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Dayton, IA | I put all the cleanout info in the first post with the pics. You can see in the first pic where the tractor is parked, the concrete wall surrounds a 40 x 60 pad where all the manure is pushed out and piled until we spread. Half the barn gets pushed out each side. We clean out as best we can just before we plant the last field and spread as soon as we get something combined in the fall and are able to store through the summer, the piles get pretty big. The posts are wood all the way into the ground. They are just wrapped with a thin plastic as a barrier between the concrete and the post at the bottom. The plastic has pretty much worn off where the cattle rub, and we have screwed on heavy rubber belting over the posts at bunk level. I don't think I would want a bunch of gates inside to make a scrape alley, I seem to be good at "nudging" things with the loader when cleaning and more stuff in the way would just make the barn harder to drive around in and more things to hit and damage. the bunks sit on a pad 4 in higher than the floor so as long as the loader is down you have a lip to scrape against and not hit the bunks and the back wall is concrete, so it is pretty foolproof for someone to clean out. I can move cattle out, clean it, put them back in, and have it rebeded in about 2 hrs. by the time you walk through and close off a bunch of gates, scrape it, then open all the gates again then bed it, you really haven't saved much time. Especially if you try to scrape a couple times a week, it probably takes more time then 2 hrs every 2 to 4 weeks. | |
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Cattle Barn
