Two identical A-framed sheds (95 metres x 29 metres) are built in a green field site; both will house 36 bulls each for a total of 72.

Steelwork was supplied and erected by Goggin & Buckley. This is a specialist building but some of the ideas incorporated here will interest readers.

Bulls need to be maintained indoors for their entire lives due to disease risks. The biggest risk is the respiratory virus IBR.

The building is therefore designed to mimic the outdoor environment as much as possible, providing optimum conditions for bull comfort and welfare so as to ensure bulls are maintained to maximise survival and performance.

Bulls, as they age, need a different approach to handling than cattle in general, therefore safety and ease of working for bulls and staff was addressed.

Biosecurity

Two identical sheds were built 300 metres apart in a land block that is surrounded with tillage. At the entrance to the stud is a wheel wash prior to gaining access to the car park.

Each shed has its own independent road access for services. It is a requirement that staff employed at the stud do not have contact with any other cattle. The staff shower and change prior to entering each shed and the only access to the shed is through the showers.

Each shed is surrounded with a chain link diamond mesh fencing 1.6 metres high with three rows of thorny wire on top. The fence is buried to a depth of 0.6 metres into the ground turned outwards to prevent wildlife entry, especially badgers.

The open sides of each shed have permanent bird-proof netting installed. Internal and external cameras are fitted allowing for remote access.

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Ventilation

The shed is a propped portal frame over the bull pens and a portal frame over the collection area, total area of each building is 2,777m2.

The roof is fibre cement spaced to 20mm. Fibre cement was chosen due to its insulation, no condensation and noise attenuation properties. The height at the eaves is 14’ (4.6m), with a ridge height of 28’ and a 15° pitch.

The closed end of the shed faces the south west prevailing wind. Both sides of the shed are open with Vervaeke (Belgian company) computer-controlled curtains.

There is a wind and rain sensor on the roof and a temperature sensor in the shed. Control can be either manual or computerised. Both sides are operated independently depending on the wind direction. The shed has an excellent bright and fresh feel to it.

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Bull pens

The bull pens are built to allow maximum bull comfort for each bull and to ensure they will remain productive for as long as they are required. Future proposed legislation on health and welfare was also considered.

Each pen is 14 feet x 28 feet with a deep bedded area in the back of each pen. The front of each pen consists of a water trough, gate for bull exit and entry, locking head gate and a slip-through safety entrance.

All bull penning was supplied by O’Donovan Engineering. It is heavy duty manufactured to a high standard and hot-dipped galvanised after manufacture.

All gates have vertical bars four inches apart with no horizontal bars to ensure that if a bull tries to climb a gate it will not get hurt.

All gates are six feet high and are height adjustable in the bedded area. The bulls can be penned either to the front or back of their pen to allow for cleaning.

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Collection area

A collection area in the front of the building measuring 60’ x 60’ is used for the teasing and semen collection. The floor is covered with EasyFix matting to give the bulls a grip when mounting to avoid any slipping.

Water

Water supply for the sheds is from a sunken well and there is also a connection to the mains supply if required.

A La Buvette speed-flow frost-free circulation system is installed with their F10 cast iron drinkers and galvanised protection system.

Two 230v pumps are installed that continually circulate the water.

The continuous circulation of the water prevents freezing.

These bowls have an adjustable low/high pressure water system and a drain off cork for cleaning.

The bowls are recessed out of the pen into the feed area; this prevents the bull or a tractor damaging the bowl and also prevents the bull soiling them.

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Each bowl is fitted with a horseshoe-shaped non-spill device to prevent the bull splashing water onto the ground out of boredom

Safety

There is a safety entrance and exit gap 13’’ wide in front of each pen that a person can fit through and a bull cannot. Each pen is fitted with a locking head gate to hold the bull prior to being haltered.

There are refuge panels in each pen and five more down each side of the shed.

Escape rungs are fitted to each inside gate to permit a person to climb onto the middle nine feet-high wall with a wire rope fitted for grip.

In the collection area, safety entrance and exit areas 13 inches wide are provided every two metres and a protected pathway is surrounding the entire collection area

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Social Environment

The shed is designed with 18 bull pens on each side of a nine feet mass concrete wall; the two sides are open. Bulls, like all other animals, have a social hierarchy. To cater for this, each bull has a nine feet-high wall to his back and is looking out at the open countryside with one bull at each side of him. This is a superior design than one line of pens looking across a passage at another line of pens.