How big a slatted shed for 150 suckler cows?

Mrs Brown

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Orkney Islands
Saw a builder do it on mainland Orkney just placed shuttering between the beams held up by acro props was a lot of faffing about cutting ply to fit, dare say a builder who does a few buildings would have shutter to fit.
 
Would having a setup where i could open one end once a year and muck out with forklift be ok ??

plenty of high level slatted sheds built in the 70's with brick around here. built into the side of a hill, passage way at top, sleepers for the slurry doors at the bottom. and mucked out into a dung spreader which saved spending a fortune on slurry equipment. as sheepwise said, you'd need an effluent tank now, but cant see how it wouldn't work fine
 

james ds

Member
Location
leinster
When I was in Clarke's I thought that was some shed they built recently?

Can't recall seeing slats tho.

I'd rather sheds than machinery, considering we're not far off 5-6 month winters, it's a sound investment.

About time you spent it!
Was that David clarkes. If so it's some shed.
No sell them at year old, dont like finishing and cant make it pay here anyway, enables me to have more cows.
 

Hilly

Member
plenty of high level slatted sheds built in the 70's with brick around here. built into the side of a hill, passage way at top, sleepers for the slurry doors at the bottom. and mucked out into a dung spreader which saved spending a fortune on slurry equipment. as sheepwise said, you'd need an effluent tank now, but cant see how it wouldn't work fine
Im wondering if i could design a door that sealed, would only need open once if the pit was big enough, then no need for a tank.
 

Hilly

Member
If you had a ramp down into it then I wonder if you'll have enough volume for the effluent
Ramp would collect rain water tho !, im now thinking have a eff tank and use a weeping wall for the door, with land drain pipe up the sides like a silage pit, mean the poop would be nice to spread, be like cream cheese !
 

S J H

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Bedfordshire
Ramp would collect rain water tho !, im now thinking have a eff tank and use a weeping wall for the door, with land drain pipe up the sides like a silage pit, mean the poop would be nice to spread, be like cream cheese !

Have the ramp internal after your sealed door. (y)
 

james ds

Member
Location
leinster
A ramped tank is a waste of time , there were a lot of them here years ago but they are now all gone and converted to slatted tanks , emptying a ramped tank would cost a fortune compared to a slatted tank .
 

james ds

Member
Location
leinster
Another problem with a tank that you could drive down into would be that it would be very sheltered and there could be dangerous gas in it , I for one would never go into it .
 

sheepwise

Member
Location
SW Scotland
A ramped tank is a waste of time , there were a lot of them here years ago but they are now all gone and converted to slatted tanks , emptying a ramped tank would cost a fortune compared to a slatted tank .
Contractors spread 2/3 of our 100' x 60' x 8' tank in February with umbilical in 1 day over approx 70 acres.Total cost £890 + 420Litres of diesel.Would have been a week with dungspreader and forklift and the pleasure of driving in below slats with cattle still on top!!!
 

scholland

Member
Location
ze3
@Hilly the sac farm at Edinburgh had (might still be there) a slatted cattle shed with doors and you went in with the handler to dig it out. The doors seeped a bit but most of the pee was in there still, it was grim. It possibly could be made to work but by the time you have built an effluent tank etc it will be dearer than a slurry tank. Suspended feed pass made with precast slabs are a lot easier and give you heaps of storage.
A tidal wave of pee heading for the door under slats isn't for me!
 

Half Pipe

Member
Im wondering if i could design a door that sealed, would only need open once if the pit was big enough, then no need for a tank.
there can be quite a bit of pressure on sleepers we use to shut up end of our high level slats, just lift 1 out at a time with bucket, then take a couple of scoops, before taking next 1 out.
I don't fancy opening a door in 1 go, even fairly 'dry' dung from slat moves.
we have a high level shed and a slurry tank shed at each farm, liquid from high level gets pumped to slurry to help mix it.
would think most suckler cow diets will produce dung that needs liquid.
high level sheds need a bit of thought about how its stocked,
ie you don't want a few or smaller cattle in pen furthest from muck out end as be less dung which leaves a pocket for water to gather. A decent sized and shaped bucket with a west dual style spreader not Long shifting alot
 
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Hilly

Member
the price of feed barley the last 5 years I wouldn't have thought there would be much difference?
Probs cheaper buying it ! but i also don`t have shed capacity and don`t like fattening them, when you see the price of stores i cant see much in it for myself especially if i had to build another shed or rent grazing , also don`t even like fattening cattle i like producing stores, fattend them up till reference years then stopped built up another 100 cows and hopefully never have to fatten cattle again but you never know.
 

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