slope on a dry bedded shed

flatout11

lads, a friend of mine is planning putting up another shed this year. it will be a straw bedded shed as he cant afford tanks. Reckons he will be able use it for autumn calvers for a few weeks during breeding, after that it will be cleared out and used to house the part of his ewe flock.
Question i have is what slope would you recommend on the floor to allow for drainage into a slatted shed, guys were suggesting to him that the standard 5% (1 in 20) is plenty, but on a bedded shed especially for sucklers !!!
this is as good a place as any to ask so what do ye reckon would be the ideal slope to leave on the floor?

Justjens

1 in 20 would be plenty, there is very little drainage at the bottom of a foot of tightly packed straw!

Shed will be more useful for other things if the floor is not too steep. Best straw for drainage is wheaten, start off the season with a few.

bbam

It'll be hard to have the best of both worlds.
If the slope is too shallow then it will be damp and hard on bedding trying to keep stock dry, but it might be better for "other things"

I know that my stalls are ~1:40 and while the bedding drains, I wish it would drain more.

There was an article in the journal a few years back where the shed design was with less of a slope but a number of drains were put in to catch the run and divert into a tank.
The shed was brand new, I'd love to see it in operation to see how successful it was.

Massey10

flatout11 wrote: »

lads, a friend of mine is planning putting up another shed this year. it will be a straw bedded shed as he cant afford tanks. Reckons he will be able use it for autumn calvers for a few weeks during breeding, after that it will be cleared out and used to house the part of his ewe flock.
Question i have is what slope would you recommend on the floor to allow for drainage into a slatted shed, guys were suggesting to him that the standard 5% (1 in 20) is plenty, but on a bedded shed especially for sucklers !!!
this is as good a place as any to ask so what do ye reckon would be the ideal slope to leave on the floor?

1foot in 20 seems alot if it was me id go 2" per 16' bay or if its just one bay you could go more

bbam

That's a 1:96 fall, or virtually flat.
There would be no drainage from a straw bed at all.
If OP is putting in a floor rather than slats then it needs a decent fall.

If he were putting in slats there would be no consideration of the shed being any use for other stuff. So the shed should be purpose built to do what he wants. Start compromising and that's what he'll have - a compromise, not great at anything.

What's in the department spec for such a shed??

flatout11

Justjens wrote: »

1 in 20 would be plenty, there is very little drainage at the bottom of a foot of tightly packed straw!

Shed will be more useful for other things if the floor is not too steep. Best straw for drainage is wheaten, start off the season with a few.

fair piont the once straw is packed getting good drainage can be dificult

bbam wrote: »

It'll be hard to have the best of both worlds.
If the slope is too shallow then it will be damp and hard on bedding trying to keep stock dry, but it might be better for "other things"

I know that my stalls are ~1:40 and while the bedding drains, I wish it would drain more.

There was an article in the journal a few years back where the shed design was with less of a slope but a number of drains were put in to catch the run and divert into a tank.
The shed was brand new, I'd love to see it in operation to see how successful it was.

I was suggesting he considered putting mini channells in it eg 1/3 of a round pipe depressed in the concrete to create this effect

flatout11

bbam wrote: »

That's a 1:96 fall, or virtually flat.
There would be no drainage from a straw bed at all.
If OP is putting in a floor rather than slats then it needs a decent fall.

If he were putting in slats there would be no consideration of the shed being any use for other stuff. So the shed should be purpose built to do what he wants. Start compromising and that's what he'll have - a compromise, not great at anything.

What's in the department spec for such a shed??

yeah your right about the compromise, have one of those myself a yard we covered a few yeard back, the floor is virtually flat - disaster for bedding!!!

yellow50HX

was ona farm wak a few years ago, the farmer had put up a multi purpose shed which was also used for bedding cattle. Instead of sloping the floor along the lenght of the shed (5bay), he sloped to towards to outer wallshe then had a half round channel running along the base of walls with holes at the base of the wall every few feet for the water to flow out. The waste then drained out and along the channel. He resoning was that the max flow was only the width of the pen rather then teh lenght of the shed. have to say the bedding looked nice and dry

Massey10

bbam wrote: »

That's a 1:96 fall, or virtually flat.
There would be no drainage from a straw bed at all.
If OP is putting in a floor rather than slats then it needs a decent fall.

If he were putting in slats there would be no consideration of the shed being any use for other stuff. So the shed should be purpose built to do what he wants. Start compromising and that's what he'll have - a compromise, not great at anything.

What's in the department spec for such a shed??

There is very little run off when using straw anyway,but i think 4 feet of a fall in a 5 bay shed is crazy.

bbam

I missed where it was going to be a five bay shed ?

Justjens

bbam wrote: »

I missed where it was going to be a five bay shed ?

And that the slope was the length of the shed..........

Massey10

bbam wrote: »

I missed where it was going to be a five bay shed ?

Fair enough a small shed 40 feet the fall is only 2 feet so .He will need help to roll the straw bale back up the hill

1chippy

Look at it from a different angle massey

1chippy

A 1 in 20 slope isnt that steep and will leave sound enough shed for other purposes. The drainage channels are a waste imo. we have them in one shed and they just seem to clog up after a week or 2. A good slope in the right direction is good enough.
We did have a problem in one shed where the slope leaned heavily towards the feed barrier and after a while when the bedding builds up the soiled water was destroying silage left for the cattle to eat.

blue5000

Have a shed with a fall of about 18'' from back to the feed passage,(1:15approx) needs to be mucked out about every 8 weeks. there is a channell along the feed barrier, and feed barrier floor needs to be a bit higher than a slatted shed hob, ours is around 9''

What else is he planning to do in the shed? Ours is fine to park machinery in when cattle aren't in it.

flatout11

blue5000 wrote: »

Have a shed with a fall of about 18'' from back to the feed passage,(1:15approx) needs to be mucked out about every 8 weeks. there is a channell along the feed barrier, and feed barrier floor needs to be a bit higher than a slatted shed hob, ours is around 9''

What else is he planning to do in the shed? Ours is fine to park machinery in when cattle aren't in it.

his idea was the same that he would have it for machinery etc.. when not in use - hard to make a shed suit all jobs

Massey10

1chippy wrote: »

Look at it from a different angle massey

I have to 2 straw bedded sheds 4 and 5 bay i have a fall of 2" per bay falling the lenght of the shed and it works well for me .A greater fall will speed up the flow but not by much when build up of straw .