Options for loose shed, possibility for sloped floor ?

kingdom fan

Hi all,
I have a 75 foot long , 30ft wide loose shed with various cattle in it and various feeding barriers, my problem is moving d cattle ( weanlings , heifers dry sucklers, d cows have an old shed to lie in and other cattle hav cubicles and use d loose shed mainly for feeding area) cleaning out the shed daily, slurry pit is overground tank about 30 foot from one end, Tractor pushes slurry up a ramp to d slurry pit,
Putting in a slatted tank is not an option as there is a fall in the floor of the shed and it'll cost way too much , automatic scrapers not an option either.
I've heard of sloped floors and slurry channels, Grange had something like this once upon a time but, its long gone

Has anyone ever heard of a sloped floor and slorry flow channels, do they work ?
Thanks in advance

Greengrass1

http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057107690/1/#post88076852

Is this what your thinking of?

kingdom fan

Hi Greengrass
I saw that alright, I'm wondering if anyone has seen this type if set up in action ,
What I was thinking was a sloped floor to a channel, maybe two channels in d floor, 7 foot from each side wall so the farthest d slurry would travel is 7 foot and put in a tank at the end , the channel would b 75 foot long
When tank is full ( maybe 2 to 4 weeks storage ) just pump into big pit
The thing is, if this dies not work it'll be an expensive mistake

Nekarsulm

Saw the one in Grange, back about 84 or 85. Think they experimented with a flushing system as well? Clatty looking mess, it was. Soon abandoned.

cattle coming off this floor would probably be rejected in a factory today.

Farmer Pudsey

kingdom fan wrote: »

Hi Greengrass
I saw that alright, I'm wondering if anyone has seen this type if set up in action ,
What I was thinking was a sloped floor to a channel, maybe two channels in d floor, 7 foot from each side wall so the farthest d slurry would travel is 7 foot and put in a tank at the end , the channel would b 75 foot long
When tank is full ( maybe 2 to 4 weeks storage ) just pump into big pit
The thing is, if this dies not work it'll be an expensive mistake

Dung will not flow unless a huge slope( not sure even then) you will get rid of liquid but not solids. Channel will block and have to be cleared. Also unless dung is fairly liquidy(like finishing cattle dung) can see this channel being blocked very fast. Maybe a cubicle type system but expensive anyway. In reality I know you have ruled it out but slats may be only viable option. Remember with slats you only need half the area for the cattle.

bbam

Why wouldn't a scraper into the tank you suggested above not work.

Have you had a supplier look at it or is it just your own notion that it won't work?

kingdom fan

Hi all
Thanks and Keep the suggestions coming, the scraper won't work as there are a few nooks and crannies to get around ie the entrance to an old loose house is off this shed and so is a water trough I mean this is prob a 10x10 ft section sticking out away from d shed and on d opposite side also I hav a 23 ft feeding barrier going directly perpindicular to this shed at d end of a cubicle house ( this is running parallel to d loose shed and this is at the opposite end of d yard that I'm proposing to build a tank ) and I'm not putting in 4 scrapers and in places d yard is uneven the yard was built in stages over 100 years ( I kid u not ) and I use every bit of it,
The fall is about 3 to 4 foot over the 75 foot in d floor of d shed so a slatted tank will b a mess , for eg a 9 foot tank will only be able holding 5 foot of slurry for a fair length of the tank
Hence why I was leaning to a sloped floor and a channel
That vid on you tube coupled with the fact that I never see any slurry at the barrier as the cattle keep pushing it back into a heap about 4 inches deep about 7 ft back from d barrier made me think there was some potential in this idea
But I have never even heard of anyone with one installed other than grange