Shed pics/layouts for sucklers!!

[Henarar]

why an earth floor? why not just put stone chips down if you couldnt afford concrete?

just as bad, we have tried allsorts over the years, hardcore. chalk, and just leaving the clay, in a nice dry shed the clay was best but they all got concreated in the end

 

[Northeastfarmer]

why an earth floor? why not just put stone chips down if you couldnt afford concrete?

Was frightened about lifting all the stones out when mucking out, anyway it all got concreted in the end

 

[franklin]

If I remember correctly, and I might not do, it had a clear ventilated ridge and every sheet on the roof has a gap between it and the next. Click on some of the pictures to enlarge and it should show up in fair detail. The aim was to maximise ventilation and provide as much natural light as practically possible.
You see the yolks at the feed passage on many pens and the raised platform for the beasts. The gates then shut behind them to allow a clear run for mucking out, as seen.

Yes, I saw the gaps and filed that in the "interesting" section of my brain. I also saw that it looks like the shed had internal girders down joining the locking yokes but not on the other side of the shed leading me to think "I winder what they do with the other side of the shed?" as it doesnt look symetrical with a central passage.

 

[glasshouse]

better to build an open fronted shed 40ft deep and 20ft to eaves.
its far cheaper

 

[gone up the hill]

100k wont include planning/groundworks etc mabye for shed and erection yes, with the straw scraping passages i will need to be careful and muck the bedded area regularly too or it will get steep down to the scraping passage?

How many cattle are you wanting to put a shed up for?

100k should put up a big shed + all the concrete/ gates etc, planning cost will be very little, no reason why you cant do all the concrete etc with your own staff, not rocket science to lay concrete, also the shed, you can do all the cladding/ guttering with your own staff, doing these things yourself will save you a packet, even the concrete walls you can do yourself.

Bedded area base height should be slightly lower than the concrete feed passage, I would only clean out the bedding area once every 6 months, some people like doing it every 6 weeks but takes more straw this way.

 

[Henarar]

I would only clean out the bedding area once every 6 months, some people like doing it every 6 weeks but takes more straw this way.

we don't find that
after its been cleaned out they will use less straw

 

[gone up the hill]

Ref the floor, waste of money concreting it.

Use small drainage stone but hire in a road roller to hammer it in very tight when you put it down, a good loader driver wont rip it up when they clean out the shed.

 

[franklin]

How many cattle are you wanting to put a shed up for?

100k should put up a big shed + all the concrete/ gates etc, planning cost will be very little, no reason why you cant do all the concrete etc with your own staff, not rocket science to lay concrete, also the shed, you can do all the cladding/ guttering with your own staff, doing these things yourself will save you a packet, even the concrete walls you can do yourself.

Bedded area base height should be slightly lower than the concrete feed passage, I would only clean out the bedding area once every 6 months, some people like doing it every 6 weeks but takes more straw this way.

100 x 120 shed, groundwork, putting it up and walls around £90k. I think the cost of putting it up was around £20k which means they would be using a team of unicorns to fly each bolt up.

Was working on 9 square meters per moo at 500 to 600kg, so at 2 and a half foot at the trough each, thats 39ft back, hence a 40x40 pen fits 16 animals. 100 x 120 gives 6 pens with 20ft for the troughs and tractor to go up and down.

tl;dr I know nothing about cows except they make muck which I need and hopefully eat grass. I also like to not get wet when it is raining.

 

[gone up the hill]

100 x 120 shed, groundwork, putting it up and walls around £90k. I think the cost of putting it up was around £20k which means they would be using a team of unicorns to fly each bolt up.

Was working on 9 square meters per moo at 500 to 600kg, so at 2 and a half foot at the trough each, thats 39ft back, hence a 40x40 pen fits 16 animals. 100 x 120 gives 6 pens with 20ft for the troughs and tractor to go up and down.

tl;dr I know nothing about cows except they make muck which I need and hopefully eat grass. I also like to not get wet when it is raining.

2ft head at the feed rail is more than enough thus increasing stocking rate per pen, I wouldn't go 20ft wide either because then you will need 20ft gates to pen the cattle up when scraping out which is wasting bedding area space, should easily house 15 cattle in a 30ft x 40ft pen.

