Watch: putting faith in sucklers with 70-cow shed

Sucklers are in a precarious position while at the same time dairy expansion is driving ahead. This has seen many farmers swapping enterprises over the past few years. However, that does not mean that every suckler farmer in the country has to jump ship. For many, the lifestyle associated with dairy farming is not what they want for their future.

I’m farming here 40 years and I was getting tired. You need youth to come in to give the farm a boost and that is what the partnership did

Such is the case for Eoin Moran and his father Padraig from Coorevin Farm in Borrisokane, Co Tipperary. The farm has recently made a substantial investment in housing facilities with the construction of a seven-bay slatted shed for the 70-cow herd.

Eoin and Padraig entered into partnership nearly three years ago which has given a lift to the farm, according to Padraig: “I’m farming here 40 years and I was getting tired. You need youth to come in to give the farm a boost and that is what the partnership did.”

He continued: “It was good to see that Eoin wanted to take it on. There are a lot of lads around here my age that don’t have anyone to take over.”

While Eoin did relief milking for several years for different dairy farmers, it is not the path he wishes to pursue. “I was relief milking and, if I’m honest, it turned me off the lifestyle. I can’t see myself doing anything but sucklers. At the start I could do three milkings in the evening but as herds expanded it meant you could only get through one so it just wasn’t viable.”

Padraig has seen the ups and downs of sucklers over his lifetime: “People have been saying to me all my life that suckling is going to die out but they have kept going.”

Background

Cows kept on the farm are a mixture of Limousin cross and Aubrac cross cows. Up until two years ago, AI was used on half the herd to try to breed replacements but this has now changed to two stock bulls.

“We use all terminal bulls now and it gives us a more uniform group of bulls for finishing at 16 months of age. We would buy in all our replacement heifers,” said Eoin.

Production has always been measured on the farm, with cattle being weighed for over 10 years at this stage.

There were several reasons for building the shed according to Eoin. The farm keeps an early lambing flock of 180 ewes which lamb from mid-January on. However, the lambing shed is then generally cleaned out completely come mid-February to provide accommodation for cows to calve down.

“It meant that even if ewes were not finished lambing by 15 February they would be out. It worked fine most years but you get a year like last year and it just puts the whole system under pressure,” Eoin said. “This shed will take a lot of the pressure off.”

The shed itself is seven bays long or 33.7m with a width of 18.8m. It is split between a 6.1m wide pen and a 9.2m wide creep area. There is a 2.5m overhang at the front of the shed. The creep area is then split between six individual calving pens and two large bedded pens.

Eaves

The shed stands at 4.6m to the eaves, rising to 8.2m at the apex of the ridge cap. The roof of the shed has a 15° pitch. “We went with fibre cement sheeting throughout the roof. It’s really a finished job and there is no condensation with it either. We have it in other sheds and would never use anything else,” Eoin explained.

Inlet ventilation at the back of the shed was completely supplied by an unobstructed opening directly below the eaves. As the shed is between 15m and 24m wide, this opening must be 600mm. No vented sheeting was installed at the back of the shed.

Slatted tank

With the aim of maximising capacity for each pen, a 5m (16ft 6in) slat was used, with a toepiece of 1m at the front of the slat and 75mm at the back of the pen. There is space for 10 cows/pen in the shed, giving total capacity of 70 cows. The slats were supplied by Banagher Precast Concrete and were fitted with Easyfix rubber mats.

The tank has an internal width of 4.7m, a depth of 2.7m and a length of 37m, with agitation points fitted at either end of the shed. As the tank was over 32m long, a circulation pipe had to be fitted. Total slurry storage capacity is approximately 435m3, while there is a freeboard of 35m3. Each suckler cow produces 0.29m3 of slurry per week and the farm is located in Zone A, meaning 16 weeks of storage is required. That would mean total slurry storage required for the 70 cows is about 325m3 (70 cows x 0.29 x 16 weeks).

Access between each pen is through a 1.8m gate, which makes movement of stock between pens much safer and more efficient. “It makes simple jobs easier. If I come in to look at cows for calving, I am able to walk down between pens without having to jump over gates,” Eoin said. “It also means that stock can be moved down through the shed at ease.”

Pens

The creep area of the shed is divided into two large, 9.6m by 8m pens as well as six smaller calving pens. The large pens will be used to accommodate cows close to calving, which can then be moved to the individual pens if necessary. The back of these pens is fitted with diagonal feed barriers which can be accessed along a 1.2m wide access passage.

“Really I can only see us using this access passage to feed meal along if we had bulls in the shed for example but it just gives us more flexibility when it comes to what the shed can be used for,” Eoin said.

As per the Department of Agriculture buildings specifications there must be access to each pen without going through another animal pen, and the passageway fulfils this criteria. All central penning in the large pens and calving pens can be removed so that the shed can be used for storage over the summer.

Calving pens

“We had thought about having the calving pens running along the back wall of the shed and a passageway running between that and a creep area but we thought this was a better use of the space. We can also get to the calving pens easily to clean them out from the doors at either end,” Eoin said.

Calving pens inside both doors are approximately 4.6m by 3.6m and are divided by a calving gate, fabricated by Bó Steel. Outside gates of these pens, along the sliding doors, are fitted with stockboard to protect calves from any draughts. One of the calving pens will be left empty to provide machinery access to the central pens for bedding.

A rotating camera is in place at the centre of the shed to observe cows during calving. This cost about €900 ex VAT.

Planning permission and a TAMS (Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme) application were made in early 2018, with approval received in June. Groundworks began on the site on 17 July, with cattle housed in the shed from 15 February 2019.

The total cost of the shed is about €130,000 including VAT. The VAT element will be about €20,000, which can be claimed back. As Eoin qualifies as a young farmer, he will be eligible for a 60% grant on the first €80,000, while Padraig will be eligible for a 40% grant on the remaining €30,000. This would mean total grant aid of approximately €60,000.

This would leave net cost of the shed at about €50,000. There is still work to be done outside the shed with auxiliary concrete and a dungstead to be constructed.

The feed barriers for the shed were supplied by Conroy’s Agri and were fabricated by Condon Engineering. All the other penning for the shed was made and fitted by Aidan Gilbert from Knock, Roscrea.

The shed was supplied by C&G Sheds and was erected by Willie Hourigan and Son. Eoin Redden of ER Electrical completed the electrical work. Liam and Dermot O’Meara of OMB did the concrete work.

The drawings were supplied by Brian England Building Solutions while Aidan McGrath of Teagasc handled the TAMS application.

The farm has diversified over the past 10 years, hosting groups of students and tourists in order to provide a different income stream. More than 40 secondary schools a year visit the farm as part of the requirements of their Leaving Certificate agricultural science course.

Mental health on farms can be a serious issue this time of the year with cows calving and tiredness setting in

“We need to get more and more people on to farms so that they can see how food is produced,” according to Padraig, who is over this side of the business. “The gap between farmers and the general public is growing.”

“The tours are dad’s break from the farm,” Eoin said. “And then I would go contracting during the summer which gives both of us that break from the farm. You need some sort of outlet.”

Having people coming to the farm or going out contracting also has mental health benefits, according to Padraig. “Mental health on farms can be a serious issue this time of the year with cows calving and tiredness setting in.”

He continued: “I would fear for some dairy farmers who have expanded a lot in recent years. They might not see anyone from one end of the day to the other and the pressure on them can be huge.

“You have to look at the quality of life too and that is why I think we will stick with sucklers.”