Part time farming - Time saving techniques

Hey there, we've a water pump connected to a well that's up in the yard. It supplies the main house and farm.

I've a pain in my face with it these days as the power keeps coming and going due to weather and I've a right hike then to turn it back on. First world problem i know but very inconvenient if I'm not at home.

Anyone know of a way of turning it back on remotely or moving the power switch down to our house?

100% on this.

If you are a young farmer with a green cert qualifying for the 60% grant you can make 90k+vat of investment over five-year. About where to start it's like eating an elephant one step at a time. Hardest part is financing it out borrowing 50ish off your bank through the SCBI over 10 years will provide a lot of the finance. If you are will to stage build a shed 30-35 k might do you be paying some off using grant money anyway

The first part is designing a shed and getting planning. A planner will charge about 1500 euro AFAIK. A 10' deep wide tank is cheaper than a long narrow 8' one. Face tge open end of the shed N or NE. No need of side walls to the E or N. Put your crush inside tge shed even if you have one already

Remember how to eat the elephant one bite at a time.

Which way is north put an arrow in to indicate. With your plan you are going to be piking bales for the rest of your life. Have you much room on the right or left hand side of the shed. Is there room in front of the shed.

just my tuppence:

1. Put in a few more calving pens - even with 10-12 cows, you’ll find you will need them. Future proof for 15-17 maybe 20. Even if you get out of cows in the future, the pens could still be used for dry stock in some shape or form or for parking machinery in winter.
   
2. Don’t see calving gate in there so if you put crush adjacent to calving pens, it will double up and you have a very safe place to handle cows, gets calves sucking etc.
3. place your water drinkers in the most sheltered place as possible to avoid frost but equally you need to be able to access them for cleaning out without going into the pen.
   
4. Make sure your have a clear way of getting into the shed with the tractor to clean out both calving pens and creep area.
   
5. Strongly advocate 3 bay. I built 4 bay suckler shed in 2018. Started out like yourself in planning a 2 bay. One Neighbour advised me to go 3 before another one got me to 4 bay. Seriously regret not doing a 5 bay now.
   
6. Give serious consideration and planning to the way you hang gates. Calving cows is a dangerous activity and safety is number one priority so facilities need to protect you at all times.
   
7. Have feeding bays in such a way as to minimise/eliminate piking silage.
   
8. Leave a good wide centre passage
9. Maximum 9’ deep tank - don’t go 10’ as harder to agitate. Go 14’6 or even 16’6 slat. Gives brilliant slurry storage and it will help future proof if any big changes in the regs in the future.
   
10. Consider a 3-4 foot gate between each bay. Very handy way of sorting cattle between pens as opposed to one big long gate. I’m sure you’ll have a few neighbours that have them so just look at theirs and you’ll get a better idea of what I mean.
11. Have an area that you can leave round bales of hay/straw beside your calving and creep areas with easy access to bed in the straw.
    
12. Leave an area for your medicine/boiling kettle/calving utensils etc.
13. consider an area that you could leave a power washer permanently set up. Allows quick cleaning of calving pens and could be used in the summer for such items as the fertiliser shaker, etc.
    
14. Draw every grant possible.
    
15. Go look as many sheds as possible in your area. You’ll always pick up ideas and you’ll know the honest lads that’ll admit to mistakes/ what works well and what doesn’t
    
16. Best of luck

a lot there I know but now is the time to consider all these.

make creep area 12ft min in width. If you can, go wider

I have grown to hate closed in sheds, open front and plenty of yard space. Get a good local stock man and a good tractor man locally to throw an eye on the yard and their opinions will prove beneficial and won’t cost you.

I know I had a digger driver in doing work digging out at my yard and I had the whole thing pegged out and marked where he was to work to. All squared and nice neath looking setup , I came home one evening and he had dug off at an angle at one spot. I was mad over it but he explained why he done it and every time I go spreading slurry out of that tank I’m grateful he done it. But I wouldn’t tell him .he was right

Unfortunately not a young farmer, but the father still thinks otherwise 😊.

Got my own flock number last year so kinda stepping away from the fathers farm.

Yes locking rails, in our first shed 15-6ft per bay on 12-6ft slat with 7 head spaces per pen, we do dosing, vaccinating, clipping heads and backs all jobs using the locking rails, cattle are very quiet in them and less stress taking out to a crush. Hoof paring is done when all cattle are housed by a crate guy.

Problem with you plan is unless the new central.feed area is 20+ foot wide ( and even at 20' the corner down the bottom will be tight to get around with a tractor as you seem to have taken some of the old creep area for a calving area.

Personally I go for a complete new separate three bay shed and not try to fit it onto the existing shed