Beef Shed Design that Could be used for Dairy Cows

19driver83

My father shall soon be retiring from Dairy farming and I have no plans to continue with Dairying.

We have no cubicle sheds or slatted sheds only straw bedding. I want to build a shed for beef cattle but if possible design it so it could be converted into a cubicle shed if I wanted to go back to Dairying.

Any suggestions or plans?

One suggestion I had was to have a slatted tank down the centre of the shed. Have the floor sloped on either side of the slats. That way all water will drain into tank and the cattle will lie on the concrete.

blue5000

One I know of a shed with this in mind, it has the feed passage down the middle of two slatted tanks. It's a bit higher than normal, with lots of space at both sides, so if needed, cubicles could be built on at the sides.

yellow50HX

what type of beef cattle are you talking about? if your talking about stores and finishers then a slatted she don its own will be fine. if your talking sucklers you'll need a creep area for calves and calving pens. IF your not going to be using a concrete apron at the back of the slats for calves then dont bother putting one in as it'll only get covered up if you put in cubicles.

I take it you wont be using the old shed then? If so why not? can it be easly convereted or is it in bad condition?

bues' suggestion if a good one. bu ti would go with a single long slatted shed maybe 6 bay (al depends on numbers and space) Thats way if you went back into milking you could put a extenstion on the back with 3 rows of cubicles for milking cows, and no cross overs accross the feed passage.

can you re use the existing parlour? is so can you fit any new shed next to it to with out having to move cows too much during the spring time for milking?
if not make sure you have enough spae to fit a new parlour by the new shed.

19driver83

blue5000 wrote: »

One I know of a shed with this in mind, it has the feed passage down the middle of two slatted tanks. It's a bit higher than normal, with lots of space at both sides, so if needed, cubicles could be built on at the sides.

Thanks Blue. Apologies for slow response. Good suggestion, something like that would be ideal.

19driver83

yellow50HX wrote: »

what type of beef cattle are you talking about? if your talking about stores and finishers then a slatted she don its own will be fine. if your talking sucklers you'll need a creep area for calves and calving pens. IF your not going to be using a concrete apron at the back of the slats for calves then dont bother putting one in as it'll only get covered up if you put in cubicles.

I take it you wont be using the old shed then? If so why not? can it be easly convereted or is it in bad condition?

bues' suggestion if a good one. bu ti would go with a single long slatted shed maybe 6 bay (al depends on numbers and space) Thats way if you went back into milking you could put a extenstion on the back with 3 rows of cubicles for milking cows, and no cross overs accross the feed passage.

can you re use the existing parlour? is so can you fit any new shed next to it to with out having to move cows too much during the spring time for milking?
if not make sure you have enough spae to fit a new parlour by the new shed.

Thanks Yellow. Apologies for slow response.
Stores and finshers only. Old shed in poor location and condition.
I agree with your suggestion, I would prefer a leanto that I could extend at the back later to accomodate 3 rows of cubicles.
By any chance do you have a sketch?
New shed is going to be away form existing yard with lots of space for extension.

Lastin

Can I ask why you plan to move away from dairying but still like to be able to return to it?, take a fools advice don't make too hasty a decision.

19driver83

Lastin wrote: »

Can I ask why you plan to move away from dairying but still like to be able to return to it?, take a fools advice don't make too hasty a decision.

I have a fairly good job and do a bit of travelling with work aswel.
I would love to keep dairying but its not good timing. My dad is 70 and not able anymore. I live with my girlfriend approx 20miles away so I would really want to have a house built on the land if I was dairying.
If I was 3-4 years down the line and a house built I would work part-time and continue dairying.

1chippy

It might be time to look at renting close to home, its harder these days to get into dairying than it is to find a house.

rancher

19driver83 wrote: »

I have a fairly good job and do a bit of travelling with work aswel.
I would love to keep dairying but its not good timing. My dad is 70 and not able anymore. I live with my girlfriend approx 20miles away so I would really want to have a house built on the land if I was dairying.
If I was 3-4 years down the line and a house built I would work part-time and continue dairying.

Financially you would be better off to rent it out than do drystock farming.

19driver83

rancher wrote: »

Financially you would be better off to rent it out than do drystock farming.

I agree with you however what would myself and my dad do with out spare time?!!!

moy83

19driver83 wrote: »

I agree with you however what would myself and my dad do with out spare time?!!!

My dad got out of milking a few years ago as I was in a similar situation to yourself . He was glad of the break at the time but it was short lived , he hates working with cattle now(as opposed to nice quiet freisans) and swears that there was was easier money made with the milkers .

Once you get out of the milking for a few years its hard enough to jump back in at it , so think out all the options before making any definite move to drystock . Even if you had someone milking in the evenings during the week and you did it all at the weekend to make things light duty on your father it would probably still leave as much money as feeding drystock and your foot would still be in the door of the dairy

rancher

19driver83 wrote: »

I agree with you however what would myself and my dad do with out spare time?!!!

