A Munster farmer is almost finished converting an old roofed silage pit to accommodate calf housing in the spring. The silage pit was built in 1982 with the aid of a grant and was used originally for self-feeding dairy cows. In the past it was common for silage pits to be built inside an existing hayshed. The main reason for this was many farms were switching over from hay to silage for winter feeding and the old hay shed was still the best location for feeding livestock because it required the least work to convert.

Slatted accommodation has been built on the farm since the 1980s and cows are now fed indoors. The silage in the roofed pit was always used first and from January onwards the pit was only used temporarily for other jobs. With expanding cow numbers, the farmer needed a place to house his extra calves in the spring. The farmer said the logical solution was to do some sort of conversion job on the existing pit but do it in such a way that it could be used for silage and calves.

Picture one

This is the old silage pit, measuring 80ft long and 35ft wide. The roof was re-sheeted in the past and is in good order. Previously when the silage was gone in the spring the farmer used makeshift penning with bales of straw and gates to hold the calves for rearing but this wasn’t ideal and was very labour-intensive. Before starting work on converting the pit, the farmer visited other farms where similar work had been carried out to convert pits to calf accommodation. He found that these farmers had done permanent work in their conversions by fixing gates to the walls of the pens and bolting pillars to the floor. This was fine in his opinion for six weeks of the year but the sheds were useless for the rest of the year. He designed his conversion so that everything is removable and once all the calves leave the shed all the penning can easily be taken down ready for silage again. Ted McCarthy from T&T Construction Ltd, Co Kerry, did all the concrete work in the conversion and laid the sleeves for the penning.

Pictures two and three

On 6 January work started converting the old pit. The concrete floors were dug up where the new penning was going to be located and the original concrete floor in the middle of the pit was left in place to act as a central passage. The floors where the penning was going to be located had to be dug up to allow a change in the fall, to add effluent channels and sleeves for the penning. The middle was left as it was as the fall didn’t matter in that section. Six loads were removed and the rest was used as hard core for the new floor area. A load of 804 was used to blind the top of the hard core in preparation for pouring the concrete. Eighteen-inch sleeves for the penning were laid in position before the concrete floor was laid. A timber template was also put together to make the effluent channel (picture two). Plastic was wrapped around the timber to make it easier for lifting when the concrete was set. The template allowed for the creation of a lip to hold the 7in wide steel catwalk grid. When all the sleeves and templates were down, four loads of ready mix were used for the new floors (200mm depth). The fall is now from the side walls of the pit to the centre of the pit rather than from the back of the pit to the front. This means effluent from the back pens won’t have to travel across the rest of the pens to get to the slurry tank.

Picture four

In total 10 pens were erected (five each side). Each pen is 15ft wide and is 13ft 11in deep with a maximum capacity of 10 calves. The gates were specially constructed by Kerry Agribusiness. They are just 3ft high, which the farmer believes is crucial to make life easier at feeding time lifting milk over a gate. Each pen has a layback area bedded with straw or woodchip.

Old 200-litre barrels were cut in half, with one side used to hold water and the other used for hay. JFC teat feeders are used to feed milk and a plastic tub hanging on the gate is used for meal. The farmer said if he was doing the work again he would have put less horizontal bars on the front gates so the teat feeders could be hung outside the pen (with updated hangers) and the calf would have room to suck through the gate. All the gates in a row can be opened up for cleaning out the bedding. When cleaning is being carried out, the gates are measured so that calves can be held in the central passage in their own groups.

Picture five

The bedded area at the back of the pen is held in place with timber boarding. The farmer made steel Y joints to prevent the timbers from falling. A small gap between the base of the timber and the floor allows the effluent from the bedding to flow easier towards the channel. The farmer said he took Teagasc advice and made sure there was a concrete area at the front of the pens. He said calves tend to dirty this area more at feeding time so the bedding area is cleaner for longer.

Pictures six and seven

A key joint was welded to the round steel pillars that the gates are hanging off. The key joint prevents the pillars from twisting in their sleeves. The sheeting at the gable end of the shed was removed and replaced with corrugated vent sheeting to allow more air into the shed. The farmer says the area is very airy now and because he didn’t cover the whole area with penning he has space for stacking bales of straw in the front to give more shelter and prevent draughts.

Cost

In total it cost the farmer approximately €10,000 excluding VAT to convert the pit. He is very happy with how the work turned out and feels he now has ideal housing for 150 calves. This is a prime example of what can be done on the farm to save labour and make life easier without spending a fortune. As the farmer says, the changeover from calf housing back to a silage pit is simple now and he is getting much better use out of his shed.