cubicle upgrade

oldsmokey

Hi, we've got a cubicle house with old newton rigg cubicles from the 70's - tis time to do something about them, there's a lot of them busted/rotted - problem is at just over 6' 6'' long the cubicle is too short for the bigger cows of today - don't want to spend much, but figured by fitting the new cubicles diagonally, it would give us an extra 8 -10 inches per cubicle - we don't mind the 'waste' of a couple of cubicle spaces by working this way. Has anyone done it? will the cows take to it? There's a wall at the front of the cubicles, by the way. Thanks.

PMU

what width is the shed. has it automatic scrapers. ideally there should be a 6" slope from front
to back of the cubicle.

Grueller

oldsmokey wrote: »

Hi, we've got a cubicle house with old newton rigg cubicles from the 70's - tis time to do something about them, there's a lot of them busted/rotted - problem is at just over 6' 6'' long the cubicle is too short for the bigger cows of today - don't want to spend much, but figured by fitting the new cubicles diagonally, it would give us an extra 8 -10 inches per cubicle - we don't mind the 'waste' of a couple of cubicle spaces by working this way. Has anyone done it? will the cows take to it? There's a wall at the front of the cubicles, by the way. Thanks.

Are the Newton Rigg the 3 legged cow traps? We had a run of them rotting out and no slope on the floor of the cubicle bed. Borrowed a mini digger and breaker and took theme out and put a 6" slope on the bed and cantilever cubicles off the wall. Never regretted it. Wasn't cheap at €40 per cubicle plus VAT at the time plus concrete bolts etc. Undo able bar it was my own labour really.

charolais0153

What length would cubicles want to be with a wall at front and without a wall

oldsmokey

They're the 2-legged cow-traps:)...the shed will be used mostly for weanlings and a few cows with calves from now on, no auto scrapers, slope in the cubicle is adequate, I'd guess at 4 - 5 in - no idea on shed width, approx 22ft I'd imagine - 2 rows cubicles and central passageway.

Keepgrowing

oldsmokey wrote: »

Hi, we've got a cubicle house with old newton rigg cubicles from the 70's - tis time to do something about them, there's a lot of them busted/rotted - problem is at just over 6' 6'' long the cubicle is too short for the bigger cows of today - don't want to spend much, but figured by fitting the new cubicles diagonally, it would give us an extra 8 -10 inches per cubicle - we don't mind the 'waste' of a couple of cubicle spaces by working this way. Has anyone done it? will the cows take to it? There's a wall at the front of the cubicles, by the way. Thanks.

My pics are of a shed built in 1969 that had Newton Rigg cubicles. We replaced them 10 yrs ago as were sick of cows getting trapped.

The step is 81" long would be 10 longer if doing today with new spec. To counter this we made each space wider 47" as opposed to 42" if doing today (inside to inside).

We did this to allow 550kg cows share space with neighbouring cow as 81 to the wall is too short. I can't get a pic of all lying down as milking just finished and most are mooching around or eating. There are also cubicles of the new measurements with no wall in front in this shed. Cows will occupy both at same rate, no preference shown

Mooooo

Keepgrowing wrote: »

My pics are of a shed built in 1969 that had Newton Rigg cubicles. We replaced them 10 yrs ago as were sick of cows getting trapped.

The step is 81" long would be 10 longer if doing today with new spec. To counter this we made each space wider 47" as opposed to 42" if doing today (inside to inside).

We did this to allow 550kg cows share space with neighbouring cow as 81 to the wall is too short. I can't get a pic of all lying down as milking just finished and most are mooching around or eating. There are also cubicles of the new measurements with no wall in front in this shed. Cows will occupy both at same rate, no preference shown

How far back have u the neck rail? We made cubicles wider also they do fine. THE cow that gets trapped by going too close to the wall I find are ones that may be after getting lame or a hurt and they do a second go to get up which edges them. Forward

oldsmokey

Thats interesting, thanks for pics - didnt think a little extra width would make such a difference. That might be the way to go...

Keepgrowing

Mooooo wrote: »

How far back have u the neck rail? We made cubicles wider also they do fine. THE cow that gets trapped by going too close to the wall I find are ones that may be after getting lame or a hurt and they do a second go to get up which edges them. Forward

19" from the wall
74" on the diagonal from edge of step to neck rail

freedominacup

Keepgrowing wrote: »

My pics are of a shed built in 1969 that had Newton Rigg cubicles. We replaced them 10 yrs ago as were sick of cows getting trapped.

The step is 81" long would be 10 longer if doing today with new spec. To counter this we made each space wider 47" as opposed to 42" if doing today (inside to inside).

