Cost of cubicles

nqtfarmer

Well lads, the father has been running weanling to beef a few years but is thinking of going big at suckling.
We have a 4 pen slatted shed with a central feed passage. Just wondering how much it would cost per cubicle to extend this shed into say 60 cubicles?
We would hope to have the cubicles, calf area carrying on from the feed passage and scrapers going to carry the muck to the existing pit.

Sam Kade

Suckling? Is he mad?

J DEERE

You'll have to look into extending your tank as well, you'll hardly have enough slurry storage for 60 with 4 bays

Grueller

J DEERE wrote: »

You'll have to look into extending your tank as well, you'll hardly have enough slurry storage for 60 with 4 bays

Sounds to me like a double sided shed with central passage so eiggt spans maybe? Might get away.
There is no fortune in suckling but it is great to see somebody getting in after all we have seen getting out.

nqtfarmer

Ya it's a double sided shed with central feed passage. Has slurry storage for 60 continental stores at the mo. Ya you might say we're mad but at least with suckling you can fix your costs, produce quality and your not at the whim of the mart n factory. Just looking for price of cubicle without slurry capacity?

J DEERE

You could leave the sucklers on the slats and build a lie back area for the calves. Each pen would hold 6-7 sucklers put mats in as funds allow

crunambo

Free-standing cubicles or individual? Individual more costly to install from labour perspective. What about pre-cast? Any notion on relative cost of each?

nqtfarmer

crunambo wrote: »

Free-standing cubicles or individual? Individual more costly to install from labour
Thanks crunambo for getting this back on track, we were thinking individual cubicles. Ya the lie back area from the slats is an idea but we would be hoping to grow the herd to a point of splitting calving Spring n Autumn.

crunambo

nqtfarmer wrote: »

crunambo wrote: »

Free-standing cubicles or individual? Individual more costly to install from labour
Thanks crunambo for getting this back on track, we were thinking individual cubicles. Ya the lie back area from the slats is an idea but we would be hoping to grow the herd to a point of splitting calving Spring n Autumn.

crunambo

nqtfarmer wrote: »

crunambo wrote: »

Free-standing cubicles or individual? Individual more costly to install from labour
Thanks crunambo for getting this back on track, we were thinking individual cubicles. Ya the lie back area from the slats is an idea but we would be hoping to grow the herd to a point of splitting calving Spring n Autumn.

blue5000

Have you room all round the existing slatted shed? When I read this first I thought you were putting the cubicles at one end, parallel to feed passage, can you do it perpendicular?
Angus cows are smaller, 10 will fit between the pillars, sm or ch cows are bigger and only 6-7 will fit between the pillars. No point having 60 cubicles and only room for 30 cows at the feed barrier.

crunambo

I've had early Autumn calving sucklers for past 10 years. No cubicles. Mats on slats, 2 diff brands. Big difference between both. No issues with cow thrive, lameness, or bulling. Creep area for calves. Can't see why you'd consider cubicles a necessity- go for a good oul holiday on the money you'll save!

nqtfarmer

Ha crunambo, thought has crossed my mind a few times. Do you have any problem with cows sucking one another on slats when they're Autumn Calvers.
Yes to previous poster, we hope to build perpendicular to existing feed passage.
Hoping to gauge costs for cubicles as it would allow for dairy in the future if needs be

crunambo

I get an odd cow doing it, but haven't ever seen a calf to suffer unduly because of it. Unless you have cows with loads of milk you'll be better off to prioritise the calves with meal feeding capacity, once cows are back in calf