sheep tunnel

eorna

hi, i am 1/2 thinking in getting one of them sheep tunnels for next year to house the sheep for a couple of month in the winter to get them off the ground to try to get a bit more of early grass and stop the sheep paddling to the feeders (muck++).
has anybody here has one would appreciate some feedback good and bad (any designs better than others..). thanks. will be housing 150-160 ewes..

5live

eorna wrote: »

hi, i am 1/2 thinking in getting one of them sheep tunnels for next year to house the sheep for a couple of month in the winter to get them off the ground to try to get a bit more of early grass and stop the sheep paddling to the feeders (muck++).
has anybody here has one would appreciate some feedback good and bad (any designs better than others..). thanks. will be housing 150-160 ewes..

I have one up with over 15 years(i think) for the ewes. I find them great. I have had only one dose of pneumonia in all that time compared with 15 or 20 cases each year with a lean-to out of 120 ewes. It is 63x30 and i used lamb 120 ewes in it but down to 70 or so now. The plastic is expected to last 5 years but i am averaging about 8 years for each covering. It cost 900 for the plastic and the same for labour iirc so you would want to be looking after it. When you find a hole it would want to be patched inside and out fairly quickly. A concrete bed is important for cleaning out and also some 6x2 along the floor to keep the dung off the netting. Also some heavy sheep wire along the bars to keep the ewes from scratching the netting or flying straight through it, as i found out early on:o. Leave enough room over the entrances in case you change tractors too.

I got the colm warren polytunnel but i dont know much about the other makes so i cant say if they are the best but i am happy with the cost per year etc. When i put mine up it didnt need planning but i dont know if that is still the case.

http://www.cwp.ie/animal-|-bird-housing-page.html

rancher

eorna wrote: »

hi, i am 1/2 thinking in getting one of them sheep tunnels for next year to house the sheep for a couple of month in the winter to get them off the ground to try to get a bit more of early grass and stop the sheep paddling to the feeders (muck++).
has anybody here has one would appreciate some feedback good and bad (any designs better than others..). thanks. will be housing 150-160 ewes..

Did you do anything after, have to put up something now, .won't be outwintering much this year...land in s..t

eorna

hi rancher i put up a shed instead..between one thing and the other the price wasn't that different and i decided shed would be there for long time and tunnel by the time you have to change plastics, get damaged..If there would have been a huge difference in the price i would have seriously considered it though but there wasn't..

lucky john

rancher wrote: »

Did you do anything after, have to put up something now, .won't be outwintering much this year...land in s..t

If you were in an area where there were mushroom farms that are now closed you could consider buying one of their tunnels. In some places you will get a house for less than €500. You will have the frame, lights and doors. Outside plastic will most likely be no good but the inside (white) sheet might be ok. The insulation you could use in your attic maybe.

mikefoxo

the one thing i'll say about tunnels is be mindful of snow. we know two brothers that had one of them. i think it was the winter 3 years ago that the thing collapsed because of snow and they were very lucky not to lose animals. it was on an east facing hill and they would generally get heavy snow if it was coming

supersean1999

whats the cost of these tunnels , roughly , say for 100 ewes to keep it simple

rancher

supersean1999 wrote: »

whats the cost of these tunnels , roughly , say for 100 ewes to keep it simple

Putting up a 120ft by 36ft for €14000+vat.....holds 240 ewes

supersean1999

cheeres , are you happy with it? have you it on a concrete floor with straw,

Cran

I've heard of people putting up 3ft walls and then the tunnel on top of that, anyone seen anything like that?

drive it

I know its off topic a bit but how much a month does it cost putting sheep in a shed
To keep it simple say for 100 ewes eg.
how much silage/hay
how much straw for bedding

rancher

supersean1999 wrote: »

cheeres , are you happy with it? have you it on a concrete floor with straw,

That price is only for the the tunnel, fitting it out will probably cost the as much more, just putting down the base at the moment and putting it up on 2ft walls

Drive it, I give them 1 lb meal/day mid pregnancy with the straw and a shed I have 150 ewes in takes 2 round bales straw every 3 days, but there are cheaper ways of doing it. Straw and meal is cost effective in a normal year ( whenever that is)

tabby aspreme

100 ewes would eat 5 to 6 good solid bales of wilted silage a week, and use 4 to 6 bales of 4by4 straw depending on weather, how dry the feed is and how sheltered the shed is. Silage usage would drop 20% when you start feeding meal in the run up to lambing

drive it

jesus if you have your own silage at €15 x 5 is €75 and straw at €20 x4 is €80 thats €155 a week without meal and if they were in for 10 weeks thats €1550 and another 700-800 for meal never thought of it like that

tabby aspreme

The costs add up allright, though I get 8/4/3 straw for 28 delivered every year, and feed about 20 kg meal to twin ewes and 8 kg to single ewes , as part of my reps plan I have to house sheep over winter

Farmer Pudsey

tabby aspreme wrote: »

The costs add up allright, though I get 8/4/3 straw for 28 delivered every year, and feed about 20 kg meal to twin ewes and 8 kg to single ewes , as part of my reps plan I have to house sheep over winter

How long would you gave them housed and what is the conception rate V no lambs/ewe drafted for sale, do you keep your own replacements

tabby aspreme

Ewes usually housed 20 December and stay in for 1 day after lambing in march, may house earlier this year as grass is gettin scarce and I have extra bales.

They scan about 1.9, with 1 to 2 % empty sell 1.5 to 1.6, ewes have always carried what they scan never had any abortion trouble with the ewes ,

Always keep ewe lambs run them with rams, last year 45 out of 52 in lamb carrying 65 lambs, ended up with only 25 lambs due to enzootic abortion, all vacinated this year so fingers crossed, couldn't get vaccine last year, so fingers crossed this year

When I finish in reps I might try outwintering again giving them fresh grass every day I also have a longing to try turnips again had them for years and they were great feed, reps people don't like turnips though