mixed fleet
Well-Known Member
That's a very simple shed to hold a good few cattle. No walls above the ground.
Slatted shed
- Thread starter AYF
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nashmach
Well-Known Member
For finishing cattle.
Reasons are simple, stock numbers are increasing year on year generally. Existing dungsted is only barely large enough for a normal year and existing closed periods give or take a week or two.
New dungsted would have to be fully covered or else have a tank.
If making a shed, it's a bit of a waste, if sinking a tank might as well have slats on it and an outdoor dungsted with pipes into it. So thinking process is saying big enough tank to cover stock on top plus dungsted.
Will still have cattle on straw beds too. With beans in the rotation, I'm almost at the stage where straw baled = straw used, no interest in buying straw and scarce enough around here with chopping and dairy interest let alone under beef cattle.
It's in incubation phase so doing careful research
Ozzy Scott
Well-Known Member
@jf 850 re bedding costs, Given this years straw price, and an example - to bed continental beef cows that are finishing at say 650kgs, its costing 50 cents a day. Now we would not be bedding like some people, but would try and make sure the bed is dry at all times. having your main ingredient in the diet that is fairly dry in a major help I assume. Beef cattle are very different from dairy cow regards slurry produced.
50 cent a day is 200grams of extra beef need to be gained a day to cover costs. I would think cattle would do that.
Concrete under ground is very expensive, often 50% the cost of the job, and also I would be building sheds that are easily repurposed as I don't know what the future holds in AG in
a step further, FYM composted is a much better product for my soil that slurries, and anything I buy in the gate is also bringing fertility with it. but on saying that, we will probably be going back growing grain in the near future I would imagine, as we won't have a requirement for all of the feed our land will produce at 170kgs/N per Ha stocking limit.
Like everything in life, there are loads of reasons to justify something, to yourself
50 cent a day is 200grams of extra beef need to be gained a day to cover costs. I would think cattle would do that.
Concrete under ground is very expensive, often 50% the cost of the job, and also I would be building sheds that are easily repurposed as I don't know what the future holds in AG in
a step further, FYM composted is a much better product for my soil that slurries, and anything I buy in the gate is also bringing fertility with it. but on saying that, we will probably be going back growing grain in the near future I would imagine, as we won't have a requirement for all of the feed our land will produce at 170kgs/N per Ha stocking limit.
Like everything in life, there are loads of reasons to justify something, to yourself
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jf 850
Well-Known Member
On the composted FYM being better than slurry for your soil , it's great stuff on any land . Dung helps soil structure , and slurry ruins it .
But , you need a shed to store straw , labour spreading straw , cost , availability, are a few of its Downsides.
Ozzy Scott
Well-Known Member
yes you need closed period storage, with the unsuitable shed we currently have here, they often are not cleaned out at all during this period, storage is then in fields, spreading/haulage/composting are probably similar for slurry as compost. The salt/potassium hits from slurry is causing me allot of issue in getting the forage I want.
@Bogman once said, if it wasn't for slurry, our nitrates issues would be pretty small, which I tend to agree with.
Mf240
Well-Known Member
If you were to put a small passage at the back that you could walk up along to feed meal and put the crush along back wall.
nashmach
Well-Known Member
That's what I was thinking of.
nashmach
Well-Known Member
How do you manage along the feeding areas if they are not cleaned out Ozzy? I suspect you have slats in that area?
Mf240
Well-Known Member
You make everything so complicated for yourself
mixed fleet
Well-Known Member
I'm not convinced that cattle will gain enough extra to cover the cost of bedding.
The best compromise I seen was a row of slats along the feed barrier with about 30ft dry bedded lie back .
The bedding and the distribution of same is one cost. Then when you go to clean it out , you have to have somewhere safe to put the cattle (the won't all fit out on the slats)
You need machinery to clean out the dirty bedding and somewhere to store it. And then you need to have new bedding ready to go in .
The best compromise I seen was a row of slats along the feed barrier with about 30ft dry bedded lie back .
The bedding and the distribution of same is one cost. Then when you go to clean it out , you have to have somewhere safe to put the cattle (the won't all fit out on the slats)
You need machinery to clean out the dirty bedding and somewhere to store it. And then you need to have new bedding ready to go in .
drew
Well-Known Member
How much room have you around proposed site? Would you be able to feed silage both sides of the 20ish ft pen? Could you go slightly wider than 20?
Its potentially a bit more concrete but it would be worth considering a double tank of 12ft slats, put a wall ontop of the slats up the middle so you have pens to both sides and feed barriers to both sides wall in the middle helps break the wind if its an exposed site. Couple of feet overhang either side on shed roof depending on yard vs a big wide feed passage of dead space.
mixed fleet
Well-Known Member
I think that the objective should be, to have the biggest pens possible at the lowest cost. Would a double run of 10'6" or 12'6" solid strip of 2 to 3' either side of the slat ,with a spine wall in the tank be any cheaper than a 16'6".+ slat
No walls above ground, roof only covering the cattle and the feed
No walls above ground, roof only covering the cattle and the feed
drew
Well-Known Member
An option but if you’re putting a wall up the middle of the pens I’d rather it was 2 slats so that the wall on top is sitting over a spine wall in the tank.
Id also personally think a double tank with spine wall would be easier mixed than a single wide tank.
Mf240
Well-Known Member
After the straw went to 30 a round bale in 2018, i know of three large operations that dug out lie backs and put in more slats and rubbers.
Only thing is if feeder meal and no diet feeder then your limited to how many per pen. Though you could feed along gables too
nashmach
Well-Known Member
I could not have put it better myself. Essentially you are talking about 2 x 3 pens with 10 or 12ft 6in slats fed on one side compared to 4 pens with 16ft or 18ft slats fed on both sides to house 40 ish cattle. Proposed site would be exposed to the south and west but partially sheltered from the east so some walls needed.