Calf poly tunnel

[vantage]

Has anyone experience of rearing calves from baby calves upwards in a poly tunnel?
Needing accomodation for this Spring’s calves.

 

[Bald Rick]

Thought about it but was circa £8k pre erection so, apart from planning, it probably makes more sense to go proper shed

 

[Bald Rick]

Would add it was one of these...

Agri Span™ | A modern building that will transform your farm

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mcgregorpolytunnels.co.uk

They offer an erection service (but probably not at the moment)

 

[Bald Rick]

I would also add that polytunnels are a grey area with planning now which was another reason for not going through with it

 

[Rossymons]

They offer an erection service (but probably not at the moment)

Surprised you didn't buy 2 with that thrown in!

 

[Grassman247]

They do okay but they are far from perfect especially when the weather is so variable in the spring. These are mcgregor ones. If your a tenant farmer I’d say go for them but if you own the farm then definitely put a proper shed up. If I did polytunnels again with machines I’d set them up differently

 

[vantage]

They do okay but they are far from perfect especially when the weather is so variable in the spring. These are mcgregor ones. If your a tenant farmer I’d say go for them but if you own the farm then definitely put a proper shed up. If I did polytunnels again with machines I’d set them up differently

I think you’re right especially in our farm situation, 800’ up on the side of a hill.

 

[Headless chicken]

Has anyone experience of rearing calves from baby calves upwards in a poly tunnel?
Needing accomodation for this Spring’s calves.

fedwen tentage is advertising to use them as lambing shed so maybe that could be an option to keep you going this year

 

[Rossymons]

I think you’re right especially in our farm situation, 800’ up on the side of a hill.

If you can protect them from the wind you'll be fine. Depending on the site an earth bundle around the outside could make a big difference. But if you get pretty extreme weather I think a shed is your best bet.

 

[Spudley]

I was going to suggest a marquee as well. I know of one (for bigger calves admittedly) that has been installed into an empty silage pit, the walls of which give some shelter.

 

[Stinker]

We had one. It was ok but I used to lose sleep on a windy night. Ventilation was very all or nothing, depending on the wind direction. It blew down and we built a nice mono pitch building where it once stood.

 

[smallholder99]

has anyone clad a poly tunnel frame with box profile sheets lengthways,some could be clear for light, was the frame strong enough, should last years longer than plastic sheet

 

[Skintagain]

has anyone clad a poly tunnel frame with box profile sheets lengthways,some could be clear for light, was the frame strong enough, should last years longer than plastic sheet

By the time you have made it into a Nissen hut and strengthened it you may as well flatten it and re start

 

[O'Reilly]

has anyone clad a poly tunnel frame with box profile sheets lengthways,some could be clear for light, was the frame strong enough, should last years longer than plastic sheet

You won't have much to fix to, and it would be like an oven when the sun came out, I would think. On the other hand, you do see second hand frames very cheap, if you could get the sheets cheap, be worth a try.

 

[spin cycle]

horrible things....gonna take mine down i think

 

[O'Reilly]

horrible things....gonna take mine down i think

Because?

 

[spin cycle]

Because?

admittedly not all it's fault....i put it up in a hurry....wrong time of year....could never get sheet really right.....sagged.......blew off in end.......used a tarp last two years as sorta straw barn......sheet sagged/ripped

touch frames with teleporter and fragile.....thought about tinning it but think it waste time/money

got me outta muddle but think i'll replace it

 

[smallholder99]

looking for shelter for young cattle on exposed rented land ,nor worth spending a fortune

 

[Kiwi Pete]

We have one, it's bloody good (wind is gusting to 85mph here today)
The reason it's good I think is because it's semi-attached to another building at the windward end, and the cover is tight as a drum (you can hear bumblebees and birds hitting it). Been in place for 19 years.

Mainly it gets used for implements and drying the washing when not housing cattle, when we arrived it was set up into 5 pens of about 110m² but we took most of them out to open it up. Made it a lot more versatile, we put hoggets in there during the snow for example