Slats to existing shed/silage pit

PatQfarmer

I have a covered 4-span(60') x 30' Hay Barn with 10'silage walls that I am thinking of converting to use for cattle.
I intend to put in a slatted feeding area and feed barriers. I would use the rest of the shed itself as a straw-bedded lie-back area.
Hoping to house 30 or so yearling cattle.
Would hope to store straw at back of shed and roll it out as needed.
I will use tractor slats anyway, as the only way into the shed is through the front.
Would I be better to put slatted area inside shed or outside?
If outside, I would have a greater feeding area, but probably more waste?
Am I missing anything else from plan?
Any bright ideas that I should incorporate at this stage? I have a good crush across the yard already.
What size slats would you suggest?
What capacity tank will I need for what I've outlined?
What might I pay for a tank and slats?
All suggestions welcome, thanks.:)

blue5000

What's the budget?

3 bays of slats should be long enough for 30 yearlings. Do you want to knock the walls? Or can you cut holes in them in each bay. I prefer outdoor slats myself, cattle keep the hair on.

PatQfarmer

What's the budget?
As little as possible, 7-10k?

3 bays of slats should be long enough for 30 yearlings. Do you want to knock the walls?
Happy enough without pens. 30 together in one mob would be ok, imo. Am I wrong?
Or can you cut holes in them in each bay. I prefer outdoor slats myself, cattle keep the hair on.
Only have 30' width, so wondered if a tank outside across front of shed would do as feed area. 2x15' step out with swinging barriers +30' front.

blue5000

Splitting into batches would be handy if you wanted to feed meal to smaller ones.

Sounds like you want to put the tank 30' long across one end of the shed, sorry mental picture I had was slats down along the length of the shed on one side.

Are you thinking of bedding the whole shed apart from one bay where straw will be stored?

Have you priced slats yet?

PatQfarmer

blue5000 wrote: »

Splitting into batches would be handy if you wanted to feed meal to smaller ones.

Sounds like you want to put the tank 30' long across one end of the shed, sorry mental picture I had was slats down along the length of the shed on one side.

Are you thinking of bedding the whole shed apart from one bay where straw will be stored?

Have you priced slats yet?

You are probably right about the batches, but only a few months difference in age, so may be Ok in one mob.
Yes re front of shed. Walls along both sides and back (silage pit walls) so won't be knocking them!
I'll use back bay for straw store, so if I put slat under roof, then thirty will have 30'x30' lie-back. If I put slats outside they'll have 30'x45'.
I like the outdoor feed area as they may stay more hairy. But will there be a lot of waste silage?
Thanks for feedback.
Haven't priced slats yet, although neighbour said he did tank and 12' slats for about €230 per linear foot.

blue5000

Give croom concrete a call on the slats, they were cheaper than 'seconds' from banagher concrete when I did a tank a few yrs back. Some ppl on here in an old thread were saying there's a crowd in Clare cheaper again, none of them are too busy anyway.

We feed outside, and there is some waste if they are only fed every 3-4 (wet) days, feed every day and there is no waste

yellow50HX

the way your describing the shed your better off putting the slats out side. you wont be able to put a small slatted tank in the front bay without knocking a wall as the tank needs to be agitated from out side also digging very close to the pillars can cause the shed to collapse depending on how old the shed is. You can put the slats across the front of the shed but then you'll have to drive onto the slats and across your creep area to get into the bales. if you don't want to knock the walls you may need to think of a better way to make the best use of the shed.

remember that you need to plan how you are going to get the tractor in and out of the shed to put in the bales and clean the creep area. this is very important when it comes to positions of girders when you have a loader. my dad had a similar issue and he took down the back wall and uses this for coming in an out. he has a similar set up with the tank across the front of the old silage pit, the 1st bay is used for housing the calves and can be divided in two, he also put in crush gate to make one side into a calving pen if needed. the rest of the shed is used a store for bales and for parking the tractor as he can come in from the back.

what might be a another option would be to dig the tank outside the shed along by the long wall. you could the leave enough of a gap between the wall and the tank wide enough for the tractor to get in this would be a creep area you could then bring a lean-to over the tank from the shed to cover the tank if needed. you could still use the shed for silage by putting a channel across the front of the pit a diverting the effluent into the tank. that would be a 4 bay slatted shed with creep. from what your saying this maybe too big but said id throw out the idea you may want more room in a few years and your tanks wont fill up as fast. you mightn't need a lie back area if you have a bigger tank.

like has been mentioned in a few other posts start with a pen an paper and sketch out a few plans, then get a measuring tape, some baler twine and a few sticks and work out a foot print on the ground then see how it will work for you.

PatQfarmer

You can put the slats across the front of the shed but then you'll have to drive onto the slats and across your creep area to get into the bales.
I have other sheds as well, so the only straw stored in the back will be for use in the shed itself. I envisage rolling these down into lie-back. No tractor in there until cleaning out, and I will use a tractor slat.

he has a similar set up with the tank across the front of the old silage pit, the 1st bay can be divided in two
An excellent idea, thanks:)

like has been mentioned in a few other posts start with a pen an paper and sketch out a few plans, then get a measuring tape, some baler twine and a few sticks and work out a foot print on the ground then see how it will work for you.
Willdo, thanks.

Tipp Man

Pat are you on a calf to year half system?

