putting in cubicles???

jersey101

Bought 80 newton rig cubicles last year going to put them in now fairly soon. Going to put in a double row and a single row against a wall. Any one have sny tips on putting them in and sizes theres are? Cows here range from ho to je to jex,. Thanks.

I'd rather have them too close together, than too far apart. If they start turning in the cubicles, they always have the chance of getting stuck.
Here is not a bad article on cubicle sizes: http://www.teagasc.ie/environment/publications/other/Buildings/build_feat_150706.pdf

grazeaway

Are they adjustable? You might be able to have a few different sizes if you have cows of different sizes

jersey101

grazeaway wrote: »

Are they adjustable? You might be able to have a few different sizes if you have cows of different sizes

there the old type ones with the legs set in the concrete, be easier to have them all the same size because i will be milking cows off them in the winter and smaller cows could get caught if some are bigger than others

Going forward...

Hateful cubicles those newton riggs. I'm right in saying they're the old three leg type?

jersey101

Going forward... wrote: »

Hateful cubicles those newton riggs. I'm right in saying they're the old three leg type?

yep them are the ones, bought them for 2e a peice and they in brilliant condition, cant go wrong there

yellow50HX

jersey101 wrote: »

yep them are the ones, bought them for 2e a peice and they in brilliant condition, cant go wrong there

We have these, my dad put them in back in the early 80's the bigger cows would often sit out in he passage while the heifers turn around in them. We still use them for the sucklers but ours are AA, LIM and FR so they are about the right size we wouldn't be able to fit big CH and SIM cows in. What ever about width make sure the bed is long enough

jersey101

yellow50HX wrote: »

We have these, my dad put them in back in the early 80's the bigger cows would often sit out in he passage while the heifers turn around in them. We still use them for the sucklers but ours are AA, LIM and FR so they are about the right size we wouldn't be able to fit big CH and SIM cows in. What ever about width make sure the bed is long enough

what width are they yellow 50hx? You must look after them well? The man i bought them off had put 2inch water pipe on the legs to make them last longer. Looked lyk s good job.

delaval

jersey101 wrote: »

yep them are the ones, bought them for 2e a peice and they in brilliant condition, cant go wrong there

What ever you do, do not put them in. They are cow traps!!!!

jersey101

delaval wrote: »

What ever you do, do not put them in. They are cow traps!!!!

Do ye think so? We had them in the other farm when we had more cross breeds and we never had a problem

delaval

jersey101 wrote: »

Do ye think so? We had them in the other farm when we had more cross breeds and we never had a problem

I took them all out and put in legless ones. We have a shed rented with 2 legs kind of mushroom work very well

freedominacup

jersey101 wrote: »

yep them are the ones, bought them for 2e a peice and they in brilliant condition, cant go wrong there

Yes you can. You got them for 2 euro each. I'd say you could make a few quid by scrapping them.

jersey101

freedominacup wrote: »

Yes you can. You got them for 2 euro each. I'd say you could make a few quid by scrapping them.[/

Itd be a shame to scrap them there in such good condition. Prefere to have them instead of having to bed 80 cows every day in the winter

Juniorhurler

We have the Newton rigg 3leg type and never had any bother with sucklers on them before. I have a blast of them here I got for nothing and am putting 18 of them in a new shed. I wanted the cantilever type to bolt to the wall but €900 +VAT versus free is making up my mind. They are not pristine but in a few years when I am not spending a bomb on a new shed I will grind them off at the ground, fill the holes and hang cantilever types.

Timmaay

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I'd rather have them too close together, than too far apart. If they start turning in the cubicles, they always have the chance of getting stuck.
Here is not a bad article on cubicle sizes: http://www.teagasc.ie/environment/publications/other/Buildings/build_feat_150706.pdf

Had to cut out two cubicles this winter, and afew more cows stuck, all big HOs, I think I'd take too big over too small anyday. Or at the very least, too long, so the cow can always lunge forward to get up

yellow50HX

jersey101 wrote: »

what width are they yellow 50hx? You must look after them well? The man i bought them off had put 2inch water pipe on the legs to make them last longer. Looked lyk s good job.

