CATTLE

BARNS
PLANNING AND DESIGN OF DIFFERENT BARNS
Basic features to be considered for general purpose Barns are as follows:
• Convenience is one of the first requisite in barn planning.
• Sanitation is imperative to protect the health of animals and waters;
• Economical construction may be assured by the use of low cost and local
construction materials, standard products and adherence to a functional
structural design.
• Appearance is important not only for the often neglected aesthetic
considerations but in its more practical advantages if often serve to
increase the resale value.
• Window and door openings should be planned to break up large surface
areas and admit sufficient light.
• Paint for interior and exterior should be chosen for its quality and its
colour appeal.
TYPES OF BARNS BASED ON CONSTRUCTION
Based on construction
barns are of following two
types -
Single row- For small herd
Double row For quite large
herd
(a) Head-to-head type
(b) Tail to tail type.

Head-to-head type

Tail to tail type

TYPES OF BARNS BASED ON CONSTRUCTION
Recommended dimensions of standing place for cows and buffaloes are (1.24 to
1.40 m) x 1.24 m and 1.55 x 1.55 m respectively.
Feeding trough -Depth 91 cm
Breadth = 46 cmn
Recommended width = 61 cm
Elevation of edges = 46 cm and 23 cm
Gutter width - 61 cm & 15 cm depressed portion for flow.
Gutter gradient of one in 80 towards the outlet leading to a pit.
Pit 2.4m high, cemented wall with round corners and with a gap of 1.8 m in
between which is quite suitable.
Milking passage = 1.2 m
TYPES OF BARNS BASED ON CONSTRUCTION
Feed Alley 1.2m, for every 3.04m down slope towards gutter provided is 2.54
cm.
Wall 2.44m at sides, damp proof 4.88m at ridges.
Floor = Impervious, non slippery and free from holes and air space. For adult
milch animal 60-75, sft and 800 sft air space under tropical condition.
Windows = 1.83m from the ground.
Doors = 2.44m wide.
Tail to tail type barn for 50 cows and buffaloes recommended to have an area
of 9.15m x 76.20m
TYPES OF BARNS BASED ON CONSTRUCTION
TYPES OF BARNS BASED ON CONSTRUCTION
TYPES OF BARNS BASED ON CONSTRUCTION
Terminologies used for dairy barn are as follows
Barn An enclosed covered building for keeping and care of livestock and/or
storage of dry roughages and bedding including some but not necessarily all
feed and bedding storages and feeding facilities for livestock.
Shed A simple structure for shelter or livestock storage or feed, or both, and
open on one or more sides. It may be separated or attached to another
structure.
Lean-to: A wing or extension of building. It has a single pitched roof and usually
projects from a higher structure.
Stall Barn : A structure, sometimes referred dairy cattle and or young stock
where the adult animals are confined to one or more rows of stalls by means of
stanchion straps, halters or chains for part of the year and usually for milking.
Roughages and concentrates may be fed in mangers at individual stalls. All part
or no feed and bedding may be stored in the structure.
Terminologies used for dairy barn are as follows
Loose Housing: A management for dairy cattle where in the adult animals are
given access to a feeding area, a resting area and an adjoining open lot. At
milking time the lactating animals are passed through a milking room. Other
dairy animals may be in separate pens, lots or buildings.

Milk Area: An area which includes the milking room and milk room (or milk
houses) utilities (toilet, boiler room and heating plant, locker room) and ofice
may be adjacent to or include in this area.

Milking Rooms: Sometimes called a milking parlor it is a room where two cows
are milked but not housed. It is an essential part of loose housing but original
with a stall bam.
Terminologies used for dairy barn are as follows
Milking Room Stalls and Stall Arrangements

i. Elevation with relation to floor level of operator area (a) Elevated (b)
Floor level.
ii. Position of the stalls with relation to each other.
(a) Tandem, single or double in line, U shaped, L-shaped, square,
circular etc.
(b) Abreast.
iii. Method of Entrance Unit
(a) Side entering
(b) Walk through
(c) Back out.
Terminologies used for dairy barn are as follows
Cow Alley: The area within the milking room required for the entrance
and exit of cows to and from the milking room stalls.

Operator Area : The area within the milking room which is used by
personnel performing the routine milking operations.

Milking Room: A room with one or more sections for handling raw milk
wholly or partially enclosed by the structure in which cows are milked.

Milk House : Same as milk room except that it may or may not be
connected with any other structures.
Terminologies used for dairy barn are as follows
Pen Barn: A structure for sheltering and restricting dairy animals. It may
be divided in to pens where the individual or groups of cows are bedded
and fed.