If so you'd only be housing weanlings/yearlings so not sure the lay back area is really necessary. would be nice to have and no doubt its better than just slats but don't forget you then have slurry and dung to spread. And straw to buy of course

if your finishing cattle inside then the lay back area would help them alright

As mentioned above you won't be able to have the tank 30ft long if you have it inside the shed as you couldn't dig to the walls. Not sure how many cattle you will have in it but don't forget to have adequate feeding space for them - weanlings/yearlings needing very little but finishing cattle would want nearly the same as a cow

Nothing at all wrong with outside tanks. We have more than half our cows on 2 outside tanks without any problems whatsoever. RE silage wastage - we use round bales and we don't break up the bales too much and have practically zero waste every year. Must clarify this by saying when we had pit silage we had a bit of waste alright. Cows will eat a bale that gets rain - but not pit silage

1 other thing is to make sure when you build the tank you have enough storage to meet any requirements. No point building the tank only to have it too small and be told you haven't adequate storage

For slats you could try Corbetts in Cahir - keep the money local;)

vanderbadger

For slats you could try Corbetts in Cahir - keep the money local;)[/QUOTE]

no wonder ye tipp boys are renowned for bringing the sambos to matches

Tipp Man

vanderbadger wrote: »

no wonder ye tipp boys are renowned for bringing the sambos to matches

Tipp home of the hang sanich alright:D Com'on the premier

PatQfarmer

Tipp Man wrote: »

Tipp home of the hang sanich alright:D Com'on the premier

Hope we need to make the sandwiches this year! Brought them to League matches and as we ate them was wondering how many days out we will get come Championship.:rolleyes:

Tipp Man

PatQfarmer wrote: »

Hope we need to make the sandwiches this year! Brought them to League matches and as we ate them was wondering how many days out we will get come Championship.:rolleyes:

Amazing with Lar gone and Kelly injured how the goals dried up - frightening in fact when you look at how many goals we scored last year.

I think we'll do ok - might know a bit more after Sunday with more preperation done and hopefully a fairly full blooded game

5live

Tipp Man wrote: »

Pat are you on a calf to year half system?

If so you'd only be housing weanlings/yearlings so not sure the lay back area is really necessary. would be nice to have and no doubt its better than just slats but don't forget you then have slurry and dung to spread. And straw to buy of course

if your finishing cattle inside then the lay back area would help them alright

As mentioned above you won't be able to have the tank 30ft long if you have it inside the shed as you couldn't dig to the walls. Not sure how many cattle you will have in it but don't forget to have adequate feeding space for them - weanlings/yearlings needing very little but finishing cattle would want nearly the same as a cow

Nothing at all wrong with outside tanks. We have more than half our cows on 2 outside tanks without any problems whatsoever. RE silage wastage - we use round bales and we don't break up the bales too much and have practically zero waste every year. Must clarify this by saying when we had pit silage we had a bit of waste alright. Cows will eat a bale that gets rain - but not pit silage

1 other thing is to make sure when you build the tank you have enough storage to meet any requirements. No point building the tank only to have it too small and be told you haven't adequate storage

For slats you could try Corbetts in Cahir - keep the money local;)

Remember to add in rainfall in addition to slurry storage for the actual animals slurry. You could lose 3foot of storage with uncovered slats. In kerry its 4 foot lost so next building for me is over the tank. I agree with Blue on splitting into batches. 13 big and 17 smaller will need about the same feed space and silage and you have the bonus of being able to feed more/less to each batch and with smaller groups so any health problems that may arise will be easier to spot

PatQfarmer

Tipp Man wrote: »

Pat are you on a calf to year half system?

If so you'd only be housing weanlings/yearlings so not sure the lay back area is really necessary. would be nice to have and no doubt its better than just slats but don't forget you then have slurry and dung to spread. And straw to buy of course

if your finishing cattle inside then the lay back area would help them alright

As mentioned above you won't be able to have the tank 30ft long if you have it inside the shed as you couldn't dig to the walls. Not sure how many cattle you will have in it but don't forget to have adequate feeding space for them - weanlings/yearlings needing very little but finishing cattle would want nearly the same as a cow

Nothing at all wrong with outside tanks. We have more than half our cows on 2 outside tanks without any problems whatsoever. RE silage wastage - we use round bales and we don't break up the bales too much and have practically zero waste every year. Must clarify this by saying when we had pit silage we had a bit of waste alright. Cows will eat a bale that gets rain - but not pit silage

1 other thing is to make sure when you build the tank you have enough storage to meet any requirements. No point building the tank only to have it too small and be told you haven't adequate storage

For slats you could try Corbetts in Cahir - keep the money local;)

Thanks for that. Mainly AA hfrs, all finished off grass, so weanlings/yearlings only. Intend to carry 30 over winter.
Will be using round bales also, hence conversion of the silage pit:)
Glad to hear of minimal waste.
Will take advice and build in a bit of future-proofing.
Local is usually best...ask me, I'm a single-branch auctioneer:)
Have garnered lots of ideas, thanks lads.

PatQfarmer

Tipp Man wrote: »

Amazing with Lar gone and Kelly injured how the goals dried up - frightening in fact when you look at how many goals we scored last year.

I think we'll do ok - might know a bit more after Sunday with more preperation done and hopefully a fairly full blooded game

Hopefully we can stick it to them Cork lads:)

Tipp Man

PatQfarmer wrote: »

Hopefully we can stick it to them Cork lads:)

Yeah we left them off in the last game a few weeks ago

Nothing better than sending the Cork lads packing from Thurles:D