Cow stall size in tethered content

Any animal requires some personal space. Cows are no exception. In huge industrial complexes for the production of beef or milk, this place is a stall. The size of the stall for the cow, where she spends most of her time, significantly affects the amount of dairy and meat products produced.

Content Methods

The taming of cattle made people think about keeping animals in captivity. The term "content" is understood as the totality of a whole list of measures of zoohygienic, veterinary-sanitary, zootechnical, organizational nature. They are determined by the technology of an enterprise and are aimed at maximizing the production of high-quality livestock products.

The choice of the way of keeping is influenced by economic, economic and climatic conditions, and the characteristics of sex and age groups of animals are taken into account. There are only two main ones: loose and tethered. In turn, they are also divided into several varieties and are applied taking into account the breed direction of animals:

• for dairy and combined cattle breeds, stall and stall-pasture contents are used;
• for cows of meat direction - pasture, stall-pasture and stall systems.
  

In the Russian Federation, 97.5% of the total livestock is on tethered content. A more loose method is considered. Numerous studies prove that labor productivity on farms with a loose method is 2 times higher.

Stall

Creating comfortable living conditions for a cow is directly related to the amount of products received from it. The attached content presupposes a corresponding internal arrangement of the barn, and one of the most important places in it is the stall for the cow. The sizes directly depend on the breed of animals, their size.

Actually, a stall is a specially fenced individual place for one individual. Not only milk yield or average daily gain, but also the duration of the productive use of the animal depends on how comfortable it is for the life of a cow.

Cow Stall Features

Despite the simplicity of the design, the developers had to keep in mind not only the total size of the stall for the cow, taking into account its dimensions, but also how the animal rises and lays down. The scope for such maneuvers ensures that the individual is safe in the stall and reduces injuries.

To get up, the animal needs to stretch its head forward. Lack of space leads to discomfort and injury. The dimensions of the stall for a tethered cow include three areas:

• the distance from the knees to the tail is about 160-180 cm, space for the body;
• head size - about 50 cm when the animal is lying;
• additional space for maneuver is another 50 cm.

These sizes can vary, it all depends on the breed and gender and age groups. For example, for cows of deep pregnancy, they are definitely larger. Bulls with tethered content in fattening also require more space.

Length

The size of the stall for a cow (tethered content type) in length can be three options:

• Long increase the cost of manual labor for cleaning manure. The stall is very difficult to keep clean, and this, in turn, significantly affects the quality of milk. Unjustified length leads to irrational use of industrial space.
• Medium (up to 1.9-2 m long) are most often used for tethered livestock. They provide the necessary freedom for animals when standing up, do not injure limbs.
• Short (110-140 cm) are impractical in terms of animal safety. Hind limbs can slide off, resulting in dislocations, sprains, and hoof diseases. When equipping the back of the stall floor with a grill (60-70 cm) to remove feces, diseases of the udder and its mechanical damage are possible.
  

Width

Width is another indicator that determines the size of a stall for a cow. It is never less than one meter for adult animals. For repair young animals (under the age of 20 months), the permissible minimum width is 80 cm.

Of course, in each case during the construction of the barn, it is calculated based on the breed of animals. The direction of productivity and belonging to various sex and age groups are necessarily taken into account: dairy cows, animals of deep pregnancy, fattening young animals, bulls.

Stall equipment

When attached, animals are constantly in the stalls. They are equipped with feeders, automatic drinking bowls at the rate of: one drinker for two cows.

The attachment device fixes the animals without disturbing them to freely get up, lie down, get food and use a drinker. Leashes can be individual and group.

With this method of maintaining the stall between individual individuals may not be divided. The calculation of the area is made from the established norms per head, which helps to correctly design the number of places for a particular livestock. The fence, if any, is made of pipes. The design allows you to change the size of the stall depending on the size of the animal.

Floor

The norm of the floor area per head on commodity farms ranges from 1.7 to 2.3 m ² . According to these data, the size of the stall for the cow is calculated. Design features of the floor are that too much bias can injure the limbs of a cow. Inconvenient posture can provoke an abortion. Recommended bias - no more than 2 ⁰ .

The floor can be either solid or partially (40 cm) closed grill. To reduce injuries, it is closed with rubber or wooden plates. When tethered, floors are usually wooden. They hold heat well, not stiff, and when properly used, it is easy enough to keep them clean.

Boards must be prepared by treating with a 10% solution of creosote oil, then coating with hot resin twice. The upper part of the boards (on which the animals will stand) is carefully planed and covered with freshly slaked lime. The floors can withstand for ten days, after which they are ready for use.

Despite all the precautions, the wooden floor lasts no more than 2-3 years. The tree absorbs not only urine, but also flushing water, it is very difficult to disinfect, and in conditions of high humidity the barn quickly rots.

Standards

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Russian Federation developed and approved the size of the stall for a cow. Norms of NTP 1-99 are given in the table.

During the construction of each specific building for the maintenance of cattle and the assembly of stall equipment, it is necessary to take into account not only the direction of the economy (dairy, meat, combined), but also the breed of animals. The size of the stall for a cow according to the regulations developed by foreign experts is determined as follows:

• the width should be less than the length of the body, multiplied by a factor of 0.75, and not exceed twice the width of the individual in the shoulders;
• the length is 95% of the length of the body of the animal plus an additional 20 cm (they provide a safety distance and serve to protect the front legs from hitting the edge of the feeder).
  

At the same time, one cannot ignore the breed features of cattle. The table below shows the dimensions of the stall and walling depending on the size of the cow.

* Oblique body length.

Stall for a domestic cow

The size of the stall for a cow in a barn on a personal compound, as a rule, is calculated on the basis of hygiene requirements, in which, according to the standard, 1 head should have at least 6 m2 ^of floor surface area. The room itself for keeping one individual should not be less than 18 m ² , this is required by the hygiene and sanitary standards.

The internal layout may be different and depends on the placement of the stall. Average size requirements:

• length - 1.7 m;
• width - 1.1 m.

The stall is equipped with a feeding trough, the length of the stall width is 1.1 m, the width on the top is up to 80 cm, the bottom is up to 45 cm. The height of the outer side is 70 cm, the inside side is 30 cm, and a neckline is made in it in the middle.

The floor is made warm, impervious to water, with a slope of 2-3 cm and always above ground level. In the rear part, a manure chute is equipped with a width of 20 cm and a depth of 10 cm with a slight bias towards the slurry collector. To make it easier to remove manure, a small window equipped with a valve is cut through the outlet of the gutter in the wall.

Stall Requirements

The production of milk on an industrial basis does not lose its relevance. Improvement and modernization of equipment can increase production. Technological requirements for stalls with tethered content:

• reliable fixation of the animal during milking or feeding;
• restricting cow movement outside the stall;
• providing free exit and entry;
• the size of the stall for the cow should allow it to freely get up and lie down, the animal in a standing position should be placed on its area with all four limbs and comfortably be lying in it;
• unhindered access to water and feed;
• easy and quick fixation, release of an individual or group of animals at the same time;
• personnel safety during maintenance;
• minimization of manual labor.
  

According to studies, a cow lies in a box convenient for her up to 14 hours a day, and in an uncomfortable box - no more than 9. Each hour of lying increases milk yield by 1 liter, per day - up to 5. On a national scale, this is a tremendous figure and an opportunity to increase milk production without huge financial investments.