Contact:

Paul Richmond

07445 242361

01785 851624

Foursquare Farm

Buildings Ltd

9a Raleigh Hall

Eccleshall Staffs

ST21 6JL

office@

farmbuildings.info

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53,835

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esigning for livestock .




When housing livestock the design of the building becomes critical to the success of the enterprise rather than it simply being a rain cover. In addition the siting of the building with regard to other buildings, trees, prevailing winds etc becomes an important factor to ensure efficient ventilation.

The high humidity levels and potentially corrosive environment of livestock buildings means that we generally recommend fibre cement roofing for resisting condensation and rust. There are anti drip steel roofing materials available now but we would always suggest fibre cement as a first choice, steel only if you have to for livestock applications.

For side cladding we would suggest Yorkshire boarding as an economic and flexible solution although steel sheeting is fine as long as the design allows sufficient intake area for ventilation.

Having said all that we have a customer who has had several buildings to his own design from us which are 16' to eaves, with 2m high concrete panels, no other side cladding and steel roofs. This works well for the hardy breed of beef cattle he rears with the vast amounts of cross flow ventilation negating the need to worry about condensation. There are no fixed rules and every situation should be considered on its own merit

For smaller farm buildings 12' is the minimum height we would recommend, for larger spans or high stock densities we would suggest increasing the eaves height to get as much airspace as possible which promotes a healthy environment.

The key to success is getting the Ventilation right. Get it wrong and your stock will never do well and can get really sick. It is very expensive to retro fit and to run forced ventilation so it will pay to consider the design of the building carefully against the requirements of your operation.

We can make a steel framed agricultural building pretty much any size or shape you want, so the first thing to do is to think about your process and then wrap the building around it:

How many beasts?

What density?

How will they be managed for bedding, feeding and cleaning out?

What machinery will be used and which areas does it need to access?

Will the arrangements be fixed (eg. cubicles) or flexible?

Is slurry management an issue, do you need to cover yards?

If you draw out your plans on squared paper then the footprint of the building and necessary doorways will be simpler to decide.

Once the process requirements are established and the size of the farm building determined then the ventilation design can be addressed. If you havn't taken a look at our section on ventilation then off you go now, then come back here.

The amount of ventilation you need depends upon :

The nature of the enterprise Eg. Dairy, Calves, Pigs etc

Stocking density.

The size of the building.

Weather conditions (which will vary with season).

The location and orientation of the farm building to prevailing wind.

Other buildings, trees etc around the building.

If you draw out your plans on squared paper then the footprint of the building and necessary doorways will be simpler to decide.

Once the process requirements are established and the size of the farm building determined then the ventilation design can be addressed. If you havn't taken a look at our section on ventilation then off you go now, then come back here.

The amount of ventilation you need depends upon :

The nature of the enterprise Eg. Dairy, Calves, Pigs etc

Stocking density.

The size of the building.

Weather conditions (which will vary with season).

The location and orientation of the farm building to prevailing wind.

Other buildings, trees etc around the building.

If you did read the ventilation section then you will know all about ventilation via the chimney effect at the ridge, ventilation due to cross flow and ventilation due to thermal transfer in the stack effect.

We can now use this knowledge to come up with a ventilation strategy, there are no fixed rules and no formulas - it is a question of judgement to get it right, and too much ventilation can be just as bad as not enough.

The general approach is to provide an anchor full time ventilation via chimney effect at the ridge which is most efficient when the wind blows over the roof at right angles to the ridge. The amount of ventilation is set by the size of the exhaust area at the ridge which must be matched (preferably doubled) by inlet areas in the sides.

Additional "optional" ventilation to be used when required is provided by including sliding doorways which can be opened or closed to suit, these may also be access doorways doing double duty or purpose made opening panels in the sides to provide cross flow ventilation.

For smaller agricultural buildings (<40'-45') at lower stocking densities where the ridge is at right angles to the prevailing wind then ventilating ridge cappings and yorkshire boarding will generally provide all the ventilation necessary.

For higher stocking densities or when the ridge is not at right angles to the wind then you should consider an open ("slotted") ridge and/or large openable apertures. Sliding doors in the gable ends can be a flexible way of getting additional airflow through a building.

As the span increases you should be considering open (slotted)ridges as a matter of course, the width of the slot is approximately 2" (50mm) per 10'(3m) of span and you should arrange for at least the same area of inlet space in each side. There are some "protected open" systems which prevent rain penetrating the building but these do reduce the effective area for ventilation and need to be considered carefully, If it is a purpose built high density unit then a little rainwater ingress may not be important.

In bigger spans where the ridge is not at 90 degrees to prevailing wind or at high stocking densities then you may also benefit from providing large openable apertures in the sides of the building, above windproof panelling, to provide cross flow ventilation when required.

Other factors to consider when you know your layout are -

Bay Sizes: gates, concrete panels and feed barriers are often more easily and economically obtained in 15' rather than 20' bays

These are necessarily only guidelines as a starting point, please feel free to contact us for additional information and discussion. You might also want to take a look at our "Victory range" for a cost effective small livestock building or call us for a quote on a building custom made for you.

Finally, as we have already mentioned, the siting of livestock buildings is very important to the welfare of the stock and success of the venture. They should be kept clear of other buildings to ensure wind turbulence doesn't prevent effective ventilation and to maintain seperation for disease control purposes. They should be located at right angle to prevailing winds with no obstructions to the airflow in the shape of trees etc. In short they need to be just about everything your local authority planning department doesn't want them to be - so be prepared to stand your ground.