It’s been a good year for suckler beef farmers and it’s very much needed after more than a few lean years. While this will likely spark more building works for many, the Grogans are ahead of the game, backing beef back in 2024 when they first applied for the new beef shed that has recently been constructed on their farm in Burrane, Killimer, Co Clare.

Michael and Stephen Grogan farm in partnership, calving 80 suckler cows between a split of spring and autumn calvers. The system is mainly suckler to weanling, with Stephen completing DIY AI. Like many drystock farms, land is fragmented and some cattle are housed on an out block.

In a double effort to see all cows housed on the home yard and increase slurry storage and increase housing, a new four-bay suckler shed with creep was built on the home block. Declan Fennell, Cooraclare was the builder tasked with the job.

While Declan has featured in the Farm Buildings pages many times, the Grogans have also appeared here with a previous three-bay shed constructed by Declan gracing the pages of the Irish Farmers Journal.

An aerial view of the new slatted shed, showing the raised canopy and ancillary concrete around it.

TAMS application

TAMS was applied for in the back end of 2024. With the father-son duo being in a registered farm partnership, both thought it wise to go down the grant route and avail of the additional funding with Stephen qualifying for the Young Farmers Capital Investment Scheme (YFCIS). Approval came through in February with the dig commencing in March for the tank.

‘’When you’re spending that kind of money, and going to a good spec on your materials, it just made sense for us to go down the TAMS route, especially qualifying for the 60% with Stephen’’ claimed Michael.

Declan echoed this, saying: "What will you gain going non-grant spec price wise? If €4,000 of steel goes in to a tank, what will you cut it down to? €2,000? If you don’t get the tank right day one you’re in bother."

The tank was dug to a depth of 2.7m (9ft) to maximise storage. Digging was relatively straightforward, with good ground resulting in ok digging while no slippage was seen.

“We hit no rock, but had we gone down another foot it might have been a different matter,” joked Stephen. The site was uneven, with a high bank towards the ditch levelled in to lower spots, while the floor level of the shed rises higher than the existing yard that is there.

The shed is bright and airy, with 8 skylights installed in the roof and vented sheeting along the back wall.

The shed

Inside the shed is a relatively simple and straightforward layout with some slight tweaks. Prevailing wind hits the back of the creep, which has 2.4m walls and ventilated sheeting to give a height at the eaves of 4.165 metres. Between this and the open front feed passage, air flow should be ample.

Inside there is 7m deep of a dry area lying behind the slats. Access at both ends is through a sliding door, giving ample room for cleaning out with the tractor and grab.

Interestingly, the Grogans opted not to install a crush in the creep, a common choice, but installed a 1.52m wide walkway instead. The plan is to use the walkway for rolling out straw for topping up bedding in the creep area, but it is also useful for checking on calves or moving cows from one end of the shed to the other without them leaving the roofed area of the shed.

With a 5.5m deep creep pen and a cow area 6.13m deep, the shed has ample room for big framed suckler cows and autumn born weanlings.

The creep area itself is 5.5m, with the floor cambered towards the slatted area to keep the bedding dry. A deep creep area was preferred for two reasons; firstly, it gives older calves ample room (important for autumn born calves in January-March. Secondly, it also gives a degree of flexibility around the shed usage and feeding space.

‘’Should we want to, we can turn the four slatted pens in to two for spring calving cows. We can then use just one creep pen for two pens of slats for the calves.

This means we use the middle two creep pens for the calves, with the creeps on either end empty’’ explained Michael.

This will allow for feeding to occur in this area, giving an additional five feed spaces, with 14 (7 per bay) along the front of the shed.

Condon creep gates allow free access to calves, or can be quickly closed up to suckle calves morning and evening. I’m a fan of these gates; the ease at which they can be adjusted as well as the bars’ ability to roll (useful for a larger calf) is very nice.

Michael and Stephen Grogan are farming 80 suckler cows in west Clare, with Stephen recently being part of the Killimer team who won the Clare Junior A championship.

The creep areas are kitted out with drinker bowls but no calving gate, with Michael explaining that a dedicated calving shed with a slatted feed area and straw lie back is in situ on farm.

Slats and mats

Declan manufactured the 16ft 6in (5.029m) slat installed over the tank, with 0.55m of toe space at either end of the slat.

With a standard bay length of 4.8m, this gives the pen a total lying area of 29.42m². This is sufficient for 9-11 cows, but the intention is to not house this many per pen. Rubber mats are to be fitted on the slats ahead of housing of the cattle, sourced and fitted by Declan, with Kraiburg mats being installed.

A 2,5m canopy extends out over the shed to keep feed dry.

Regarding slurry capacity, the tank measures 21.9m length, 4.73m internal width and an internal depth of 2.7m. Excluding 0.2m of depth for freeboard, there is 258.96m³ of slurry storage available, sufficient for 49 suckler cows over an 18-week closed period, which is more than sufficient for the farm’s needs.

Condon drinkers with rump bars are fitted in the creep and slatted areas.

Other features

Cosnet locking barriers were installed throughout, with past experience in installing them in other sheds being the main driver.

‘’Calves can pass through the plain barrier easily, and can end up going into the wrong pen. This doesn’t happen with a locking barrier, and it’s also extremely useful for AI over the winter months’’ said Michael.

200mm x 100mm RSJs were fitted internally to hang the gates in the creep area, with these being a preference of Declan’s for the heavy gates.

There are an additional five feed spaces to the rear of the slatted pens to increase feed space if required, with seven on the front of the pens.

0.6mm Tegral sheeting was used in the roof, with safety cages fitted under the skylights (as per TAMS spec), with a total of eight skylights fitted throughout the shed.

A 600mm gap at the ridge acts as an air outlet, covered by a raised curve sheet.

Table 1 shows the costings of the Grogans’ sheds. Matting on the slats is yet to be fitted by Declan, while wiring is still also to be completed.

Gates, barriers and drinkers were sourced from Condon Engineering, with Declan and his team manufacturing the shed and completing all the works.

The slats were also manufactured by Declan, which he is CE marked for, with a 10’’ slat installed.

Concrete was sourced from Roadstone, cladding was sourced from Euronit and timber for the roof was imported timber sourced from Shannonside Timber Manufacturing Ltd. €8,100 concrete and €2,000 labour was an additional extra spent on the outer yard.