Holding Area : A section of barn shed or open lot where cows are
confined while awaiting their turn to be milked.

Feeding Area: An area of barn of shed or area lot where cows are fed
roughages, water and sometimes concentrates. This area may or may not
include feed storage.
Resting Area : Sometimes referred to as bedded roofing area. A sheltered
area of lose housing where cows are bedded but not fed. The manure
pack is allowed to accommodate during part or all of the year.
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
• The dairy barn should be correctly located in the farmstead plan from the
stand point of the barn itself and from the stand point of proper
integration with overall arrangement plan for the entire farm.
• The barn must provide a suitable environment conducive to animal health
and production.
• Provision must be made for space for animals, feed storage, traffic within
and around the farm and the facilities for handling and storing milk.
• Equipment and spaces must be properly arranged for process efficiency to
ensure the economical use offered and labour.
• The building must meet sanitary requirements for the production of milk.
Animal Shed or Shelters Dairy Barn
The kind of shelter required for an animal depends upon the kind of
animal and the climate condition of the region.
• The rapid increase in temperature and extreme temperatures affects the
animals. So to maintain the in properly, a shed is to be provided with a
roof.
• The space available for each animal should be sufficient to allow free
movement so as to maximize the ability to adjust to the environments.
In the case of high velocity wind also, animals are affected and hence to
protect them from wind droughts, enclosures is of provided.
• The sheds for housing the clarity cows and poultry hers are dealt in
detail.
Animal Shed or Shelters Dairy Barn
Dairy Barns –
• When planning a new dairy form, the size and location of barn with
relation to the entire farm, the fields, roads, drainage channels,
prevailing winds and landscaping are of importance are of importance
and should be considered.
• The requirements of the dairy cows and calves should also be
considered before any construction work is undertaken. The location of
the fodder and feeder storage buildings should be included in the plan.
Animal Shed or Shelters Dairy Barn
Dairy Barns –
• Milk straining, weighing, cooling and cleaning of the milk utensils require
significant of labour and therefore the location of a well planned milk
house should be carefully chosen. Before a new dairy barn is planned
the future expansion of the business should also be considered. The size
of the herd is usually determined on the basis of the total quantity of
fodder the farm is capable of producing annually.
Generally, it is economical to produce fodder on the farm and to buy
concentrates from the market, and thus are can afford to have a large size
herd than if its farm itself had to provide all the feed stuffs.
Animal Shed or Shelters Dairy Barn
Dairy Barns –
• The dairy barn, when properly located should have a good approach
from the highway, as well as from the farm house. The milk house is
best located on a clean, well drained site near the barn, but separated
from it by a 6 m long paved passage. It should face the road and be
provided with doors fixed with wire mesh to keep off the flies. In
tropical countries like India, it is better to have enclosed becomes facing
in the east west direction. The topography of the barn site determines
the drainage pattern required. Drainage should be diverted around the
barn by proper grading of the surrounding land.
Animal Shed or Shelters Dairy Barn
Dairy Barns –
• Besides the natural rainwater, water used in grooming the cows, and
cleaning the barn and dairy utensils has to be disposed off. It is
desirable to have paved approaches to the dairy barn, since this
prevents stagnation of water and mud formation. Under these
conditions, it is not possible to transport the cow dung from the barn
daily, it is desirable to fence an area near the barn of storage of manure.
Types of Dairy Barn
There are three general types of barns.
i) Stanchion barn
ii) The loose housing barn with milking room and
iii) The open air barn
Types of Dairy Barn
• In the stanchion barn the cows are housed and milled in the same
building. It is also called the general purpose barn of the cow.
• Stanchion barn is one is which the cow is kept tied in separate stalls and
provided with feed. Each stall consists of a bedding place and feed place
so that the cow can be kept in the stall itself at all times.
• Stanchion is a frame work made up of pipe or angle iron with an oval
shaped adjustable ring kept one end hanging from the frame and the
other hinged to the floor.
• It should be wide enough to pin it on easily to the neck to the animal
and to lock it. It should also give facility for the animal to rest and move
its neck side ways to reach feed / and water.
• Instead of using oval shaped ring chains are also used to fasten the
animals to the stanchion. For this a strap is around the neck of each
animal.
Types of Dairy Barn
• The loose housing barn is one in which the cows are housed in a covered
or partially covered yard, but they are milked in batches in a special
milking house called the milking parlor. This system is also called the
milking house system.
• In Loose housing system of housing the milking, feeding and bedding
operations are arranged in separate places. An open exercising yard is
also provided in this system. the labour requirement is less and
efficiency of management is more since the milking is done in a small
enclosed area and he manure allowed to accumulate in the bedding
area to cleared once or twice is an year. The success of this method is
related to the allotment of enough space and shelter.
• the open air barn does not have any coves. The cows live in field and
they are fed and milked there. The system is also known as the leafing
barn system and is not common on a well-established dairy barn.
 Stall size:
The size of stall depend upon
the size and age of animals.
Narrow and cramped stall
should be avoided, as it restricts
the movement of animal
resulting in discomfort and even
injury to the animal which will
affect the milk yield.
As the size old cow varies with
different breeds, a general space
requirement of each type of the
basis of its weight is given in the
following table
Space Requirements of Dairy Animals and Layouts of Dairy
Farms
• All animals require shelter for protection and comfort. They can perform
better under favorable environmental conditions. Housing of animals
need initial capital to the extent the dairy farmers can afford.
• The animals are to be protected from high and low temperature, strong
sunlight, heavy rainfall, high humidity, frost, snowfall, strong winds,
ecto-parasite and endo-parasites.
• The comfortable temperature range for dairy breeds of cattle, buffaloes
and goats is 150C to 270C. Climatic stress occurs when the temperature
goes 50C below or above this range.
Space Requirements of Dairy Animals and Layouts of Dairy
Farms
• High humidity combined with high temperature causes more stress to
animals in tropics. Rainfall in cold climate also causes stress in temperate
zone. Strong winds further aggravate the conditions both in tropics and
temperate climate.
• Several techniques are available to provide relief from hot weather
conditions for lactating dairy cows.
• In tropical and sub-tropical climates, well-ventilated shed is a necessity
at points of high heat stress, such as feed barns, loafing areas, and in
holding areas. It is important to provide a sufficient flow of air through
the building in which the animals are kept to ensure optimum thermal
conditions for dairy animals.
Space Requirements of Dairy Animals and Layouts of Dairy Farms
The space requirements of dairy animals as per Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) are given in table

