A well-designed and thought-out shed is worth its weight in gold, especially if it makes the everyday tasks easier for the farmer.

The Irish Farmers Journal recently called out to Mattie Conry’s farm in Clooneyquinn, Elphin, Co Roscommon. In late November 2013, he completed a two-bay, double-sided slatted shed with a layback area off one side (picture one).

The shed was built adjoining an existing dry bed shed and cattle pen. Mattie wanted to build a shed that would be suitable for different types of beef systems to keep his options open in the future. Currently, he is using the shed to finish heifers during the winter and it also accommodates stores, but there is no doubt that with the way in which the shed and adjoining yards are designed, it would make an ideal suckler setup.

The steel work was carried out by Beirne and Beattie Engineering Ltd from Lanesboro Road, Co Roscommon and all work was carried out to Department of Agriculture specification.

Mattie said that there was considerable groundwork and site preparation needed and he was very happy with the work carried out by Michael Keane Plant Hire, Ballymoe, Co Roscommon.

Pictures two and three

In total, there are four pens with two pens giving access to a layback area.

The pens are large, spanning 20ft wide with 16ft long slats (supplied by Harrington Concrete, Co Mayo). The two far pens without the layback area can each hold 18 store heifers.

Last year, Mattie used one of the pens with the layback area for finishing heifers. He set up the feeding barriers at the back of this pen in such a way to maximise feed space and increase the floor area for the heifers. He did this by opening the feed barrier three-quarters of the way into the layback area.

He secured another feed barrier to the far RSJ and a gate was secured between the two. This meant that 23 beef heifers could eat meal at once at the front and back, rather than 18 if the barrier at the back was left shut.

Mattie could have gone down the route of feeding meal in troughs in the layback area, but he felt that this would have been too dangerous.

The other pen and layback area was used for store heifers and they were only fed silage last winter, so headspace for all cattle feeding at one time wasn’t required in this pen. With the layback, 29 store heifers fitted comfortably.

The feed barrier separating the slats and the layback was opened fully and the side door was opened so that heifers could eat silage at the side of the shed as well as at the central passage.

In total, 88 heifers were housed in the shed last winter between stores and heavier beef animals. Once a day, the slurry in the layback area was scraped by hand into the slats. Mattie said it only takes 15 minutes to scrape and he locks the heifers into the slats when he is doing it, ensuring his safety.

It was also interesting to see in this shed that plywood was tacked on to the inside of all the doors. Mattie learned from past experience that silage up against doors is very corrosive and he hopes that the plywood will help increase their longevity. A day/night sensor outside controls two night lights in the shed, so there is always some light inside during the winter. The shed is 11ft high at the eaves.

Pictures four and five

The 14ft wide central passage way is three inches higher than the slats. Mattie says that this gives the heifers more reach to the feed and it also helps to prevent them from pulling silage back into the pen. The top kickboard is secured to the feed barrier. This, he says, helps to speed up the time it takes to move cattle out of the pen because they only have one board to cross. Picture five shows how Mattie added extra steel to protect the water trough fittings from possible cattle damage.

Pictures six and seven

Outside the shed, a holding yard was constructed to make it as easy as possible to move stock from the shed to the cattle crush. Dermot Dooney from Steel Fixing and Construction Ltd, Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon, put in the two 8ft-deep concrete tanks and carried out the remaining concrete work in the yard and the walls that were all mass concrete.

The walls in the shed are eight inches thick. The holding yard leads on to the cattle crush. The crush is ideal for calving cows and the adjoining dry bed shed would be perfect for freshly calved cows.

Picture eight

During the build, Mattie decided to add in a water harvesting system to help keep his water bill down. He bought a 10,000-litre plastic storage tank from JFC and a normal two-bar pressure Lowara pump.

Rainwater from the new shed and one existing shed are piped into this tank and a basket and filter help to prevent leaves and debris entering. The water harvested is used for the troughs in the shed, some taps and three troughs in paddocks close to the yard. A float valve regulates the amount of water in the tank at all times and if it drops below a certain level, mains water kicks in.

The tank is cleaned out once a year. It generally doesn’t run out unless there is a long, dry spell during frosty weather in the winter when demand for water is high. Some of the overflow from the tank is also collected in a smaller tank outside and a gravity flow pipe off this tank is used for cleaning Wellingtons.

In total, the shed cost €72,179, including VAT. This includes site preparation, all steel and concrete work and electrical installation, as well as the water harvesting system. On its own, the water harvesting system cost €2,725, including VAT, which included the cost of purchasing the tank, the pipe work and the pump. It cost €1,190, including VAT, for materials and fixing of electrical fittings. This included some outdoor lights for the perimeter of the shed and cattle crush.