Content
The development of technologies for the production of milk and meat dictates the conditions for keeping cattle. The use of machine milking machines and halls specially adapted for this process forces livestock breeders to switch to loose cow housing.
Before the collapse of the USSR, even millionaire collective farms often did not have the equipment to automate the milk production process, and milking was done manually. With this method, it was convenient to keep the animals on a leash. But this method of production significantly increased the cost of the final product. And milk cows gave less milk. The inhabitants of the Union, who stood in line for sour cream, and received butter on ration cards, felt this well.
Pros and cons of loose cow housing
The tethered version is very convenient for manual milking, as the cows remember their stall and get into it themselves. Under the Soviet system, when certain cows were assigned to each milkmaid, this is also a way to save time by not looking for “their” cows in the stall.
It is easier to carry out veterinary manipulations with tied livestock. Each cow can be provided with an individual diet. However, in the USSR they did not think about such trifles. With the tethered housing, space was saved, and it was possible not to think about the peculiarities of the behavior of individual cows.
But even in the USSR, they understood the need for movement, cattle were kept on a leash only in the barn. They were driven into the pens to “breathe in the air” without being tied. Therefore, almost all the benefits of tethered content, except for vet inspection, disappeared.
With the development of automation, approaches to livestock management began to change. The advantages of the loose-fitting method outweighed its disadvantages and the advantages of the leash:
- maximum automation of a dairy farm;
- reduction of the required personnel;
- reducing the labor intensity of keeping livestock;
- improving cow health through an active lifestyle.
Herd animals have another peculiarity: they feel calmer being in the herd. The loose method allows keeping livestock as close to natural conditions as possible.
But loose-fitting content has its drawbacks:
- it is more difficult to monitor health, since a sick individual can not always be seen in the herd;
- it is impossible to select an individual ration for each cow.
The latter, in Russia, is still not popular, and this circumstance cannot be seriously attributed to the shortcomings. There is another serious disadvantage for the introduction of loose-hearted content in Russia: the lack of specialists who understand this method.
An attempt to independently introduce loose livestock keeping on existing farms leads to the situation in the photographs below.
Both in one and in the other photo, an attempt to independently organize the loose maintenance of the herd. Result: “we wanted the best, but it turned out as always”.
Loose cow technology
Loose content can be:
- boxed;
- combo box;
- on a deep litter.
The difference between the first two is the location of the feeders.
In all cases, the dairy herd also needs the construction or separate equipment of the milking parlor. Free content technology dairy cows is not as simple as it might seem at first glance.
Fattening gobies can simply be kept in the pen. In a warm region, a light shelter from rain, wind or sun will be enough for them. The dairy cattle house is equipped so that the cows immediately enter the dairy shop from the main house. Dairy cattle spend most of their time indoors. And loose-fitting dairy equipment isn't just about putting up 4 walls and bringing them under a roof. For the same reason, old barns cannot be converted to new principles, although farmers claim that even in this case, milk yield grows.
In the literature, one can find the opinion that cows in boxes do not need bedding. But if the owner requires a clean and healthy udder from his animal, then bedding is required.
Litter material
In the West, various materials are used for bedding cows:
- straw;
- sawdust;
- sand;
- paper;
- processed manure.
In Russia, only the first two types are most common.
Straw is almost ideal bedding material. It passes slurry well and is easy to process into fertilizers. But contaminated straw bedding becomes an ideal breeding ground for mastitis-causing bacteria. The straw "bed" is thoroughly cleaned once a month, and added every day.
Sawdust, like straw, absorbs slurry well, is easy to use and store. Negative: fresh sawdust may be too wet, which will also lead to the growth of pathogenic bacteria.
Sand, when used correctly, is very economical. Replacement is required every six months. It prevents the development of pathogenic bacteria. The sand gives the cow a good grip on the floor. Requires less storage space than straw. The disadvantages are high transportation costs. Also, it is not fully understood how sand interacts with slurry.
Paper is more suitable for free keeping chickens. Its use in animal husbandry is not recommended:
- coated poorly absorbs liquid, and the cows lie in dampness;
- gets dirty quickly;
- very high demand for highly absorbent newsprint cuts;
- cows tend to eat bedding.
Since old printed matter usually goes on the bedding, such paper contains a large amount of lead. The only advantage of paper is that it is often sold treated with antibacterial drugs.
Recycled manure is still used only in England and Scotland. The material is new and insufficiently studied. Not recommended for calving and calf bedding.
Equipment for loose cattle keeping
In the case of tethered housing, the cow stands with her head to the trough, and her groats above the ditch for collecting manure. If the equipment is in good working order, a conveyor belt passes in this groove, with the help of which the manure is removed. In an emergency, the stall can also be cleaned manually.
