Advice on siting a new dairy building in the farmyard

Location, logistics and taking a long-term view about potential future expansion will ensure that any new building added to the yard will work for cows, people and the farm routine.

A walk through a typical British dairy farm is like a history lesson in building styles, as each generation leaves their stamp.

Whether is it increasing herd size or changing management, the result is often a series of sheds that creates problems for large machinery access, cow flow, or moving muck and feed.

See also: Little wins improve milk and protein yield on Cornish farm

Groups of buildings may be preferred by planning officers, but it is better to position a new shed separate from existing constructions, says building design consultant Tim McKendrick of The Dairy Group.

Given a lifespan of 20-50 years, he points out that it is worth taking time and effort to put a new build in the right place to start with.

“Separate new from old with some space, as most mistakes are made through evolution by the farming generations, and buildings end up clustered together.”

“This doesn’t work for larger herds or allow for future expansion,” he says.

Specialist advice

The priority is to maximise a building’s potential today, then future-proof it.

This requires a bit of “blue-skies thinking” about the long term and what the farm’s next generation wants and is why Tim says it is essential to first fully appraise the whole farmyard layout.

This will give a real understanding of how it works – or not.

He agrees it is hard for a farmer born and bred on the farm to step back and visualise anything different, so suggests visiting other farms.

© Tim Scrivener

“See what other people have done well and also look at their mistakes.

“There is plenty of online information too but, ultimately, specialist advice can steer you in the right direction, even if it just starts the ball rolling,” he says.

For ideas of good shed layouts, Tim recommends the old DairyCo housing handbook and The Dairyland Initiative (see “For more building ideas”).

Flying a drone over the current farmyard can also be useful.

“But you can get a real feel simply by walking round the farm. Start with the best place for the building and work back from there through all the reasons why it won’t work,” he says.

Issues can range from the cost of significant groundworks to level the site, to the building blocking the view from the farmhouse.

Even on a dairy farm, modern living demands being away from farmyard smells, flies and parlour noise.

Costs and compromises

Logistics of moving livestock and feed can be tricky, and this is where Tim says compromises usually have to be made, otherwise pursuing the “perfect build” simply raises cost.

However, in simple terms, heifers and dry cows can be further away from the parlour hub, whereas young calves are better housed closer to calving areas and colostrum harvesting.

“Prioritise cows and people first, then look at access for modern feed delivery and milk collection vehicles once you have decided where the building is going.

“Be open-minded about options, for instance, if a new access road has to be created through a field.”

Single-span sheds look “neat on paper”, but cow flow is often poor and “even with fans you can’t well ventilate multi-span sheds”.

“Try to separate milking facilities from the housing so it has separate ventilation,” he adds.