Co Clare is one of the forgotten corners when it comes to dairying, but from my previous experience working in the county, there lies some of the finest dairy farms and diligent farmers working them.

Gerry, Yvonne and Gearoid Lillis, who farm in Brisla, Cooraclare, are one of these outfits, and with a tidy 120-cow holding, the trio never seem to rest on their laurels with a spic and span yard.

However, like many farms along the west coast, the winter can be long, so housing is always a priority.

With cubicle spaces tight to accommodate both the mature cows and heifers, the decision was made by the family to erect a new seven-bay cubicle shed complete with slurry storage, to ease the pressure on housing.

Declan Fennell, who has featured here before, and his crew were tasked with the build, with the shed having been completed in the last two weeks.

The shed and slurry storage

The new cubicle house lies parallel to an older shed, which is used for both dry cows and youngstock, with the farm carrying through many of its calves.

The feed face, which faces north and is sheltered by a 2.5m wide canopy as well as the older shed, extends across all seven bays, giving room for 56 cows or more to eat at one time.

Along the eed face in the cow area lies 600mm of toe space, with a 16ft 6in slat then meeting it. The tank runs the full length of the shed, with external agitation points at either end.

The tank itself is L-shaped, with four 12ft 6in slats coming off the longer slats at one end to service the back cow passage, which is scraped down onto these slats.

Condon plain barriers were used along the front, with space for 56 cows to eat at one time.

Declan manufactures the slats himself, with CE marking allowing his slats to be used in TAMS-spec buildings.

At 2.4m deep, the tank has a capacity of 417m³ when a 200mm freeboard is accounted for. In gallons terms, this equates to 91,727 gallons, which is sufficient capacity for 70 cows over an 18-week winter. While there are 76 cubicles in the shed, there is additional storage on the farm should it be required.

Frame and cladding

The frame was also manufactured by Declan in-house, with all the steel being hot-dipped galvanised for longevity. A central line of girders runs in between the row of head-to-head cubicles for support, while X-bracing has been applied in every second bay in the roof.

The new cow walkway which will connect the shed to the milking parlour which can be seen on the far right.

Cement fibre sheeting, supplied by Euronit, was installed in the roof, with a single line of reinforced skylights running over the back cow passage area.

All timber in the roof is 6in x 3in imported treated timber, with 0.6mm grant spec steel cladding used on the gables.

There is no cladding on the back wall of the shed, where a ventilation gap has been left, which is serviced by a roof overhang to prevent wind-driven rain from entering.

An air outlet is located between the ridge and the canopy, and even with the shed at full capacity on the day of visiting, there was no stale air or draughts in the shed.

Cubicles and matting

The row of cubicles closest to the feed barrier sits on the slats which meant that pre-cast cubicle beds had to be used.

These were sourced from McGrath Concrete, as was all the concrete for the project. The row of cubicles opposite this (in the head-to-head arrangement) were cast in situ.

Above: the cubicles in the head-to-head row measure 2.1m in length and are fitted with a Condon 30mm thick mat.

There is 3.7m spacing between the end of the cubicle and the feed barrier, with the row of head-to-head cubicles each 2.1m in length.

At the rear wall lies a bank of 28 cubicles, each measuring 2.4m in length, with a 2.7m wide cow passage separating this and the head-to-head cubicles.

A Dairypower hydraulic scraper, supplied by Michael Ryan, keeps this area clean, with the manure being pushed down to the tail of the L-shaped tank mentioned earlier.

The stainless steel tip over water trough was supplied by Condon Engineering.

The cubicle frames were sourced from Condon Engineering, as were the cubicle ends, barriers and stainless-steel tip-over water trough. Condon also supplied the longline mat for each of the cubicles, which is 30mm in thickness for optimum cow comfort.

Works are ongoing on the farm still, with Declan and his crew currently completing work to connect the new shed to the existing yard and parlour.

A large area of new concrete has been laid in recent days, finished with ample grip for cows walking across it, with more gates allowing the cows to be easily funnelled to and from the parlour.

The breakdown of the price can be seen in Table 1, and does not include the concrete and labour costs for the yard currently being completed.

Declan Fennell was the main contractor involved, completing all site, concrete and erection work, while also supplying the shed frame and slats.

Euronit supplied the cladding, with McGrath Concrete supplying the precast cubicle beds and all the concrete for walls, cubicles and floors.

Price

Condon Engineering supplied the cubicle beds, mats, cubicles and barriers. At €2,243+ VAT per cubicle space including slurry accommodation, it is remarkably good value in this day and age for what is a well-spec’d unit.

However, even though this is excellent value, the reference cost of this build still falls below actual costs, with the reference cost being circa €147,830 VAT, some €16,470 lower than the actual cost.

In short

  • New 76-cow cubicle shed was created to allow for additional cubicle spaces and slurry storage.
  • Slurry tank measures the full length of the shed and has capacity for 70 cows winter storage across 18 weeks.
  • Cement fibre sheeting and galvanised RSJs used for longevity.
  • Total cost of €2,243 per cow is excellent value but actual costs are still over 10% higher.