thinking about that alrite...feeding space does appear limited.

I would be feeding silage...why?

blue5000

With a diet feeder all the cows wouldn't have to be able to feed at once. So you could maybe get away with shorter feed rail per cow. If you are feeding minerals/meal on top of silage in a shed where all the cows aren't able to feed at once then the shy feeders won't get any.

Was doin a bit more thinking since.
If you had 4 rows of 20 cubicles with a slatted feed passage at each end it would give you a fair bit of flexibility to divide up the shed for milkers, dry cows and springers/ dry cows needing meal for putting on condition. You say you don't want scrapers so you will have slats in the cubicle shed as well.

Not sure what way to do the tanks, you don't really need everything agitated and spread at once unless maybe you are growing maize, so if you had four tanks it would be easier to just agitate one and spread it as cows graze paddocks from feb on. I reckon leave the feed passages open, cows will keep the hair on all winter and a foot of rainwater is better for slurry going on paddocks

ceannfort

working on a tender for a new dairy unit at Greenmount agriculture college, they are using a combination of scrapers and slats, however scraped areas are all rubber matted. look at the pearsons-ni website for some of the products. this unit is suppose to be the rolls royce of dairy units!

19driver83

Anymore photos stanfit???

yellow50HX

i'd say dont rule anything out just yet. just a few questions to think of 1st.
how is this new shed going to fit into your existing layout, milking parlour and handeling pens?
will you need to put in cavling pens and if not how do you get to the existing ones?
how will it work with tractor access?

a good place to start would be to get out a sheet of paper and start drawing out differnt layouts and see how you would move the cows around and where it'll sit in your yard.

get into your car and take a spin around to see other farms and see how they have set up and see if you can get soem ideas.

as per the size and shape of the tanks i know a few places around here that build new sheds a few years ago. 7/8 bay shed with two tanks, one under the feed passage with a double row of cubiles behind then another slatted passage behind that and a third row of cubiles at the back. the cibilces are suspended over the tanks.

sucklerlover

Was at a farm walk recently and the farmer was goin building a shed with 85 cubicles with slats no scrapers and it was goin to cost 85k he said.

I need to build something for my sucklers as the straw is too much work.
Would slats with mats and a creep or cubicles with creep area be better for autumn calves.