polytunnel for 500 ewes

[irish dom]

Hi just toying with idea of dropping some far away winter awkward hard fenced grass and housing the ewes and feed them the silage that i currently sell.
Getting fed up running up and down the road and trying to find out if it would be as cost effective to have them under my hand. Also hard to get keep that i can keep them on till mid march. End up being turfed off in late february and eat saved grass on lambing paddocks too early.
Spend my winter out scanning ewes and have met some guys doing a good job and making it pay both inside and out. Time is my biggest limitation and feel like travelling is wasted time.
Would be nice to come home and turn on lights and feed. Also might be easier to get someone to feed when i am gone away than getting them to drive and get drowned in the rain.
Mostly mules and lleyns. Will be turned out to lamb for end of march. Discuss!

 

[spin cycle]

thats a lot of polytunnel.....basic steel roof on legs might be better?

 

[GTB]

We kept our ewe lambs at home this winter instead of tacking out. They were outside until mid jan when they were housed on adlib silage and half a kg of 18% nuts. They are all alive and accounted for so far and are looking better than they would be away on tack.

 

[irish dom]

We kept our ewe lambs at home this winter instead of tacking out. They were outside until mid jan when they were housed on adlib silage and half a kg of 18% nuts. They are all alive and accounted for so far and are looking better than they would be away on tack.

Did it work out any cheaper? Dearer? Its the control of when they go in and go out and taking the weather out of the equation that appeals to me. And maybe i could keep a few more on expensive leased land. Dont own any land at present but nearly have my first wee place bought and looking at options i never could before

 

[GTB]

They are costing about £1.20per head per week whilst indoors i.e. silage, straw and cake. But are only housed for about half the winter, cost nothing when they were grazing.

Was paying on average 70p per week for grazing last year.

Not really saving much but it's a better job imho.

 

[irish dom]

thats a lot of polytunnel.....basic steel roof on legs might be better?

Seen them tunnels and like the environment in them. Also they would be cheaper. A big plus. Would really like to hear peoples views on them. And how much did it cost to put one up and kit it out

 

[irish dom]

They are costing about £1.20per head per week whilst indoors i.e. silage, straw and cake. But are only housed for about half the winter, cost nothing when they were grazing.

Was paying on average 70p per week for grazing last year.

Not really saving much but it's a better job imho.

Would the landowner throw an eye on them for that and would you have to fence it. All mine needs 3 strand of electric wire moved around and the lads i have it off wouldnt tip a sheep over if she was on her back if it meant getting off the tractor. Nice guys but dont like work. Works out around 80 cent per head per week but i pay an agreed price per farm till 1st march. If its drier and i can stock harder it works out cheaper. If its wet ( usually the case here in the west of ireland) i am fecked

 

[GTB]

Yes 70p, good fencing and checked but I would have to go and sort out any problems.

 

[irish dom]

I would class that as good value provided they are well fed and not too tight. However its very hard to guage how it will last. Some years cows in early and loads of grass. Other years not worth the bother. Hard to plan your business around someone else. Cant blame the beef dairy farmers trying to get the last bit in a dry autumn. Just dont ride the poor sheep man when there is less there for him

 

[It was already broken.]

What is the situation regarding bedding where you are @irish dom ? Obviously however uncomfortable the sheep are outside they don't need any bedding once you are in then that expense is straight off your profit. Also is your land fairly light? If you are having to lay 200 tonnes of road planings in order to drive out the end of the tunnel the costs can start to get silly from a sheep job that might be on its arse in three years time.

 

[irish dom]

Bedding would be on the dear side. Around 15 euro for a 4x4 bale of straw. Land would be wettish. Would love to put in slats but seems excessive for a short winter.
It either a cheap house or a rappa winder and make some more winter grass contacts that share my vision of everyone getting a turn out of the transaction.
Really like to expand and take on more land and sheep but winter is limiting me. If i had that licked i feel i could drive on

 

[It was already broken.]

Its the other way here! Got arable boys queued up to get into turnips for the winter but the only grass for the summer is crap marsh that is in enviro schemes and if we get a dry one then it all looks like straw and the only green is the thistles.

 

[irish dom]

Its the other way here! Got arable boys queued up to get into turnips for the winter but the only grass for the summer is crap marsh that is in enviro schemes and if we get a dry one then it all looks like straw and the only green is the thistles.

We may get a boat and do a bit of shuffling around. Could be a nice wee earner. Love to get turnips. Any fodder crop is prohibitively dear and the tillage lads have a fear of sheep breaking out. No tillage worth a damn within 50 miles of me so would have to cast the net wide

 

[shearerlad]

I have a 100' x 30' tunnel that I use for lambing, finishing lambs and also set mobile yards up in it. Great atmosphere for sheep to live in.

For you @irish dom my thoughts would be 2 tunnels the same as mine, with a 30' wide hard cored area between them for extra room ie when mucking out. That should give you plenty room. A rough guide of 11 square feet per ewe plus feed troughs, bale rings etc

 

[GTB]

@shearerlad how do you bed the ewes down? Must be done by hand surely, you wouldn't dare blow it in with a straw chopper I expect?

 

[ImLost]

i recently made a polytunnel type arrangement for a couple of hundred hens, it could be replicated quiet easily, will try and get a couple of pics up later (if i remember!)
All it is is pallets stood on end fixed firmly together. An apex roof made from 2x3 timber. Heavy duty polythene battened down to the sides and apex timbers. some of the outside is covered with thin ply, purely as a windbreak.
Just make sure you get more polythene than you think, cause i didnt! and baton it down as well as possible, doris took half the roof off, just because one piece wasnt done properly
Very cheap, quick and easy to make and you can adapt it any way you like, its worked it far better than i ever imagined.

 

[shearerlad]

@GTB before I bring the ewes in I stack 6 bales at the top end of the tunnel (3 in each corner). So it's just a case of rolling a bale out when needed.

 

[case 5140]

Ive got 2, 76x30ft tunnels will hold 200 lose or with 10ft passage in middle will hold 128 or if you floor feed more!.
Done 12 years one was new other s/h but 2 years old.

 

[Hartwig]

I have a 100' x 30' tunnel that I use for lambing, finishing lambs and also set mobile yards up in it. Great atmosphere for sheep to live in.

Do you have closed cover to the ground or windbreak mesh around on the ground for better ventilation ??
Do you have a white poly-cover and what manufacturer please ?? Some pics would be great.....
How is it with rainwater flooding the sides when it is just pouring down without a gutter - does it need a drainage along the sides on heavy ground ??

 

[irish dom]

Was kinda thinking of butting 3 tunnels together. One in middle for tractor and bale unwinder and two each side penned offinto big deep pens. Anybody ever tried this? Or am i daft?