modern beef farming

[1/32collector]

hi lads,

i have  just put up a 8 by 8 foot bench in the shed for a display for home and shows , i plan on doing a modern beef and tillage farm

the problem i have is ,i have not worked on a farm in 20 yrs, so i don't know what is the best way to do it.

i need to know is :

what type of sheds people are using in modern beef farming? ie: slats or straw bed

what is the best system to use? ie: feeding barriers or what

these are probably not the right questions to ask but i can not start as i need info to set out the farm yard, and at the moment i am lost

any help would be great

thank you jason

[robl12]

Depends on the area that you live in. Here in aberdeenshire very common to use any buildings that they have for cattle. Buildings vary from traditional stone steading to new steel portal buildings with centre feed passages or one side with feed barriers. Large farm beside me has 4 cattle shed, 1 silage pit, 1 machinery shed, 2 straw barns, grain store. He also has another farm with the same sort of set up.

Most of the smaller farms have 2 or 3 cattle sheds.

[Jdeere6910]

On our farm in Yorkshire we have a 45ft by 60ft steel shed for calves and a 100ft by 30ft shed for heifers. If that helps???

[jakescot]

............................depends how modern you want to be, the very modern trend  seems to be for beef cattle to be outside for the winter largely now..all aimed at reducing costs............but ;D

as has been said, round our way too its a case of anything goes........empty shed , fill it with cattle. we had a small one with feed barrier up one side another small one has a under cover feed passage and a calf creep running up either side  in this one the cows run out to a rough field rather than lie in.

boys up the road have a cubicle set up and another loose houses them  with starw bedding  whilst a friend of mine keeps his on sloping beds ( orkney floors) with very minimal bedding. I was also in a shed  with 500 dry cows standing on slats ..that was only up one side of it too, that wouldn`t be my idea of fun , in pens of 25 or so. My landlord even  still has  cow kennels from the 60`s .

as I say, take your pick    whatever you choose will be fine

[archbarch]

the main criteria is adequate ventilation. When i visited Holland 20 years ago all cattle i saw were kept on slats, what surprised me was how clean the cattle were.

I havent worked with cattle 12 years now but on farm i worked we had 1500 head of beef cattle kept in anything that had roof, not ideal for the animals or for the stockman you need a building that fits the system but is easy to work.

have a look at some of the shed manufacturers web sites for ideas, look forward to seeing what make.

[masseyjack590]

denby's uncle has about 600 beast kept in pens made from concrete barriers with a trough which he puts the mix from his mixer wagon into with a teleporter

i'm sure denby will explain more 

we have our cows plus followers housed in old buildings with an area with no roof where there is a ring feeder or 2 in there for silage and troughs for meal 

[robl12]

............................depends how modern you want to be, the very modern trend  seems to be for beef cattle to be outside for the winter largely now..all aimed at reducing costs............but ;D

as has been said, round our way too its a case of anything goes........empty shed , fill it with cattle. we had a small one with feed barrier up one side another small one has a under cover feed passage and a calf creep running up either side  in this one the cows run out to a rough field rather than lie in.

boys up the road have a cubicle set up and another loose houses them  with starw bedding  whilst a friend of mine keeps his on sloping beds ( orkney floors) with very minimal bedding. I was also in a shed  with 500 dry cows standing on slats ..that was only up one side of it too, that wouldn`t be my idea of fun , in pens of 25 or so. My landlord even  still has  cow kennels from the 60`s .

as I say, take your pick    whatever you choose will be fine

Several up here have suckler cows and calves over stubble for the winter. Troughed barley in the field along with neeps and silage from feeder trailers, yearlings and finishers are kept in doors and fed silage, barley dark grains and straw in silage bunkers and along a feed pass.

[Gav836]

We run a 95 cow suckler herd with followers. The cows calve from late January, calves were weaned at the end of October, at present the calves are inside in open fronted sheds with outdoor yard space being fed bale silage, straw, meal and potatoes. The cows are outside on stubble turnips at present of which we have 35 acres of, as they come nearer to calving they will all come into the big enclosed shed we have and the calves will go out on the turnips if we have any left or onto the 45 acres of forage rape we also have if not leaving the shed they were in free to house the new mothers. Come March we start to either look to sell the yearlings or to fatten them ourselves so they will be out of the way, the cows and calves then go out onto grass and onto the 15 acres of Grazing Rye that we also grow for them. Last year we grew Kale as well but it beggered up the rotation, still being in the field when we needed to plant the spuds on it