Polytunnel for livestock

Lady lou

Anyone have experience with poly tunnels to house calves or sheep. Thanks.

galljga1

Would they not wreck it in a short period of time? Or eat the plastic?

Miname

galljga1 wrote: »

Would they not wreck it in a short period of time? Or eat the plastic?

Worked for a farmer that had one for sheep over 20 years ago. It's still in operation with the original sheeting although patched a little. He has that green wind breaker mesh on the bottom four foot or so with sheep wire on the inside. It worked well but awkward enough cleaned out if I remember correctly. It was over 100 ft long and all broken up with discountable pens. I never thought it would last but it has.

Lady lou

I'm no macgyver but Could there be framing built on the inside of it say up far enough so stock couldn't reach the plastic using flexible stockboard.?

greenpetrol

Miname wrote: »

Worked for a farmer that had one for sheep over 20 years ago. It's still in operation with the original sheeting although patched a little. He has that green wind breaker mesh on the bottom four foot or so with sheep wire on the inside. It worked well but awkward enough cleaned out if I remember correctly. It was over 100 ft long and all broken up with discountable pens. I never thought it would last but it has.

A bobcat would clean them out ! I read that it works best with earth floor as it drys up to the extent the ground cracks and natural drains ! Wonder if they could be erected in say 5 ft high walls ? Straw bedding for cattle even! I think it's very do-able . The sunlight through the poly would make very healthy conditions for cattle

rangler1

Lady lou wrote: »

Anyone have experience with poly tunnels to house calves or sheep. Thanks.

I put up one for sheep in 2012, seems to work well, I put it on 2ft walls to increase height and to have something solid to push against with the loader when cleaning it out.
Farmers Journal reviewed it a couple years ago, you can link to it here....

http://www.farmersjournal.ie/polytunnel-is-a-low-cost-speedy-option-on-sheep-farm-163974

ganmo

greenpetrol wrote: »

A bobcat would clean them out ! I read that it works best with earth floor as it drys up to the extent the ground cracks and natural drains ! Wonder if they could be erected in say 5 ft high walls ? Straw bedding for cattle even! I think it's very do-able . The sunlight through the poly would make very healthy conditions for cattle

Would ventilation not be a problem?
I've only seen calves and sheep in them

greenpetrol

ganmo wrote: »

Would ventilation not be a problem?
I've only seen calves and sheep in them

Very true! Has me thinking a 60ft long fenced off from an out winter pad for suckler calves could work very well

Buford T. Justice XIX

ganmo wrote: »

Would ventilation not be a problem?
I've only seen calves and sheep in them

I lamb the ewes in one. Since i took them out of a metal frame house 20 years ago, I have had one case of pneumonia whereas it was a constant battle in the other shed.

There is good ventilation with the windbreaker sheeting at the bottom. There is always a good airflow through them and rarely bad enough to chill a newborn lamb, once it is situated in the right spot.

They can be used for cattle but the vertical bars that the curved support in on is raised up out of the way so cattle can't reach the plastic. It would be ok for calves but weanlings and bigger would cause problems.

Iirc, because it is not a permanent structure, you don't need planning permission. That may be different now since I put mine up.

It does need a bit of patching every time you see a pin hole or scratch on it but if kept away from cattle scratching it and tree branches falling on it, you can get 10 years + out of them but 7-8 years is what I seem to be averaging.

Ranglers shed is a great one, it's in the IFJ farm building book too.

Pecker056

Hi, looking for info on sheep tunnel, are they a good job, any health issues etc, Where is the best place to buy one, Sorry for butting in on this thread, cant seem to post a new one myself. any help/advice welcome. Thanks

Sam Kade

This is how it works, just because it's a poly tunnel doesn't mean the plastic has to reach the ground.
http://www.mcgregorpolytunnels.co.uk/product/cattle-polytunnel?gclid=CKDsifuDic4CFeNe2wodbbYDWQ

They use ordinary poly tunnels for calves in NZ. One side is partly open where they can go out to an open pen. I'd say they wouldn't be far off the price of a decent shed.

Markcheese

The simple open fronted ones, that can be moved every season seem a reasonable idea..
And those big fancy ones could be a god send on leased ground ..