Suckler shed design

[mezz]

Shed looks good.

Turning in from 15 foot passage is doable, but would be a lot easier if the storage bay was made 20 foot wide. You'd always use the extra storage.

The pitch on the roof looks like it could do with being a bit steeper, ideally 17 degrees for the stack effect. Also there should be a raised ridge along the apex for ventilation.

 

[Ih885xl]

have a creep area here straw bedded, so the calves can run back to that, yes there is the problem with dealing with slurry, however less straw is needed, and in West Wales it all comes from the midlands or further, so quite a cost. As it is, I am using a wagon and drag of straw.

Have you any pictures and how many cows are you running in what size shed ? Just seen an older post where it was just two raised beds of concrete sloping toward a channel in the middle and then feeding passage at front which didn’t look too bad and no need for cubicles. Currently can get straw fairly cheap and possibly with the bay at bottom for straw I could try buy and sell some conventional bales to horsey people to help pay for straw.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

Have you any pictures and how many cows are you running in what size shed ? Just seen an older post where it was just two raised beds of concrete sloping toward a channel in the middle and then feeding passage at front which didn’t look too bad and no need for cubicles. Currently can get straw fairly cheap and possibly with the bay at bottom for straw I could try buy and sell some conventional bales to horsey people to help pay for straw.

I think it is 80' x 80' approx, with 37 cubicles, calf creep area, small handling race, 5 calving pens and a 28' x 60' self feed silage clamp.

 

[Ih885xl]

Shed looks good.

Turning in from 15 foot passage is doable, but would be a lot easier if the storage bay was made 20 foot wide. You'd always use the extra storage.

The pitch on the roof looks like it could do with being a bit steeper, ideally 17 degrees for the stack effect. Also there should be a raised ridge along the apex for ventilation.

Yes I’ll have to give it a go with cones can’t see us having a much bigger loader tractor than what we have now for our 60 acre but would be worth pricing up might not be much more for 20ft end bay.
Can’t say I know much when it comes to stuff like that I’d drawn it at 15 degrees roughly but steeper is better then lets the air move up easier ?
I’d just put the single vents will weather come in through a full length ridge or would it be minimal ?

 

[Ih885xl]

I think it is 80' x 80' approx, with 37 cubicles, calf creep area, small handling race, 5 calving pens and a 28' x 60' self feed silage clamp.

Right that’s interesting so have everything under one roof, due to us just being on a very small scale I still want something which would turn back into a normal shed easy enough if it all came to an end and say turn into a workshop.

 

[steveR]

Make is usable for other, non-farming usage in the future.....

 

[Ih885xl]

Make is usable for other, non-farming usage in the future.....

Yes think it’ll be easy enough to convert design at minute would only really be cladding and a roller shutter door at 15ft to eves not too low either

 

[Happy]

Yes I’ll have to give it a go with cones can’t see us having a much bigger loader tractor than what we have now for our 60 acre but would be worth pricing up might not be much more for 20ft end bay.
Can’t say I know much when it comes to stuff like that I’d drawn it at 15 degrees roughly but steeper is better then lets the air move up easier ?
I’d just put the single vents will weather come in through a full length ridge or would it be minimal ?

Bear in mind the steeper you make the roof pitch the lower your 8 ft overhang is going to be so at 17 degrees you may well find yourself back to where you started from before Fowler & Gilbert recommend upping the eaves height.

Personally on an open fronted shed like that I’d be happy at enough 15 degrees. Different story on a fully enclosed centre passage up the middle job.

Not a fan of vented ridge sheets on the top of roofs. Wind can whip them off in exposed site. Open raised ridge gives better ventilation & wind blows straight through.

 

[Ih885xl]

Bear in mind the steeper you make the roof pitch the lower your 8 ft overhang is going to be so at 17 degrees you may well find yourself back to where you started from before Fowler & Gilbert recommend upping the eaves height.

Personally on an open fronted shed like that I’d be happy at enough 15 degrees. Different story on a fully enclosed centre passage up the middle job.

Not a fan of vented ridge sheets on the top of roofs. Wind can whip them off in exposed site. Open raised ridge gives better ventilation & wind blows straight through.

Yes will speak to them and builder and see what they advise like you say open front must surely help a lot with airflow and is this the sort you mean ?

 

[Happy]

Yes will speak to them and builder and see what they advise like you say open front must surely help a lot with airflow and is this the sort you mean ? View attachment 1144740

More or less yes, but just the raised middle bit on the raised brackets. Never had One with the additional side sheets.

