Re developing Farmyard

Mooooo

Has anyone here bit the bullet in terms of redeveloping their yards? Yard here has been added to over the years bit by bit and served its purpose in doing so but at the stage now where a lot of it is too old and cramped and needs replacing particularly the roofs. Money no object would flatten and start from scratch but finding it hard to see a manageable way of adding to what's there as existing stuff needs replacement as well.

whelan2

I got teagasc man, a couple of builders and a few farmers to look at my yard. All had good ideas and in the end I built a new cubicle shed. New parlour going up soon too. Don't know myself with new shed

funkey_monkey

Are these low roof sheds or livestock sheds?

Mooooo

Round roofs with lean-tos and A frames and lean tos stuck in the middle as well. Some low some high, a mix of everything really. Rsj's not in the best of shape under most either, bar the few that are buried in an old silo wall

Open under ground concrete tank which should prob be re done alright so could do that and put slats/ cubicles on top maybe.

Maybe Whelans way above of having builders look at what could be done may give a better idea. Lads doing drawings don't quite take into account all that would have to be done in an existing yard

funkey_monkey

Yes. I think Whelans suggestion is the only one going - without seeing them I don't think any of us can advise.

Other than that, if you can convert some to machinery/storage/workshop sheds or even straw bedded shed or handling facilities for some stock and replace the roofing bit by bit over the next number of years. Especially if they have concrete flooring, I'd try to reuse as much as possible.

Knock down whatever gets in the way and build/rebuild livestock housing to latest specs. A good plan reusing as much of what you can would need onsite viewing.

There is good prices for scrap steel at the minute. But on the flip side, this means that fresh steel is high price too.

Mooooo

No such thing as a machinery shed down here, anything that can has stock in it! Take your point tho, replacement/ repair could be ongoing projects and try work in to add what extra is needed sperately perhaps

mr.stonewall

Is there an option of putting a big portal shed or 2 over the lot. Just thinking out loud

dar31

Was in the same place 7/8 years ago. Hired Grasstec to map the existing yard and put together a plan. It was expensive but worth it as I had a clear idea where I was going with yard and could build in phases depending what was most critical at the time. Roofing the outdoor cubicles this year will be the final part of it.

they will account for housing requirements, slurry, levels, stock movements and your own creature comforts. It’s very easy to overlook or make a mistake only to realise a year or two down the line which could cost x amount of their original fee.

funkey_monkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119634415#Comment_119634415

Are they not fairly expensive crowd to get in? Is there any pragmatism with them? From what I seen they strike me as fairly top end - which is fine for some, but not everyone has large budgets.

GrasstoMilk

we repurposed every shed here, but they were decent sized sheds to begin with

we got 160 cubicles into 2 existing sheds plus 30 outdoor ones that are now roofed, put 2 slatted tanks outside around them, one went into an old silage pit

in hindsight I should have gone and built a new 150 cow cubicle shed and kept my existing sheds for straw storage, youngstock/calves along with the silage pit

but I couldn’t have afforded that upfront spend in reality, we split the spend over 3 years, doing it as cow numbers grew.

We’ve a decent job all the same but we’ve no shed for machinery or straw at home and also had to build a new silage slab

if you can at all I’d go build s new cubicle shed tbh

davidk1394

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119634623#Comment_119634623

A plan for a yard could be 1,000ish. From what I see they are not too imaginative. They'll measure the yard and go back through they're old drawings and pull out something that might fit into your yard. Seen that with another fella who did my drawings. They are fine to draw up a plan for a greenfield site but to do up a tailored drawing you'll need someone with some experience

Good loser

Probably Grasstec a good option - if cost reasonable.

SAw they made a few videos on that dairy farm in Castleisland - maybe O Sullivans. Impressive job,

Conversations 3

I have two years young farmer left and am in the same position, with the yard needing an upgrade.

Sheds need new scrapers and yard could do with a lot of concrete.

Is the grant scheme still worth going through with the price of everything?

whelan2

I didn't go for the grant on my shed but have tams approval and young lad gets the higher grant for milking parlour