Well I suppose we do, a few have got a little bend over the years but all still good. For €2 a pop I would defo put them and if they don't work out ina few years you can always cut them out. Size wise they are on 7 foot beds (I think) I'd have to go a measure to be sure. We have a standard 3 bay double shed with 4 rows with 12 spaces per row.

jersey101

Juniorhurler wrote: »

We have the Newton rigg 3leg type and never had any bother with sucklers on them before. I have a blast of them here I got for nothing and am putting 18 of them in a new shed. I wanted the cantilever type to bolt to the wall but €900 +VAT versus free is making up my mind. They are not pristine but in a few years when I am not spending a bomb on a new shed I will grind them off at the ground, fill the holes and hang cantilever types.

Was thinking the very same myself if there no good ill take them out in a few year and put in them easi fix cubicles. They are supposed to be a good job, cows love tgem

Sam Kade

delaval wrote: »

What ever you do, do not put them in. They are cow traps!!!!

I have them since the 80's no problem with british friesian cows but I had Holstein incalf heifers last year and one bitch kept moving herself up towards the wall :mad: I had to pull her back by the tail when she couldn't stand up, a few times she managed to go between the bars to the next cubicle and got herself rightly stuck :mad:

jersey101

Sam Kade wrote: »

I have them since the 80's no problem with british friesian cows but I had Holstein incalf heifers last year and one bitch kept moving herself up towards the wall :mad: I had to pull her back by the tail when she couldn't stand up, a few times she managed to go between the bars to the next cubicle and got herself rightly stuck :mad:

them Holsteins have no brains

jersey101

Any one have any tips on training cows to lye up in them for the first time?

Going forward...

If you have scrapers, run them often or else leave the passage get dirty to force them up. Well designed, matted cubicles will be fine. Can't remember the last time we had cows refusing to lie in cubicles.

grazeaway

There is always one fecker that'll insist on lying in the ****e, most times we find its that they cant fit or just dont like it. thing is our bull will lie in the cubicles too, so if he can fit in then a cow should fit too.

jersey101

Going forward... wrote: »

If you have scrapers, run them often or else leave the passage get dirty to force them up. Well designed, matted cubicles will be fine. Can't remember the last time we had cows refusing to lie in cubicles.

these will be the first cubicles well have here, wont be able to put in tanks or scrapers this year so just goin to bed the passage way and clean it out every week or when every it gets too mucky. was thinking of puttin meal at the top of the cubicle to get them to go up in it

Going forward...

Some people put tyres or gates into the passage to stop them lying there. Dirty job taking them out though.

Injuryprone

jersey101 wrote: »

these will be the first cubicles well have here, wont be able to put in tanks or scrapers this year so just goin to bed the passage way and clean it out every week or when every it gets too mucky. was thinking of puttin meal at the top of the cubicle to get them to go up in it

if there's bedding in the passage, most of them will lie there. IMO you're wasting your time with the cubicles if you've no tank

yellow50HX

Injuryprone wrote: »

if there's bedding in the passage, most of them will lie there. IMO you're wasting your time with the cubicles if you've no tank

Yeah the idea of the cubicles is so your not bedding. What kind of storage have you at present? Do you have an old slurry tank that you can scrape accos the yard to. Friend of mine actually uses the bucket on the loader to clean out the passages and then tips it into the open tank in the yard as he is waiting to have enough to put in a new slatted tank.

The passage should be cleaned at least once a day, cows dont really care about the sh**e but you'll get issues with infections and things like ecoli and mastitis.

jersey101

yellow50HX wrote: »

Yeah the idea of the cubicles is so your not bedding. What kind of storage have you at present? Do you have an old slurry tank that you can scrape accos the yard to. Friend of mine actually uses the bucket on the loader to clean out the passages and then tips it into the open tank in the yard as he is waiting to have enough to put in a new slatted tank.
The passage should be cleaned at least once a day, cows dont really care about the sh**e but you'll get issues with infections and things like ecoli and mastitis.