With loose housing, this will not work, since the livestock moves freely. This means that mixing of excrement and heavy contamination of the farm is inevitable. Accordingly, farms are built immediately with the expectation of loose maintenance. This applies primarily to the floor and communications under it. The rest can indeed be equipped in old barns. This is an old principle: building a house starts with laying a sewer.
Floor
The sewage system on the farm is a conveyor belt laid under the floor. The chute, like the conveyor belt, should be across the entire width of the free space.Since the floor in this case is made of iron bars, the cows push the excrement through the holes onto the conveyor belt. Further, either the manure travels along the conveyor into the pit, or rots under the floor for six months before harvesting.
The latter is undesirable, as it guarantees a stench and a large number of flies. And urine will quickly rust the iron of the bars.
Option two: cow boxes with bedding and bare concrete or rubber floors in the aisles. This floor is easy to clean with a mini-bulldozer and rinse with a hose. But drains must also be laid for water and urine.
Feeders and boxes
The equipment for loose combo box keeping of cows differs from the box one only in the location of the feeders. With box feeders, they are located on the opposite side of the aisle. With a combo box, they are combined with stalls for cows.
When boxing loose housing of cows, you need to make three passes: two between the feeders and stalls and one distributor. In a warm region, you can take out the feeders outside under a canopy, then there will be no need for a dispensing passage in the room.
With a combo box, the trough is located right next to the stall. That is, the cow eats where she lies down to rest. Behind her is a common space for the entire herd. In this case, there is only one "working" passage: the dispensing passage.
Cattle stall dimensions for loose housing
With a very large number of cows, the herd with loose housing is divided into sections. Each section contains 30-50 animals. For rest, cows are equipped with boxes measuring 2.0x1.1 m. In fact, these are the same stalls that I use for tethered keeping, but there are no attachments for chains in these boxes.
In case of box maintenance, the passage between the trough and the box should be 3 m wide. The “bath” for rest is made taking into account the fact that the litter can fall on the floor.
"Bath" is made either one for all, or a separate one for each box. In the second case, it will be very inconvenient to clean the dirty litter. The edges of the "bath" should be 15-20 cm higher than the passages. Littering material is poured into the resulting container.
On Russian farms, in order to save money, they often practice loose keeping of cows without bedding. But with such a content, there is a high probability of mastitis due to cold and injury when the cow lies down on the bare floor.
With a large number of cattle, groups in sections are formed taking into account age and physiological state. Cows are divided into:
- freshmen;
- milking;
- dry.
It is also undesirable to put very young and old individuals together. The young are looking for their place in the hierarchy of the herd, and the old are often unable to fight back.
Features of loose housing of cows on deep bedding
It is advisable to keep cows on deep bedding in regions with a lot of cheap straw. But with this content, there are certain nuances. The principle of deep bedding for livestock has passed into animal husbandry from horse breeding. This is the old English method of keeping horses.
The nuance is that deep bedding is not just a lot of straw piled up indoors. When kept on a deep bedding, a mattress is made of straw using a special technology. There are no specialists in Russia who are able to properly lay the straw.
There is another point. A cow is a very wet animal. She excretes more urine than a horse. Cattle manure is also semi-liquid. This makes it very difficult to keep cattle on a straw mattress. If, when caring for a horse, it is enough to pick up apples and rub the bedding on top with fresh straw, then when keeping the cow, you will have to remove the entire top layer. If livestock is loosely housed, it mixes the straw and spreads the manure over the litter.
The common recommendations to remove the straw mattress 1-2 times a year also "came" from horse breeding.When keeping cows, this operation will have to be carried out at least 1 time in 3 months. Or more often.
The straw mattress has a significant plus: thanks to the bacteria remaining on the straw, under the influence of decomposing urine, the straw begins to rot. After six months or a year, a ready-made fertilizer is obtained from it. But a large number of bacteria is also a minus: when the straw is contaminated, they provoke the development of mastitis in cows.
With a consistently clean bedding, mastitis hardly occurs. But if cows are forced to lie down on a dirty "bed", then more than 50% get sick with infectious mastitis.
Sawdust bed
Private owners keep cows on sawdust using special bacteria. The technology requires that the sawdust layer be 40 cm. This is quite consistent with the content on deep litter. But owner reviews are often negative. They argue that bacteria do work in winter and keep litter dry and warm. But in the spring, the cattle may well "swim".
The advertisement claims that the litter lasts 3 years, and during this time it turns into a finished fertilizer. The reasons why the "bed" liquefies in the first spring are unknown. The only answer from the managers is that the technology is broken.
Feeding areas for loose housing on deep litter
With a common containment area, the aft part is made separately on a walking area or in a special section of the building. In this place, feeders are equipped for juicy feed. Hay and straw are fed through grates. You cannot just put the roll in the feeding area, as in the photo below. The animals will spread the hay evenly on the floor and will not eat.