No reason why the farmer cant do all the groundwork either using farm kit which will cut costs.

 

[franklin]

As said, I was doing my plans on the basis of not having beeves before. I got the floor space and trough space from the RSPCA Freedom Foods guide. This is what happens when it rains all month - spend all the time with maps of my yard and sheets of squared paper.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

we don't find that
after its been cleaned out they will use less straw

I find the opposite

 

[gone up the hill]

we don't find that
after its been cleaned out they will use less straw

We always use for more for the first month.

 

[Cowabunga]

Yes, I saw the gaps and filed that in the "interesting" section of my brain. I also saw that it looks like the shed had internal girders down joining the locking yokes but not on the other side of the shed leading me to think "I winder what they do with the other side of the shed?" as it doesnt look symetrical with a central passage.

Look carefully at the second picture down and at the bottom left you should see lean-to, which widened the shed and is where the suckling calves and their mothers would be. I seem to remember that there was provision to separate the calves into the lean-to bays and feed concentrates [or not] separately to the cows.
This was more than just a suckler enterprise, with many more bought-in calves than home bred. There was at least one big open fronted shed apart from this one, full of cattle. All fed a maize silage based diet, delivered through a mixer wagon.

 

[ridger]

How many cattle are you wanting to put a shed up for?

100k should put up a big shed + all the concrete/ gates etc, planning cost will be very little, no reason why you cant do all the concrete etc with your own staff, not rocket science to lay concrete, also the shed, you can do all the cladding/ guttering with your own staff, doing these things yourself will save you a packet, even the concrete walls you can do yourself.

Bedded area base height should be slightly lower than the concrete feed passage, I would only clean out the bedding area once every 6 months, some people like doing it every 6 weeks but takes more straw this way.

He doesn't ever answer questions like how many.

 

[yin ewe]

Slatted area where they stand to eat and straw bedded area behind this for them to lie on. Straw area floor lower than slats so less straw gets tramped out onto the slats. No passage to scrape every week and should cut down on straw usage.

 

[Bossfarmer]

better to build an open fronted shed 40ft deep and 20ft to eaves.
its far cheaper

Only 10k cheaper ive priced two facing each other

 

[Bossfarmer]

How many cattle are you wanting to put a shed up for?

100k should put up a big shed + all the concrete/ gates etc, planning cost will be very little, no reason why you cant do all the concrete etc with your own staff, not rocket science to lay concrete, also the shed, you can do all the cladding/ guttering with your own staff, doing these things yourself will save you a packet, even the concrete walls you can do yourself.

Bedded area base height should be slightly lower than the concrete feed passage, I would only clean out the bedding area once every 6 months, some people like doing it every 6 weeks but takes more straw this way.

Would need to hold 100 cows/calves, how much would i save by doing the concreting myself? Not sure if ill have time to do a huge amount myself flat out most of the year as it is

 

[Bossfarmer]

Ref the floor, waste of money concreting it.

Use small drainage stone but hire in a road roller to hammer it in very tight when you put it down, a good loader driver wont rip it up when they clean out the shed.

If i put bigger chips in the bottom and smaller ones on top packed tightly it should be ok? Might just concrete a bit outside the front of the shed save ripping the ground up turning and going in/out the sheds, plus centre passage to start with, IF i go out of cattle i can then concrete the rest and use as a grain store

 

[Hilly]

Would need to hold 100 cows/calves, how much would i save by doing the concreting myself? Not sure if ill have time to do a huge amount myself flat out most of the year as it is

Concrete done your self will be half price, opposed to getting the pros in, roughly.

 

[Hilly]

If i put bigger chips in the bottom and smaller ones on top packed tightly it should be ok? Might just concrete a bit outside the front of the shed save ripping the ground up turning and going in/out the sheds, plus centre passage to start with, IF i go out of cattle i can then concrete the rest and use as a grain store

Outside concrete is more important then inside concrete in a cattle shed, so if on a budget concrete outside not inside as inside will be under muck 6-7 month of the year.