im in the same boat, takes a hell of a lot of straw to bed 80 cows and followers for the winter. Straw is gonna cost alot this year and the lad i usually get it off has given all of it to a mushroom grower. Havent got any tanks here and wont either for a few years either so have have to get these in. Ive milked them off straw for 10 yr now and have had no prob with e.coli or mastitis so i dont really see a problem with bedding the passages, at the moment we have an old silage pit that we put the dung in from the sheds

yellow50HX

jersey101 wrote: »

im in the same boat, takes a hell of a lot of straw to bed 80 cows and followers for the winter. Straw is gonna cost alot this year and the lad i usually get it off has given all of it to a mushroom grower. Havent got any tanks here and wont either for a few years either so have have to get these in. Ive milked them off straw for 10 yr now and have had no prob with e.coli or mastitis so i dont really see a problem with bedding the passages, at the moment we have an old silage pit that we put the dung in from the sheds

Moving to cubicles means you ll be moving to slurry rather the dung. Where do you put your dairy washings and collection yard waste? Can this be used to store slurry?

Bedding on straw is good and clean however bedding in a cubicle is ok but hard to clean out you'll spend a lot of time piking. Do you have a feed passage?

jersey101

yellow50HX wrote: »

Moving to cubicles means you ll be moving to slurry rather the dung. Where do you put your dairy washings and collection yard waste? Can this be used to store slurry?

Bedding on straw is good and clean however bedding in a cubicle is ok but hard to clean out you'll spend a lot of time piking. Do you have a feed passage?[/quote

only have a 10,000 gallon tank at the back of the parlour wouldn't be big enough at all be full after two weeks ha

i have the mats from the old farm that were in the cubicles there, have 50 of em, i have feed passage in the shed have 7 diagonal feed barriers.

Ill put up a picture of the shed later if i can

yellow50HX

jersey101 wrote: »

yellow50HX wrote: »

Moving to cubicles means you ll be moving to slurry rather the dung. Where do you put your dairy washings and collection yard waste? Can this be used to store slurry?

Bedding on straw is good and clean however bedding in a cubicle is ok but hard to clean out you'll spend a lot of time piking. Do you have a feed passage?[/quote

only have a 10,000 gallon tank at the back of the parlour wouldn't be big enough at all be full after two weeks ha

i have the mats from the old farm that were in the cubicles there, have 50 of em, i have feed passage in the shed have 7 diagonal feed barriers.

Ill put up a picture of the shed later if i can

If that's the case then I'd say your better off building your slurry tank 1st then building your cubicle house as without having slurry storage you won't get the full use of them

jersey101

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jersey101

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jersey101

yellow50HX wrote: »

jersey101 wrote: »

If that's the case then I'd say your better off building your slurry tank 1st then building your cubicle house as without having slurry storage you won't get the full use of them

Wont have the money for a tank for a few years unfortunatley, would love one but it will have to wait. Have to start by saving the money on this straw:eek:

yellow50HX

jersey101 wrote: »

yellow50HX wrote: »

Wont have the money for a tank for a few years unfortunatley, would love one but it will have to wait. Have to start by saving the money on this straw:eek:

If you look at how much your paying on straw every year could you use that money to repay a loan for the tank? 80 cows must use a lot of straw. Are you using a diet feeder to feed along the barriers?

jersey101

yellow50HX wrote: »

jersey101 wrote: »

If you look at how much your paying on straw every year could you use that money to repay a loan for the tank? 80 cows must use a lot of straw. Are you using a diet feeder to feed along the barriers?

have enough of loans at the moment. dont want any more for a few years ha. Ye used 700 bales all together last year, its alot of dung but the ground needs it ye using a keenan, its a handy set up feed them in the mornin and dont have to push up any silage at all

yellow50HX

jersey101 wrote: »

yellow50HX wrote: »

have enough of loans at the moment. dont want any more for a few years ha. Ye used 700 bales all together last year, its alot of dung but the ground needs it ye using a keenan, its a handy set up feed them in the mornin and dont have to push up any silage at all

700 straw bales? How many did you use for bedding?

Say at €10 a bale that's €7,000 which would pay for a lot of concrete.

jersey101

yellow50HX wrote: »

jersey101 wrote: »

700 straw bales? How many did you use for bedding?