You have a good job and a girlfriend, you don't need a farm to tie you down, enjoy life while you can. There is plenty your father could do on a farm without owning the stock on it.

lakill Farm

rancher wrote: »

You have a good job and a girlfriend, you don't need a farm to tie you down, enjoy life while you can. There is plenty your father could do on a farm without owning the stock on it.

good job, why not put in a robot?

you continue to work, and milk cheque pays back the robot

yellow50HX

19driver83 wrote: »

Thanks Yellow. Apologies for slow response.
Stores and finshers only. Old shed in poor location and condition.
I agree with your suggestion, I would prefer a leanto that I could extend at the back later to accomodate 3 rows of cubicles.
By any chance do you have a sketch?
New shed is going to be away form existing yard with lots of space for extension.

There is a sketch on this might be useful.
http://www.teagasc.ie/advisory/farm_management/buildings/animal_housing/estimating_farm_building_costs.asp

19driver83

lakill Farm wrote: »

good job, why not put in a robot?

you continue to work, and milk cheque pays back the robot

I did look into it. Capital investment of 120-140k + shed build. Too rich for my blood at present.

yellow50HX

19driver83 wrote: »

I did look into it. Capital investment of 120-140k + shed build. Too rich for my blood at present.

Your dad would need to be close by to reset it if it alarms while your at work. You could put it into the cubicle shed no need for a new parlour.

lakill Farm

19driver83 wrote: »

I did look into it. Capital investment of 120-140k + shed build. Too rich for my blood at present.

but if you continue milking you will have cashflow, not like beef.

you already have a herd, others say you can get a rabo bank over 10 years.

you have land bank, 120k for robot over 10years is 12k plus interest. its not much more that 350 a week. that's a lot of capital allowance :eek:

shed, is going up anyway.- a sunk cost

yellow50HX

lakill Farm wrote: »

but if you continue milking you will have cashflow, not like beef.

you already have a herd, others say you can get a rabo bank over 10 years.

you have land bank, 120k for robot over 10years is 12k plus interest. its not much more that 350 a week. that's a lot of capital allowance :eek:

shed, is going up anyway.- a sunk cost

Depends on he number of cows and the current set up.

just do it

1chippy wrote: »

It might be time to look at renting close to home, its harder these days to get into dairying than it is to find a house.

What will the story be post 2015 when quotas are gone? Easier for new entrants?

yellow50HX

just do it wrote: »

What will the story be post 2015 when quotas are gone? Easier for new entrants?

as your still milking at the mo your not starting from scratch. if you kept milking for another 2 years you would be takign over from your dad so it might be a differnt set-up. Would it be an idea to go into partnership with your dad, keep the cows for the time being but move to OAD milking and hire a fella to milk them or just milking them once a day to ease the work on your dad? He could still do the day to day stuff like grass managment and feeding and so on. It would give you a chance to see if it was an option to be able to manage the herd and work at the same time. Paying a fella to milk them will take out a big chunck of the profits but it would give you time to weight up the options. I think it would be a mistake to get out now only to try and rebuild the milking herd in a few years time

Do not underestimate the amount needed with dry stock, it is only now that all of ours are outdoors that the work load has eased off. For the winter the amount of work with them is similar to milking cows. They still need to be fed and watered and the sheds need to be cleaned out. And as the boys above say the money isnt great.

We got out about 10 years ago as the sheds and slurry storage needed an upgrade and the cost of that was too much at the time, we were able to modify it for sucklers very easly but would still need a big upgrade to get back to milking. If you current set-up is still ok then stick with it for another year or two. You'll be able to see how much upgrading woul dbe required to stay in milking past 2015 then make a decison on staying or going.

Lastin

You need to sit down with your Dad and family and talk through your options,involve you accountant and get advisory advice you are in a great position to secure your future. Your bests assets are yourself , a herd of cows and a farm in production. Best of luck

yellow50HX

Lastin wrote: »

You need to sit down with your Dad and family and talk through your options,involve you accountant and get advisory advice you are in a great position to secure your future. Your bests assets are yourself , a herd of cows and a farm in production. Best of luck

good place to start

just do it

A case of mistaken identity yellow50 .

Building up a suckler herd here and improving the overall farm infrastructure. Just wondering how easy it would be to start milking post 2015.

yellow50HX

just do it wrote: »

A case of mistaken identity yellow50 .

