Intensive dairy farm barns and free stall concept based on animal comfort and welfare to have sustainable and profitable farming with happy and healthy cows. Free stall concept Stalls can be arranged with cows facing one another (head-to-head) or the other way around (tail-to-tail). With the tail-to-tail arrangement, a central cow alley, 2.4 m wide…
Heat Stress Abatement Techniques for Dairy Cattle Dairy cows generate a lot of heat. A cow milking (120 lbs) 54 kg of milk per day generates about 6,300 BTU (British Thermal Units) per hour – twice as much heat as a cow producing only (40 lbs) 18 kg of milk per day (3,300 BTU/h), and…
Cattle and other ruminants convert forage, including low-quality crop residues, into valuable products. The relative importance of these products will vary from livestock system to country, in Africa meat is the main product. Among resource-poor smallholders and most pastoralists, manure, milk and draught power are the important products from cattle. Among the Maasai of East…
TIE-STALL BARNS Tie-stall barns have many advantages when it comes to cow comfort. This type of herd management makes possible a pro-active, individualized approach to each animal and its welfare. It results in faster response time to an animal’s needs and less reliance on medical treatments such as antibiotics. In tie stall barns cows are…
Dairy cow RATIONS it is possible to complicate a ration with the inclusion of too many commodities. Don’t forget the basics. Dairy cows require nutrients and do not feed ingredients. For example: Dairy cattle are designed to eat forage Therefore, forage should be considered the base of all dairy rations (Figures 1 and 2). In…