Say at €10 a bale that's €7,000 which would pay for a lot of concrete.

Id say bout 600 maybe, its alot of straw alright but the ground needs it the lad that owned it before me had grain on it for 30yrs and put absolutely nothing into it, so its done a good job on the land.

We get wheat straw easy to bed with and easy to spread then. Id say ive spent roughly 50-55,000 on straw in the last ten years

yellow50HX

jersey101 wrote: »

Attachment not found.

I assume you bed at the back of the shed and feed along the front. How close is this to your parlour? I assume your final plan is a slatted or scraped passage by the barrier then a double row of cubicles then another passage and the third row of cubicles?

Could you put in something like an lined earthen bank lagoon? I reckon your better off prioriting slurry storage before cubicles. As it will also increase you capacity from the parlour, if you have another summer like last year you will be under pressure when it fills. You can still use your straw for bedding but you can reduce the amount used.

yellow50HX

jersey101 wrote: »

yellow50HX wrote: »

Id say bout 600 maybe, its alot of straw alright but the ground needs it the lad that owned it before me had grain on it for 30yrs and put absolutely nothing into it, so its done a good job on the land.

We get wheat straw easy to bed with and easy to spread then. Id say ive spent roughly 50-55,000 on straw in the last ten years

You could have paid for a very big tank over that time. If your after putting out dung for the last number of year there should be good organic matter in the ground.

jersey101

yellow50HX wrote: »

I assume you bed at the back of the shed and feed along the front. How close is this to your parlour? I assume your final plan is a slatted or scraped passage by the barrier then a double row of cubicles then another passage and the third row of cubicles?

Could you put in something like an lined earthen bank lagoon? I reckon your better off prioriting slurry storage before cubicles. As it will also increase you capacity from the parlour, if you have another summer like last year you will be under pressure when it fills. You can still use your straw for bedding but you can reduce the amount used.

ye thats what i do clean out that passage every day, put a bit of straw on to keep it a bit dryer, ye thats the plan with the cubicles alright, what im hoping to do is to put a tank across the yard from that shed and put a roof over it then put in another 80 cubicles and have a channel going from this shed into that tank.That will be a few years away though.

The parlour is behind me in the pictures and to the left. A wet year wouldn't bother me here its fairly dry land so can go out when ever i want really

jersey101

yellow50HX wrote: »

jersey101 wrote: »

You could have paid for a very big tank over that time. If your after putting out dung for the last number of year there should be good organic matter in the ground.

surely would have alright ye the dung has made unreal difference to the ground thats why i havent been to keen to get rid of the straw bedding but ye get sick of having to do all that bedding

Timmaay

yellow50HX wrote: »

Yeah the idea of the cubicles is so your not bedding. What kind of storage have you at present? Do you have an old slurry tank that you can scrape accos the yard to. Friend of mine actually uses the bucket on the loader to clean out the passages and then tips it into the open tank in the yard as he is waiting to have enough to put in a new slatted tank.

The passage should be cleaned at least once a day, cows dont really care about the sh**e but you'll get issues with infections and things like ecoli and mastitis.

I'd go with cubicles and a tank anyday over straw bedding, but for milking cows, all cubicles will still need sawdust/shavings of some sort put down regularly (twice a day), this all adds time and cost to the cubicles/slatted tank route. For us anyways, with mats down, 80 cows would need say 2 bags of shavings ever day (just cover the back of it, under the udder), say 3 months inside, and each bag 6.50, thats 1100e extra. If you don't have mats you will probably need much more than 2bags, however if you can get it in bulk for cheaper then that would reduce your costs. (and by the bag it can work out far more expensive than 6.50, glanbia charge 10euro!)

yellow50HX

jersey101 wrote: »

ye thats what i do clean out that passage every day, put a bit of straw on to keep it a bit dryer, ye thats the plan with the cubicles alright, what im hoping to do is to put a tank across the yard from that shed and put a roof over it then put in another 80 cubicles and have a channel going from this shed into that tank.That will be a few years away though.