We did this to allow 550kg cows share space with neighbouring cow as 81 to the wall is too short. I can't get a pic of all lying down as milking just finished and most are mooching around or eating. There are also cubicles of the new measurements with no wall in front in this shed. Cows will occupy both at same rate, no preference shown

Not being smart. But is inside to inside the same as centre to centre? We've started replacing batches of Newton Riggs with cantilever but putting them in at 48" centres.

Grueller

freedominacup wrote: »

Not being smart. But is inside to inside the same as centre to centre? We've started replacing batches of Newton Riggs with cantilever but putting them in at 48" centres.

If I understand correctly, cubicles are made from 2" blue band tubing. 48" centre to centre is the same as 46" inside to inside as you would be measuring 1" of each cubicle when going centre to centre.

Keepgrowing

freedominacup wrote: »

Not being smart. But is inside to inside the same as centre to centre? We've started replacing batches of Newton Riggs with cantilever but putting them in at 48" centres.

The measure is "inside to inside"

freedominacup

Keepgrowing wrote: »

The measure is "inside to inside"

That would be a little wider than ours so. Yours definitely have a noticeable bit more space. Hard to credit the extra room.

anfieldrd

What sort of money are the new cubicles costing?

Keepgrowing

freedominacup wrote: »

That would be a little wider than ours so. Yours definitely have a noticeable bit more space. Hard to credit the extra room.

As I said it was to make up for the shorter step. Looked at a few before we changed

inthepit

Thinking about a few changes here also.
42'' wide X 84'' long.Passage 90'' wide
Planning on extending bed by 6''
Passage should be wide enough as it's only 45' long.
I'm told that with a brisket board the cows very rarely get caught.
Seen similar set up and owner said he was glad he hadn't spent money
changing cubicles.

Keepgrowing

anfieldrd wrote: »

What sort of money are the new cubicles costing?

Put in Teemore cubicles this year and they cost €98 + vat. That's for cubicle and mat.

Wildsurfer

I put in both the condon super loop and the teemore super loop plus in the past two years and am delighted with them. Cows have loads of lunge room in them and never seem under pressure getting up. I would prefer the look of the teemore cubicle personally and found teemore gave a better service but it was peak time for cubicle sales when I was buying. I put in the plastic pillow as a brisket board and works very well. Wouldn't go for anything other than roll of mat either, so easy to keep clean

Buford T. Justice XIX

Keepgrowing wrote: »

Put in Teemore cubicles this year and they cost €98 + vat. That's for cubicle and mat.

Is that a single mat or a roll?

Keepgrowing

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Is that a single mat or a roll?

Single mat. We have some roll and while it's easy to clean it's not as comfy after a couple of years. The singles we have get rotated and turned every second year. The rotating keeps life in the mat. Tis a right pain of a job though

Mooooo

Can't remember the brand name but we got a few single mats that were soft kinda hexagonal design on the under side but they were too soft cows hooves after cutting in to them. Do ye get singles so theyll sit right next to each other or do ye leave a gap between the mats in each space?

oldsmokey

Mooooo wrote: »

Can't remember the brand name but we got a few single mats that were soft kinda hexagonal design on the under side but they were too soft cows hooves after cutting in to them. Do ye get singles so theyll sit right next to each other or do ye leave a gap between the mats in each space?

Our cubicle is only 78 in long , we,re tight on space in the passageway, do you think having a wider cubivle space for the cows would suffice, or is going diagonal with the cubicle spaces an option to give more length. I havent seen this done though. Our cows are medium sized sucklers. Ta all.

freedominacup

oldsmokey wrote: »

Our cubicle is only 78 in long , we,re tight on space in the passageway, do you think having a wider cubivle space for the cows would suffice, or is going diagonal with the cubicle spaces an option to give more length. I havent seen this done though. Our cows are medium sized sucklers. Ta all.

They had them on the college farm where I went in the UK. Seemed to work okay there. Big American style ho cows. I don't remember what sort of brisket board if any they had though.

Tail painter

oldsmokey wrote: »

Hi, we've got a cubicle house with old newton rigg cubicles from the 70's - tis time to do something about them, there's a lot of them busted/rotted - problem is at just over 6' 6'' long the cubicle is too short for the bigger cows of today - don't want to spend much, but figured by fitting the new cubicles diagonally, it would give us an extra 8 -10 inches per cubicle - we don't mind the 'waste' of a couple of cubicle spaces by working this way. Has anyone done it? will the cows take to it? There's a wall at the front of the cubicles, by the way. Thanks.

We had a similar problem with short cubicles. There was a block wall between 7" H iron pillars in front of the cubicles. We knocked the wall in front and replaced it with ventilated sheeting outside the pillars. The extra 7" has made a massive difference. The cows now fill these cubicles first.