Building up a suckler herd here and improving the overall farm infrastructure. Just wondering how easy it would be to start milking post 2015.

depends on where your starting from,
what size farm?
how is it for putting into paddocks for grazing, has it roads ways?
location of yard wrt to paddock (how long do they need to walk, crossing roads, etc).
how many cows were you thinking of?
housing and slurry storage, whats in place can it be converted?
whats your knowledge of milking cows, and herd managment?
are you prepared to be milking 3-4 hours a day 7 days a week for mst of the year or can you afford to get a relief milker?
how are you fixed wrt to supply contracts to the dairies, if you had a contract in the past this could be reactivated. not sure on all the ins and outs but i think there is a bit more to sending a truck load of milk to the loacl creamery. those with more knowledge will advice better.

most of lads on here milking will talk about having a business plan and i would have to say they are spot on.

severeoversteer

remember looking at a beef finishing farm in wales, the lad had all cubicle sheds with scrapers because he said cattle were good and clean for the factory

yellow50HX

severeoversteer wrote: »

remember looking at a beef finishing farm in wales, the lad had all cubicle sheds with scrapers because he said cattle were good and clean for the factory

yeah, i use an old cubicle shed for stores too from time to time. They are too big for weanlings. If the animals are able to fit in them they will use them.

Markcheese

Mightn't suit but if your shed is already set up as loose straw housing , would it work to fix up the current shed a bit , and get something like a teagle straw chopper ? Dry cattle do better on straw, possibly put a tank or scraper by the feed passage ... Might make something out of an asset you were going to scrap ... At the end of the day there are a million and one options and everyone will tell you what they think you should do but it's your life , your money and your call ...

19driver83

This Thread has seriously strayed!!

what size farm?.....70acres all in grazing. Needs a bit of attaention, drain about 2 acres, knock down some trees and a bit of reseeding wouldnt go astray
how is it for putting into paddocks for grazing, has it roads ways?
location of yard wrt to paddock (how long do they need to walk, crossing roads, etc). Poor road in place. Yard located centrally. No road crossings.

how many cows were you thinking of? Currently milking 48 but should be milking 60. General age profile of cows is old though.
housing and slurry storage, whats in place can it be converted? Straw bed housing in poor to average condition.
whats your knowledge of milking cows, and herd managment? Poor to average.
are you prepared to be milking 3-4 hours a day 7 days a week for mst of the year or can you afford to get a relief milker? If I had a relief milker I reckon it would take all the profits.

J DEERE

19driver83 wrote: »

This Thread has seriously strayed!!

what size farm?.....70acres all in grazing. Needs a bit of attaention, drain about 2 acres, knock down some trees and a bit of reseeding wouldnt go astray
how is it for putting into paddocks for grazing, has it roads ways?
location of yard wrt to paddock (how long do they need to walk, crossing roads, etc). Poor road in place. Yard located centrally. No road crossings.

how many cows were you thinking of? Currently milking 48 but should be milking 60. General age profile of cows is old though.
housing and slurry storage, whats in place can it be converted? Straw bed housing in poor to average condition.
whats your knowledge of milking cows, and herd managment? Poor to average.
are you prepared to be milking 3-4 hours a day 7 days a week for mst of the year or can you afford to get a relief milker? If I had a relief milker I reckon it would take all the profits.

I think you're lack of knowledge of herd management is the biggest obstacle, everything else is easily rectified. Dairy farming doesn't suffer fools lightly, you'd have to be on the ball. You also need to have the interest, enthusiasm and drive. If you don't then you'd be better off to get out. If you'd be willing to learn, then I'd say go for it. You'd make a nice living from 60 well run cows and most importantly you would be your own boss working from home

yellow50HX

J DEERE wrote: »

I think you're lack of knowledge of herd management is the biggest obstacle, everything else is easily rectified. Dairy farming doesn't suffer fools lightly, you'd have to be on the ball. You also need to have the interest, enthusiasm and drive. If you don't then you'd be better off to get out. If you'd be willing to learn, then I'd say go for it. You'd make a nice living from 60 well run cows and most importantly you would be your own boss working from home

spot on

yellow50HX

19driver83 wrote: »

This Thread has seriously strayed!!

what size farm?.....70acres all in grazing. Needs a bit of attaention, drain about 2 acres, knock down some trees and a bit of reseeding wouldnt go astray
how is it for putting into paddocks for grazing, has it roads ways?
location of yard wrt to paddock (how long do they need to walk, crossing roads, etc). Poor road in place. Yard located centrally. No road crossings.

how many cows were you thinking of? Currently milking 48 but should be milking 60. General age profile of cows is old though.
housing and slurry storage, whats in place can it be converted? Straw bed housing in poor to average condition.
whats your knowledge of milking cows, and herd managment? Poor to average.
are you prepared to be milking 3-4 hours a day 7 days a week for mst of the year or can you afford to get a relief milker? If I had a relief milker I reckon it would take all the profits.

if you were to get to 60 you may need extra land for silage (if the last year is anything to go by). as the lads say to milk that number on 70ac you would need to be spot on with your herd and grass management. it would be very didifcult to juggle a full time job and milking cows at the same time while also trying to manage the whole thing.