The parlour is behind me in the pictures and to the left. A wet year wouldn't bother me here its fairly dry land so can go out when ever i want really

sounds like your planning on increasing your herd further so might be best to wait till you know how big you want your tank. would still be a bit concerend that you dont really have much slurry storage that could come back to bite you with run off. I'm a big fan of straw bedding but unless you are growing it your self or getting it very cheap (i know lads that have thier own baler so buy the straw from the farmer) its not cost effective i the long run espically with cows.

If you look to reduce your straw bill you could put that money aside for building a tank. 80 cows make a lot of sh*te. Looking at your pic i would suggest getting some old ESB poles (the thicker the better) and put them in between the uprights. This would provide a barrier between the bedding and feeding area for the cows and reduce the amount of straw dragged onto the feeding area. Pretty much any straw in front of the barriers is wasted as they will end up standing on it most of the time. dont put in any straw in here (the cows will drag in enough to keep the dung solid enough to be taken out with the bucket). you can still clean this out with a bucket on teh loader an tip in on the dung heap. The dung alredy there will stop in from flowing (i am assuimg you clean out the bedding area every few weeks). keeping the straw i the bedding area only makes a big diference. we no longer feed the cattle when they are on straw and it has reduced of straw useage a lot.

yellow50HX

Timmaay wrote: »

I'd go with cubicles and a tank anyday over straw bedding, but for milking cows, all cubicles will still need sawdust/shavings of some sort put down regularly (twice a day), this all adds time and cost to the cubicles/slatted tank route. For us anyways, with mats down, 80 cows would need say 2 bags of shavings ever day (just cover the back of it, under the udder), say 3 months inside, and each bag 6.50, thats 1100e extra. If you don't have mats you will probably need much more than 2bags, however if you can get it in bulk for cheaper then that would reduce your costs. (and by the bag it can work out far more expensive than 6.50, glanbia charge 10euro!)

we never bed the cubicles but actually let a coat of dust and dirt (clean muck) build up on the cubicles as the cows would actually be muddy from being out on the beet during the day. when it drys it acts kinda like a mat. we walk the cubilces every day and scrape down any sh*te left on the beds. to prevent things like ecoli or mastais we actually use a disenfectant powder (not lime). Every 2-3 days i'll spead it on the back of the cubicle bed (where the udder would be) and then every 10-14 days spread it on the whole bed. A bag will do about 3-4 months for about 50 cubciles and costs about €35, seems to work well as we havent had any out breaks of ecoli and have much less mastisits. the most time we spend cleaning down the cubiles is actully getting in the tractor and scraper as we dont have auto scrapers. takes about 2 mins to walk and clean them down and about 5 mins to throw out the powder every few days.

Timmaay

What was the disenfectant powder for 35quid? I'm assuming it hardly was a full ton bag? I bought a ton bag of lime for about 100quid or so last winter (managed to get it once off cheap, usually are 160 or so), use to spread that under the sawdust, and every few weeks use to put down the hydrated lime which is much stronger. I know back in Dec I had a serious outbreak of mastitis among the fresh calvers, I was cluster dipping, post dipping all the cows, washing down spins etc, alongside that all cows get drycow tubes and sealers, only possible cause of the spreading that I could think of was the cubicles, which I use to only put fresh lime/sawdust on every 2nd day before that, I changed to twice a day then, which resulted in the cows udders being much cleaner then. I'd certainly plan on doing that again this winter, the time you lose out in having to put out the sawdust, you gain back with having to waste less time cleaning the cows spins.

grazeaway

Timmaay wrote: »

What was the disenfectant powder for 35quid? I'm assuming it hardly was a full ton bag? I bought a ton bag of lime for about 100quid or so last winter (managed to get it once off cheap, usually are 160 or so), use to spread that under the sawdust, and every few weeks use to put down the hydrated lime which is much stronger. I know back in Dec I had a serious outbreak of mastitis among the fresh calvers, I was cluster dipping, post dipping all the cows, washing down spins etc, alongside that all cows get drycow tubes and sealers, only possible cause of the spreading that I could think of was the cubicles, which I use to only put fresh lime/sawdust on every 2nd day before that, I changed to twice a day then, which resulted in the cows udders being much cleaner then. I'd certainly plan on doing that again this winter, the time you lose out in having to put out the sawdust, you gain back with having to waste less time cleaning the cows spins.

i have always wondered with bedding cubicles does it have a effcect when you trying to spread the slurry with all teh extra sawdust in it?

also with a lot of loose bedding like sawdust can it stick the the cows and would it cause the infection to spread if she moves to another cubicle and the sawdust comes with her and falls only to get picked up by the next cow?

