Originally from Lisburn, Northern Ireland, Conor Colgan runs an 820 acre tillage and pedigree beef operation in Lowick, around an hour north of Newcastle, along the English coast.

He breeds Saler cattle and is currently building toward a 120-cow herd. Animals not sold for breeding are retained for finishing.

The farm produces wheat, oats barley and oilseed rape, with the majority of the oats going to Quakers.

“I hope to dedicate around 160 acres of pasture to the cows annually,” Conor told me.

Following the passing of his father, Conor saw a need to restructure the farm business.

“It was decided that the best thing to do was build a completely new farmyard on a greenfield site.”

Conor erected a 10-bay double, 60 x 35m (197 x 115ft) suckler shed. On one side, his suckler cows will winter in two groups, split by a poured concrete wall. His calves will run in five groups opposite the cows.

The cattle will be bedded with straw from the tillage enterprise and, while it might to be difficult to comprehend straw bedding on such a scale from an Irish point of view, in Conor’s part of the world straw is plentiful and cheap.

“I plan to chop all of my oaten straw and a portion of my wheat straw with the balance going for bedding along with all of my barley straw. Given the amount of straw we’re taking off the tillage ground, dung is important as a means of putting nutrients back in.”

The shed’s roof is 42ft high at the apex, through which there is a capped central ridge acting as an air outlet. Vented sheeting has been used along the sides of the building. Though this is not ideal from an air inlet point of view, the airspace encompassed by shed is such that ventilation should not be an issue. To ensure that the building is well-lit, translucent sheets have been incorporated intermittently into the roof structure.

There are continuous head locks atop the complete length of concrete stub walls along the feed passage, which is 24ft wide. Cattle are fed using a diet feeder on Conor’s farm.