“We spent a lot of time designing the house in order to ensure that it was totally fit for purpose,” said Keith. “This included all aspects of cubicle design, the layout of the feeding passages, the specific placement of the columns and the slatted floor. “For example, the surfaces of the feeding passages have been specifically raised to be one foot above the feet of the cows. This ensures less feed spoilage.”

“Previously, we had worked with Moore Concrete to design a precast footbath in our dry cow house. This entailed replacing a cubicle space with a footbath, which the cows stood in while drinking. And it worked tremendously well. So we decided to go ahead with the same principle when it came to designing the new shed. Again, the cows must stand in the footbath while drinking. The bath itself can be easily emptied, simply by pulling out the bung. The effluent falls into the slurry tank below. Filling the bath is very simple: we simply pull out the bung from the precast drinker above. As a result, the footbath is filled in a very short space of time.”

He concluded: “All of this saves valuable time on the farm. But it also gives us the added assurance that the cows are being foot bathed more regularly and more efficiently than would be the case if they were running through a standard bath on a daily basis.”