Introduction to Dairy Cattle Housing Solutions

In the following dropdown menu, you will get an introduction to our housing solutions that PAD&T Group has tested, proven, and delivered in Africa and other places.

We will be more than happy to join the process and help you design the dairy barn setup that is best for your production either if it is a full turnkey solution from design to implementation or other type of equipment’s for your production.

Dairy Cattle:

The dairy cow must be offered the best options to easily move around in the barn to eat, rest and be milked without any stress. Regardless of whether the barn system is a traditional milking parlor with a cow collecting area or as an automatic milking system, the cow traffic should be as free and logical for the animals as possible.

The floors must not be slippery, and the rest area must be attractive for the cows. There must be plenty of space at the feed area and for a fully optimized barn, all cows must have equal access to high quality feed. It is also important for the cows’ welfare that other resources are optimally placed such as resting, water and itching facilities.

During the dry period, around calving and just after – the cow has special needs to be met. An optimally organized calving section provides the cow with a deep bedded area to form conditions for the cow to calve, avoiding stress and minimizing the need for obstetric aid.

The optimally organized barn for dairy cows has also to be considered for an easy monitoring of animals and walking routines of staff – in case there is a need for the treatment of a sick cow.

We will join the process with you and help you design the best dairy setup for your production.

Principle of Housing Unit

Loose housing with cubicles is often used for dairy cows. Here the resting area consists of cubicles separated by dividers. The cubicle offers the cow a pleasant and safe resting area, where the cow finds peace and quiet. It is important that there is at least one cubicle for each cow, including providing a cubicle for low-ranking cows as well. The bedding in the cubicle is soft, bouncing and at the same time slip-safe, so the cow can lay down and get up without any trouble. The barn is designed to provide good and safe working routines when handling the cows.

The cows spend half of the day walking along the aisles between the cubicles, going back and forward for milking and to other resources of the barn. Therefore, the aisles must be easy to clean, just as the cubicles, and at the same time provide an attractive, slip-safe flooring for the cows. As for dairy cows in a deep bedding area, the bed layer normally consists of one big deep bedding mat. The purpose of the animal housing is to reduce the traffic on the majority of the deep bedding mat, so the resting cows are interrupted as little as possible by cows walking back and forward to the feed area.

Do you already have plans and layout? Or do you want PAD&T to design and draw the full layout?
Please contact us for more information

Unit Layout:

You must make some choices when selecting the layout and function for the housing unit – we have outlined the most important ones below with further description below.