Slatted shed ideas

fiatagri8090

I am thinking of building a slatted shed. Would require 4 pens for housing weanlings and about 10 sucklers. Was thinking of closed in 2 bay double with centre passage. Cubicles would also be an option. Would 2 small tanks be much more expensive than one long 4 bay tank. Any ideas on prices of installing tanks and shed design would be appreciated.

Farmer Pudsey

Yes two tanks would be much more expensive than one a four bay than is less than half more than a two bay tank. If it was me I would build an open shed fou bay with a 15-29 ft run back face it north or north east and very little rain will go in over the winter. use 2 bar gates at back so you can feed back and front however if you have only 10 cows a three bay 16' slatted tank will do you unless you intend to expand after you build shed.

I would put a crush inside in run back area as well as calving pens

Figerty

Same idea as Pudsy.

Calving cubicles at the back with a calving gate suitable for sections. This has been a great success for me, even to seperate the bulling cows or as an escape for the calves.

Go for four in a line rather than 2 facing 2. Open front to the north with a good overhanging leanto for shelter. Mine is 8ft wide and has been commented on as being a real advantage. 4 in a row is easier to feed this way rather than down an long passage with feed either side... Less lights needed also.

If you have room you can alway build on the same line or facing the shed later on. I can only extend the shed in time if I want due to the site constraints.

One tank with at least 2 agitation points. Three would be better..all outside the shed for safety.

I built using the 12'6 slats, sorry I didn't go for the 14foot ones. Small bit bigger and more costly but a lot more storags and room.

One thing I was sorry I didn't do was put in cubilcles for the cows to lie in. This would have saved a lot of dirtying of the cattle.

Go visit a few local sheds and see what suits you. Try not to go cheap on the steel or cladding you will regret it in the long run.

Plan your electric route and water route also before you start.

Farmer Pudsey

Figerty wrote: »

Same idea as Pudsy.


If you have room you can alway build on the same line or facing the shed later on. I can only extend the shed in time if I want due to the site constraints.

.

I be inclined to either keep them in line or else put the back of one in front of the face of the next unless you keep them on top of each other very hard to beat a north facing shed if the shed is south or west facing cattle spend all the time it is raining huddled in the back as well as the feed being always wet

blue5000

Sorry op, slightly off topic, but larry's idea for a shed is that the feed passage should be long enough for a jeep to go from 0-60mph;)

Figerty

Driving through the states once passing a shed and it took me 30 seconds at 60 miles per hours. That meant that it was half mile long. Now thats a shed!

So hot in the summer they keep the cattle in and put them out in winter. I saw them collecting a grass using articulated lorry on the field..

blue5000 wrote: »

Sorry op, slightly off topic, but larry's idea for a shed is that the feed passage should be long enough for a jeep to go from 0-60mph;)

gerico

Hi Fiatagri8090

Did you settle on an idea for your shed. Im in the process of installing a 3bay tank at the moment with 14.5" slats. Im also planning to put a floored area behind the slatted bays of about 16' to allow for calving or as a lieback area for suckler cows.

What i'm stuck on in this layout is with regard to putting the crush against my back wall. is it best to have the crush chute running along the back of the lieback area with an access gate from each pen or have an additional space behind the lieback that would run the length of the shed and be used to run cattle down before entering the crush chute.

ie 14.5ft slatted pen with 16ft pen behind this and a further area of say 12ft to house the chute and crush chute all this for the length of the shed

difficult to explain without a diagram but any ideas welcome

Farmer Pudsey

gerico wrote: »

Hi Fiatagri8090

Did you settle on an idea for your shed. Im in the process of installing a 3bay tank at the moment with 14.5" slats. Im also planning to put a floored area behind the slatted bays of about 16' to allow for calving or as a lieback area for suckler cows.

What i'm stuck on in this layout is with regard to putting the crush against my back wall. is it best to have the crush chute running along the back of the lieback area with an access gate from each pen or have an additional space behind the lieback that would run the length of the shed and be used to run cattle down before entering the crush chute.

ie 14.5ft slatted pen with 16ft pen behind this and a further area of say 12ft to house the chute and crush chute all this for the length of the shed

difficult to explain without a diagram but any ideas welcome

I have an Idea what you are planning it is hard to put crush in 3 bay shed as the minimum for a crush/race is about 30 feet/2 bays in a 4 bay it is ideal as you use the first and last as entrance and exit you need at least 15' at rear for to get cattle in unless you use a side gate at top and let cattle out here and into the pen beside the top. Between the pen and the rear of your pens and crush 8' is loads enough to pull up a truck/tractor trailer to load cattle 12' is too wide to load

Figerty

Pudsey is right here. I intended to put a crush in, but in reality it was too short. I have a crush already that I can run the cattle into So I put in a head gate and barriers for one cow with a back gate to hold them for vet treatment instead.