Special fences are made for the rolls, which will not allow the cows to carry feed throughout the compartment. It is advisable to arrange a stern either indoors or under a canopy. Feeding hay and straw outdoors in bad weather will lead to unnecessary losses. Concentrates are dispensed in the milking section directly during milking.
Milking compartment
Milking areas are equipped in the same way for all types of loose housing. The structure of the site depends on the type of milking installation. But the basic requirement is that the cows enter the site directly from the living section. On small farms, small milking machines are installed directly in the dairy cows' sections. In this case, there is no need to equip a separate room.
Cons of keeping on deep litter
In horse breeding, this method has some solid advantages: the labor intensity of care is reduced and after six months the owner receives the finished fertilizer. In animal husbandry, everything is more complicated. Since the cow has a semi-liquid manure, and she mixes it with straw, the litter becomes very dirty very quickly. Observations have shown that cows are more likely to stand on a dirty bed than to lie down. In such cases, they prefer to lie down on a cleaner, but concrete floor. In addition, the cattle is not able to maintain a standing position for a long time. As a result, the cold floor causes colds.
Daily routine at a loose cattle farm
Animals easily get used to any daily routine and here you need to adapt to the staff, and not to the cows. Cattle roughage should be freely available at all times. Juicy is given during the day. It is better to dispense concentrates during milking in order to develop positive reflexes in the animal. However, the distribution time of feed on each farm may vary. Morning milking usually takes place from 6 am to 8 am. Its time depends entirely on the schedule that the owner of the farm wants to see.
When milking twice a day, the next time the cows are put into the installation at 18-20 hours. With three times a day, the intervals between milkings should be 8 hours.
Preparing for the move to loose cow housing
With the transition to loose cow housing, it will be cheaper to demolish old buildings and put new ones in their place.But this is on condition that everything will be done according to the technology, and not "as always." During the reconstruction, only the walls and roof will remain of the farm building.
Building
The old floor is completely removed and wide conveyor belts are laid under it. The tapes are laid at a depth of about 30 cm below the floor level. It is not worth making a manure storage directly under the floor. Rotting excrement releases too many harmful substances, which will affect the health of both animals and personnel. On top of the tapes, gratings are made.
Further, on the site of the future boxes, "baths" for the beds will be equipped. Boxes are not just dividing pipes. These pipes are made folding, so that when cleaning in the "bath" a mini-bulldozer can drive in and rake the dirty litter. On modern farms, not only boxes are automated, but also milking machines. The second stage is training or recruiting new personnel.
Staff
In loose housing, automation is used to reduce the number of staff. To work on such a farm, the staff must be familiar with the computer. If the farm is large, then all operations are fully automated, and you won't be able to work in the old fashioned way. From an organizational point of view, this is the most difficult part of the job, as it is likely that the farm staff will have to be completely changed.
Sections
When filling the barn, the age of the animals and the climatic conditions are taken into account. The entire barn can be divided into sections for animals of different ages. The calculation of the required space is made based on the size and age:
- calf up to 12 months - 2.5 m²;
- young cow 1-2 years old - from 3 m²;
- an adult animal - from 5 m².
If the herd will spend most of the time indoors, then the area for one adult is increased to 7 m2. More space can be allocated, but it must be borne in mind that livestock lives in the room if the barn is in a cold region. Heating on farms is usually not done, as animals are able to heat the premises with their own heat. If the barn is too large and the number of livestock is too small, it will be very cold in winter.
Selection of livestock
It is better to start the transition to loose housing with young animals or cows accustomed to the herd. Animals have their own hierarchy. With the joint keeping of young animals, it is established in games and in the future "revision" of its place in the herd takes place with fewer or no injuries. When collecting adult animals into a herd, serious battles are possible, up to the piercing of the peritoneum with horns.
In order to avoid the latter situation, it is better to initially purchase hornless livestock or to dehorten the calves in the first days of life. If there is nothing to choose from and horned cows, about 3 cm of horns will have to be sawed off before starting the animals into the herd.
Rearrangements in an already established group are perceived by cows as painful and reduce milk yield. Without special need, it is better not to launch a new individual into an already established group.
Such conditions were often practiced on collective farms: during the day, livestock on a paddock in the open, at night in a farm building on a leash. The cow herd hierarchy has been successfully established during daytime in paddocks. Given the difficulties in rebuilding old buildings to new standards, such a combined method of maintenance may be relevant now.
It should also be borne in mind that in the West, the automation of farms began not because of progressiveness and technical development, but because of the high cost of manual labor. Better to spend money on automated systems and put one person to service 2,000 cows than pay 100 employees. In Russia, manual labor is cheaper. Before automating a farm, you need to figure out what will be more profitable.
Conclusion
Loose cow keeping is a promising trend in animal husbandry. But it is most effective to build a farm immediately with the expectation of this type of maintenance.Rebuilding is very difficult, almost impossible.
