STEADING PLANS

Cow Shed. 75’ x 30’ mass concrete walls corrugated cement roof

 This building has a raised section either side with a central passage, all of which are approximately 9’ wide. A lot of the original cubicles have been removed as they were too narrow. On the one side, at the lower end,  every other one was removed to give a decent lying up space. Between these raised sections and the outer walls there is a slightly lower area about 3’wide, which, on the side where there are still cubicles, fulfils two purposes. As there is a wooden board running at about 3’6” high along the wall side of the cubicles this acts as a race into the crush which we keep in the shed and it also provides an area where calves can lie up in peace out of the way of the cattle. At the bottom of the shed on the opposite side there are two calving pens which can also double as collecting pens for pushing the animals up the race.

 Cattle feed/ exercise area 70’ x 30’

 This is split  in two, roughly as two thirds accessible from the cow shed and one third from the old byre. Both areas are big enough to get ring feeders in. There is a feed gate across the top of the narrow side. The narrow side also doubles as a race for loading stock into a lorry. It is also wide enough to drive a standard trailer down should that be necessary.

 Old byre 70’ x 15’ stone walls slate roof

 This was the old dwelling. It does have a steeply sloping floor so we have tended to just use it for young stock. This building is split in three. The top or yard end has been lined out to give a waterproof workshop and tool store. Next comes the feed store and then the bottom end is for the animals, complete with a small feeder. This area can be split into two pens.

Barns 24’ x 24’ & 24’ x 20’ mass concrete walls corrugated cement roof

 Little to be said about these- just big open spaces. We have used the back barn for bale storage- it houses 250 small bales easily. It also doubles as a display are for the woollens during the summer with a curtained area to keep off the dust and the birds. The front barn tends to double as a workshop and garage. The left hand side does have a narrow concrete block wall so that it is divided into two sections and does have shelving.

Byre 47’ x 22’ mass concrete walls corrugated cement roof

The top two thirds is divided  into three loose pens taking up about two thirds of the width of the building with feed gates onto the final third which produces a feed area easy to service via a wheelbarrow. The bottom third has two pens running length ways which could easily be used as one big pen. There are wooden sliding doors at the bottom.

Sloping floor byre 47’ x 15’ stone walls corrugated cement roof

This byre is divided into three large pens with a central area. The byre is lined out with rubber mats. The pens are suitable for horses as well as cattle and sheep. There is a shuttered window to the outside in the top stable and an exterior door in the central area.

 The external doors on the buildings are primarily sliding with three exceptions. All the buildings with the exception of the cowshed have the benefit of inter-connecting doors. All buildings have running water with the troughs in all three cattle buildings being set to fill automatically. All the buildings have electric light, many of them high efficiency, and access to power points. The buildings have been largely rewired during the last five years and two of them have emergency lighting in case of power failure.

 Shed 13’4” x 8’4” concrete block walls wood & corrugated bitumen roof

 This sits at the top end of the old byre and is of concrete block construction. It houses a diesel tank and oils. Above this sits a loft, providing useful storage space.

 External Features

 All weather arena for horses

 This is 20 metres by 20 metres and surfaced with a mix of sand and rubber. There are banks around two sides 2 metres high to keep the weather off and it is protected on a third side by the house. It is very well drained and does have electric light and a power point. There is also a gate allowing direct access into the front field and a gate between the yard and the arena.

Midden 66’ x 13’ mass concrete

This was installed in 2002 and is connected to an effluent tank installed later that year. It easily holds a year’s production of muck from our stock.

Storage area

 Alongside the midden is a concrete based storage area which we use for stacking haylage bales. It takes at least 50 round bales when stacked two high.

 There is plenty of space in the yard for vehicles to turn or be parked up.

 To the east of the steading again there is a small storage area (75’ x 30’) plus a slurry lagoon (100’ x 20’) which we just use as a storage area. The slurry lagoon would require updating if it was to be used again as a slurry lagoon.. Below the lagoon is an area planted with native trees. There is also space around this which is now fenced off and could be used for pigs or vegetables or both.