The real benifit of this has been that when a cow is out the back and gets cranky the calves are able to run in for safety or I can feed the cow in the 'crush' the wrong way and it gets them used to putting their head in.

Put in a sliding door at either end for the calving pens. Way safer than gates that get caught in the wind. There have been some deaths, particularly children, when the gate went with the wind.

Put in 4ft gates are the back of the slat between the back part, a 4ft gate is easier to manage than a 15 ft barrier.

I can send you drawings for a two bay if you want,, double it for a 4 bay.

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

I have an Idea what you are planning it is hard to put crush in 3 bay shed as the minimum for a crush/race is about 30 feet/2 bays in a 4 bay it is ideal as you use the first and last as entrance and exit you need at least 15' at rear for to get cattle in unless you use a side gate at top and let cattle out here and into the pen beside the top. Between the pen and the rear of your pens and crush 8' is loads enough to pull up a truck/tractor trailer to load cattle 12' is too wide to load

futurefarmer

What kind of money are we talking about for a two bay ? Need to do one this summer just like an idea before i get quotes, thanks all

Figerty

Deep breath......in the region of 35k in 2008....but...you get the vat back on materials, offset the cost against the farm accounts.

I got the grant at the time which was 70% if I recall, just made the young farmer category. But in reality it was about 55%, and you could charge for your own time. I reckon at the time after all is said and done it cost me about...6k!

It won't be as cheap doing it on now unfortunatley, but cost have come back significantly on concrete,,but steel prices are high. Slats at the time were mad money due to demand.

Break it down to
Tank and Walls labour (excavation movement of spoil, steel fixing and pour)
Concrete: get the dept spec on the steel and concrete.
Steel roof, wall and sliding doors and erection costs
Water and electric
Barrier, pen dividers, gates and crush.

just do it

I've a 4 bay open single with wide slats and creep/ calving pens behind. Initially I was planning having the crush inside but changed my mind. It is now outside the back wall. As well as this there is a calving gate between 2 pens so a cow can be head locked in it from either pen. The one other thing I'd recommend is at least one self locking feed barrier. This is by far and away the handiest way to catch cattle. A few nuts in front of them and they're locked in with no hassle. Can even catch them this way for the AI man on my way home from work without having to change clothes! All in all that is 3 different options for catching/ handling the cattle - and I regularly use all of them.

I put the crush outside as I reckoned it takes up too much room inside. It's a lot cheaper just to stick it outside.

Mf50

I ve just joined. planning on a 4 bay shed single sided shed, 14ft slats with 12ft creep area, i ve sussed out the costs and no matter what way i cut it it looks like it ll cost in the region of +40k. Does that sound right? Seems like madness on return on investment basis but it ll save a lot of time and make life easier......I hope..

yellow50HX

yeah 40k doesnt seem too far wide of the mark, what i'd say is make sure you send in the VAT for everything you buy be it lights wires or even a few extra bags of cement it all add's up. the boss man put up a 4 bay slatted shed in front of the yard during 07 under the grant. we ended up doing most of the concrete work and tank our selves. worked out at about 35k after the vat came back but still was worth it. couldnt have been able to do it without the grant though.

like the other lads said i'd wander to see a few other places to get some ideas, espically when it comes to handeling cattle. put in a self locking barrier great job have used it for hold cows for suckling, injecting, checking their feet and even milking by hand, we have even used them for c sections. as for the crush inside the back wall have heard mixed views on it, all depends on how your yard is set up and how the pens in front are used. it great to be inside when is pissign rain but canbe awkward if the pens are needed or if you need to get the tractor in.

you should be able to get your cattle in and out easy. start with a blank sheet of a4 paper and a pen then get an measurign tape and a few sticks to mark it out to see how it'll work.

convoy

agree with just-do-it,a locking barrier is essential i.m.o,have a 6 bay shed with creeps, a calving gate in creep area is great job, would be lost without it, calving,sections,milking,dosing etc etc.you cant look at enough sheds every1 will give you little ideas, as for price I would think about 15k a bay is a good guide

Farmer Pudsey

4 bay shed should be able to be done at present for below 40k. I remembe rin a post on another slatted shed thread a few weeks chippy1 had got a price for a 3 bay tank with slats for 8000+ vat and a four bay shed with run back was 6500 +vat delivered. now these are good prices but if you do a shed without the bells and whistle's and do a bit of the work yourself you should manage around 35K.
The things to watch get the steel RSJ's Galvanised costs a bit extra 30N concrete is plenty for tank and some of the boy's doing it are useing 4'' steel mesh for the sides I be ok with that make sure the conc is not wet going in and make sure they vibrate well. Get a 9' deep tank if you can. Make sure timber is treated and DPC between it and steel. Side walls 25N, barriers for cows get one single lockable ( they can be very noisy near a house), two bar barriers are grand for weanlings. Remember to keep all your reciepts even for labour fittings or even a bag of cement as any vat is refundable.