FLOOR SPACE) PER ANIMAL (M2) FEEDING (MANGER) WATER TROUGH

SR. NO TYPE OF ANIMAL SPACE PER ANIMAL SPACE/ ANIMAL MODE OF HOUSING
COVERED AREA OPEN AREA (CM) (CM)

Young calves (< 8 Individual or in

1 1 2 40- 50 Oct-15
weeks) groups of below 5

2 Older calves (> 8 wks) 2 4 40-50 Oct-15 Groups of below 15

3 Heifers 2 4.0-5.0 45-60 30-45 Groups of below 25

4 Adult cows 3.5 7 60-75 45-60 Groups of below 25

Groups of below 25-

5 Adult Buffaloes 4 8 60-75 60-75
30
6 Down calvers 12 20-25 60-75 60-75 Individual
7 Bulls 12 120 60-75 60-75 Individual
8 Bullocks 3.5 7 60-75 60-75 Pairs
Model Layouts of Dairy Farms of Various Sizes
• Model layouts for the construction of various farm buildings have been
prepared under loose system of housing.
• The loose system of housing dairy animals has been recommended for
most of the agro-climatic zones of the country with minor modifications
except in heavy rainfall regions and the high altitude regions where
winters are very harsh.
• The dairy animals under lose system of housing are grouped together
based on their age in case of growing animals and based on their
physiological condition when they are adults.
• The various categories of dairy animals may be formed such as milking
cows, dry and pregnant cows, down-calvers, bulls, heifers and the
calves. All these animals need to be housed in separate sheds and the
provision in the layout has to be made accordingly.
Model Layouts of Dairy Farms of Various Sizes
• Apart from the animal sheds the certain other ancillary
buildings/structures are also required to be constructed such as chaff
cutter shed, feed store, implements store, straw store, milking parlour,
milk room, silo pits and manure pits apart from the office, lawns.
• The large sized dairy farms may also need overhead water storage tank,
a small sized workshop and parking space.
• The farm building may be arranged in such a manner that they result in
higher animal productivity and labour efficiency with minimum
movement of people and the animals.
Model Layouts of Dairy Farms
of Various Sizes
Some model layouts of dairy farms of various sizes for the
setting up of commercial dairy farms.
• Layout of Dairy Farm for 20 Cow/Buffalo Unit as prepared
by Dr. M.L.Kamboj (NDRI, Karnal)
Model Layouts of Dairy Farms of Various Sizes