 

[Ih885xl]

More or less yes, but just the raised middle bit on the raised brackets. Never had One with the additional side sheets.

And no rain comes in at all without the side bits ?

 

[L P]

View attachment 1144527View attachment 1144527View attachment 1144530View attachment 1144531View attachment 1144532
Hi there I would like to build a new building to house my suckler cows. I have planning permission for a 60 x 40 ft shed. At current we have 14 sucklers however are struggling for housing space so cannot expand and cannot calve inside leading to calves being sold younger. I would also like to use the end bay for straw/ machinery as we currently lift mini hesstons on to a loft in an old stone barn which isn’t ideal. Apologies for the plan not being very clear It’s just a rough drawing of my plan to see if there’s any pitfalls before I order the frame itself. So a few questions …
1. Is an 8ft cantilever ample as that side of the shed would face toward the bale stack so hopefully sheltered enough as heard can make inside of shed very wet if too short?
2. We would access the shed only from the south side so would drive down the feed passage to the end straw bay. Will a 15ft wide feed passage leave enough room to swing into the end bay with a bale of straw, have a skid steer which would ofcourse do it but would like to be able to unload wagon and stack in one go with 100hp loader tractor.
3. On the last drawing showing inside I’ve put 3 15ft gates which will shut while I clean out, is it worth having a bottom board to keep bed seperate from scrape passage or will muck be fine and better with a bit of straw mixed in mainly first cut bales but some 2nd will be fed.
4. What do people use to take a slurry/ pee out of the building was thinking dished concrete channel just behind feed barrier so easy to clean out ? And then go into a drain into tank once outside building.
5. I would like to use proper two sided Yorkshire boarding not space boarding however we are quite high up and get bad wind and snow sometimes will it keep the weather out ?

Sorry for the long post, any advice is appreciatedView attachment 1144536

On the Yorkshire board side of things, there used to be a product called hilight, or highlite, was a bit like grain dryer flooring with thousands of tiny holes in it, think there are people still making it, let's air through but minimal rain, zero snow

 

[Stw88]

Another plus for locking yokes is that young calves can’t jump through the barriers.

 

[Ih885xl]

On the Yorkshire board side of things, there used to be a product called hilight, or highlite, was a bit like grain dryer flooring with thousands of tiny holes in it, think there are people still making it, let's air through but minimal rain, zero snow

Yeah I’ve seen that ventair can’t see any prices really for it have you any idea what it’s like cost wise compare to Yorkshire boarding I know it would be less labour putting it up

 

[Ih885xl]

Another plus for locking yokes is that young calves can’t jump through the barriers.

That’s a good point not thought of that I would have the feeding passage gated but still rather they didn’t come through

 

[L P]

Yeah I’ve seen that ventair can’t see any prices really for it have you any idea what it’s like cost wise compare to Yorkshire boarding I know it would be less labour putting it up

It used to be dearer, you'd have to get a quote, not like wood is cheap these days either! Wind gets pretty sharp in my shed, don't have cows any more but they used to find warm spots when it got cold, telling tale I never got the airflow right

 

[Ih885xl]

It used to be dearer, you'd have to get a quote, not like wood is cheap these days either! Wind gets pretty sharp in my shed, don't have cows any more but they used to find warm spots when it got cold, telling tale I never got the airflow right

will look into it

 

[Happy]

And no rain comes in at all without the side bits ?

Never done in any of ours. Might be a bit wider than the one in that pic though

 

[Grass And Grain]

Consideration would be what sort of straw bales you intend using, and how you're going to bed them.

e.g. round bales rolled out by hand?
Straw blower working from the feed passage?
Spread-a-bale?
Straw blower driving over bedded area?

If straw blower from feed passage, will it reach over top of fence line which separates scrape passage and bedded area?

 

[Ih885xl]

Consideration would be what sort of straw bales you intend using, and how you're going to bed them.

e.g. round bales rolled out by hand?
Straw blower working from the feed passage?
Spread-a-bale?
Straw blower driving over bedded area?

If straw blower from feed passage, will it reach over top of fence line which separates scrape passage and bedded area?

Due to our small scale it will be bedded by hand, as I can’t really justify a machine to do it and also you wouldn’t be able to bed our existing sheds with a machine anyway.
We buy mini hesstons now we used to use conventional bales which were easier until about 5 years ago as they go too dear, will just throw the straw over from the end straw bay or tip it over with bucket. Takes abit more time but gives us a chance to look at the stock as me and my dad both work full time.
Thanks