Timmaay

I'm abit shy on space to try this, but I had thought about having a separate shed, and put any cow with mastitis put her in there, away from the cubicles. Hell even leave her out in a field etc. Its hard to know what to do, but I never want a repeat of having about 10cows with mastitis at the same time again, holding back bloody 100s of litres of milk and spending twice as long milking the cows, alongside the risk of antibiotics etc going into the tank. I think all of that threw me off the whole idea of wintermilk last dec!

jersey101

yellow50HX wrote: »

sounds like your planning on increasing your herd further so might be best to wait till you know how big you want your tank. would still be a bit concerend that you dont really have much slurry storage that could come back to bite you with run off. I'm a big fan of straw bedding but unless you are growing it your self or getting it very cheap (i know lads that have thier own baler so buy the straw from the farmer) its not cost effective i the long run espically with cows.

If you look to reduce your straw bill you could put that money aside for building a tank. 80 cows make a lot of sh*te. Looking at your pic i would suggest getting some old ESB poles (the thicker the better) and put them in between the uprights. This would provide a barrier between the bedding and feeding area for the cows and reduce the amount of straw dragged onto the feeding area. Pretty much any straw in front of the barriers is wasted as they will end up standing on it most of the time. dont put in any straw in here (the cows will drag in enough to keep the dung solid enough to be taken out with the bucket). you can still clean this out with a bucket on teh loader an tip in on the dung heap. The dung alredy there will stop in from flowing (i am assuimg you clean out the bedding area every few weeks). keeping the straw i the bedding area only makes a big diference. we no longer feed the cattle when they are on straw and it has reduced of straw useage a lot.

Hope to be at 150 cows by 2020.

ye we have our own baler. Get the wheat straw for 7e a bale

There is a tank in the old pit that we put the dung in this would only be half full in the spring. All sheds are cleaned out once a month to stop the straw building up. The main reason for me wanting to get these in is that the lad i usually get the straw off has given it all away to a mushroom grower and ill only be able to get barley straw and a few bales here and there. And barley straw is harder to spread with a side spreader

yellow50HX

jersey101 wrote: »

Hope to be at 150 cows by 2020.

ye we have our own baler. Get the wheat straw for 7e a bale

There is a tank in the old pit that we put the dung in this would only be half full in the spring. All sheds are cleaned out once a month to stop the straw building up. The main reason for me wanting to get these in is that the lad i usually get the straw off has given it all away to a mushroom grower and ill only be able to get barley straw and a few bales here and there. And barley straw is harder to spread with a side spreader

How is the tank on the old pit for storing slurry? by that i mean can it take a winters worth of slurry and would you be able to empty it with a vacuum tank? If so and and if your not going to be able to get enough straw this year you could put in your cubile beds and use the loader bucket or power box to scrape up the passageways every day and put it into the old tank. I know it might be a bit time consuming but with out the straw and a tank to scrape into you'll have to put it somewhere. I would allow you to free up some cash to put toward your tank as i assume you'll putting that accross in front of the passages anyway

jersey101

I know it's not going to ideal to bed the passage ways but what can i do i cant get enough straw and i need to cut down on the amount i use. But what can i do i have to start somewhere. On your point of using the effluent tank as slurry storage it would hold some not all doh, it would hold all the seepage that comes out of the dung though

jersey101

Was talking to my father about this this evening and he was sayin we could try get two big pre cast tanks when the sfp comes in and put them below the yard where the shed will be goin in a few year, theres a drop down of about 5ft were the yard meets the field below, this could be the best option as its not perminant and they can be taken away when ever