Tidy cubicle shed completed for 150 cows in Cork

A new cubicle shed was recently installed on the farm of John and Agnes Kelleher and their son John junior, who farm near Glanmire, Co Cork. They entered into partnership two years ago, with the farm rapidly expanding in the past few years.

The Kellehers are currently milking 240 cows, up from 125 in 2014. This expansion has also meant that facilities on the farm were coming under pressure. The decision was made to construct a new cubicle shed encompassing 150 cubicles and a dry bedded calving area.

The herd is predominantly Holstein Friesian. Last year the herd averaged 6,800kg of milk and 540kg of solids. Like many other farms currently, grass growth is a major issue.

“We haven’t fed silage up to this point, but that might have to change next week. We are currently feeding 7kg of meal in the parlour and cows are grazing the second-cut silage ground.

“This will leave us tight for the winter ahead, but we sourced 50 acres of maize in the spring, after the bad winter and before the drought, which will boost winter feed stocks,” according to John junior.

The shed

Slurry capacity was key for this nine-bay shed with two L-shaped 9ft-deep slatted tanks constructed. The need for high slurry storage capacity has been well highlighted over the past year.

“We are seeing more and more farmers opting for a 9ft-deep tank than the traditional 8ft tank as a way of providing that extra capacity,” according to John Mulcahy of Mulcahy Steel, who completed the project.

“We have outdoor slurry storage, but with the bad weather that we have had over the past few years it collects a lot of water,” according to John junior. “We were also getting a bit stretched with our slurry capacity, so having these new tanks under cover will be a big help.”

Each L-shaped tank has the capacity for approximately 610,000 litres of slurry, giving a combined capacity of 1.22m litres for the 9ft-deep (2.7m) tanks. If they had decided to go for 8ft-deep (2.4m) tanks, it would have given 1.084m litres of slurry storage capacity, a substantial 136,000 litres less.

Ventilation

The shed is 43.2m long and 37m wide. At the eaves, it stands at 4.2m high, rising to nearly 8m at its apex where a ridge cap is in place over a continuous opening to provide outlet ventilation for the shed.

Inlet ventilation is provided by a continuous opening running directly under the eaves for the full length of each side of the shed. For a shed this wide, this opening must be 750mm. A roof overhang of 400mm is in place above this opening.

“Ventilation is very important for the amount of cows that there are going to be under the roof. Having big passageways and good airflow helps keep pressure off from pneumonia and other diseases. It also provides more space and comfort for the cows, which was key for us,” John junior said.

Internally, a 7.6m-wide central feed passage runs down the length of the shed. Permanent concrete troughs are in place along both feed faces to complement the diet feeder used on the farm.

“We had concrete troughs in other sheds on the farm and we were really happy with them, as we use a diet feeder. Having these troughs reduces labour by not having to push in silage and allows for efficient feed management with minimal waste. It also gives us options at either end of the year, especially if we need to buffer feed,” John junior said.

“We do focus a lot on silage quality. The diet feeder allows us to feed a measured amount of a fresh silage mix that has been calculated to last 24 hours.”

Cubicles

On one side of the shed, a double row of cubicles is located along the feed face, with a single row of cubicles running along the wall of the shed. The single row of cubicles, against the back wall, measure approximately 2.4m in length. The double row of cubicles measures approximately 4.3m in length. Cubicle width is approximately 1.2m centre to centre.

Scrapers along the back passageways have yet to be installed. These will scrape into the new slatted tanks. They will also scrape into a channel that runs across the shed at the crossover point, which is midway down the shed. This ensures that the scraper does not have to push slurry the full length of the shed.

Having ample room throughout the shed was a key priority for the Kellehers, with back passageways 3m wide.

Passageways

Crossover points are located half way down the shed to allow easy access to the feed face. Where there are no drinkers in place at these crossover points, they must be a minimum of 2.3m wide, or 3.5m wide if a drinker is in place at the crossover point.

All passageways are grooved, as the Kellehers have seen cows get injured from slipping on concrete when bulling before.

Calving area

Incorporated into the other side of the shed is a calving area which accounts for three bays of the shed.

These pens are also fitted with lockable feed barriers to allow for handling of cows if required, while they may also be used for serving cows during the breeding season. A concrete kerb is in place between the slatted tanks and the dry bedded area to prevent bedding being pulled on to the slats.

Passageways along the feed barriers are fully slatted and are approximately 4.8m wide.

While the shed will be a bit tight for feeding space, the additional three bays of feeding space along the calving pens should take the pressure off.

All roof lights are fitted with safety bars underneath as per the requirements of any shed completed through TAMS.

The project was completed through TAMS. Thanks to the partnership, John senior is eligible for 40% grant aid on the first €80,000 spent, while John junior, as a young farmer, is eligible for a 60% grant on the next €80,000 invested, greatly helping to reduce the cost of the shed.

As they maxed out both grants this gives them a combined grant aid of €80,000.

Mulcahy Steel completed the entire project, including all concrete work, fabricating and erecting the shed and installing the internal penning, which was supplied by Condon Engineering.

The slats were provided by Corbett Concrete.

“Having one contractor look after the entire project made life much easier,” according to John junior.

“We are happy with how quickly the project has been completed and are looking forward to using the new shed this winter, which will provide our cows with more comfort and space, while also reducing labour. Due to our compact calving system, the additional calving area will be of huge benefit to us in the spring.”