HOUSING OF ANIMALS

Pre-Requisite of Housing:
A good housing system in terms of comfort to animal is pre requisite for efficient
production of any entrepreneur related to the animals i.e. dairy, beef & sheep-goat
farming. Before constructing any type of housing arrangements for any type of livestock,
following general principles must be kept in mind.
1) Topography & drainage: building should be at higher elevation than the surrounding
ground to offer a good slope for rainfall and drainage for the wastes to avoid stagnation.
A leveled area requires less site preparation and thus lesser cost of building. Lowlands,
depressions and proximity to places of bad odor should be avoided.
2) Soil type: Fertile soil should be spared for cultivation. Foundation soil should not be
dehydrated and desiccated. Such a soil is susceptible to considerable swelling during
rainy season and exhibits numerous cracks and fissure.
3) Exposure to sun and protection from wind: a building should be located to
maximum solar exposure to north and minimum to south and with maximum protection
from strong weather and hot & cold weather. Orientation of building in the cold areas
should be such that direct sun light can reach the platforms, gutters and manger in the
sheds but in the hot areas the animals should be protected from the direct solar effects. As
for as possible; the long axis of the building should be in north-south direction to have
maximum benefit of sun in cold areas and should be east-west direction in tropics and
sub-tropics.
4) Accessibility: Easy accessibility to building is always preferred. Sheds should be
located about 100 m from the main road.
5) Water supply: Abundant supply of fresh, clean and soft water should be made sure.
6) Surroundings: Area infested with wild animals and dacoits should be avoided.
Narrow gates, high manger curbs, loose hinges, protruding nails, smooth are floors
should be eliminated.
7) Labor: Honest, economical and readily available labor should be considered while
selecting the site for building.
8) Durability and attractiveness: It is always attractive when a building opens to a
scenic view and adds to grandeur of scenery.
9) Marketing: The type of livestock farming you are going to establish, its market should
be near where you can sale out your products on a reasonable price.
10) Electricity: As there are many farming operations, which can be run with electricity
i.e., fodder chopping, milking, feeding, milk chilling so electricity should be available.
11) Facilities, labor and feed: The yards should be constructed in relation to the feed
storage, hay stacks, and silo and manure pits as to effect the most efficient utilization of
labor. Adequate supply of space on per animal basis should be ensured.
12) Expansion: Future needs of the enterprises with reference to building should be kept
in mind and it should be designed in such a way that future expansion in building
capacity should be easy.

Planning & Facilitation for Economical Housing under Different Conditions:

Physical facilities for animals should provide a comfortable and productive environment.
The most important consideration is the animal itself. To encourage and facilitate good
management, the housing facility must allow for convenient feeding, cleaning, milking,
observation, restrain and other farm facilities. The housing system affects:
1) Physical environment: Climate, space and shelter.
2) Biological environment: Feed, water, parasites, and disease.
3) Managerial environment: Attitude and skills.
Animals require clean, dry and draft free environment; it should be comfortable. How
good housing planning can provide these is discussed under.
Cold Climate:
To maintain high level of productivity and animal comfort during adverse weather, some
shelter required. Uncovered yards soon become mud holes or ice skating rinks during rain
and cold. For this reason, covered feeding and resting areas are an integral part of farm
buildings. To mange all the problems of mud, an effective system of traffic augmented in
basic lay out of farm building is pre-requisite. Major areas related to animal comfort in
cold climate are ventilation, floors. Healthy animals require lot of fresh air, which is a
challenge especially in cold climate. Free stall barns can be designed, built and managed
to maintain inside temperature 10 0F above the external temperature, by providing
insulation and regular ventilation. Internal temperature can be raised 40 0F by extra
insulation and ventilation control.

Hot Climate:
Sever summer results in increase in inside temperature of the house which results into
heat stress which affects the only productivity and heath. It is very important especially in
tropics and sub tropics that animal must be kept within its comfort zone so that maximum
production can be ensured. That goal can be attained by managing feeding practices,
application of other management practices and a wise and careful designing of the houses
of animals.
Site selection is the first step in managing the effects of hot weather. A well ventilated and
well drained site should be selected. The passive methods to reduce the effects of heat
stress on animals include;
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1) Shade
2) Feeding and watering under shade
3) Adequate ventilation
Trees or buildings can provide shade. Natural shade is the best option. Tree can not only
provide shade but also cool the environment by evapo-transpiration processes. Best type
of artificial shade can be provided as given in Fig 3 below. This should be in north-south
direction to ensure proper ventilation and shade. Minimum height of the eave is 12 f in
case of width 40 f and 14 f above 40 feet width. To block the solar radiation, the roof
should be painted white. Beneath the roof, there should be 1 inch open space.

Feeding and watering should be managed under shade. If it is managed out side the
shade, animal might have to choose between comfort and feed and this will result in
decreased intake and production. Provision of feed and watering under shade increased
milk production by 10% in USA.
Air ventilation is an important factor in relief of heat stress. Air can be moved by natural
or artificial mean. Construct an open sided shed to ensure maximum natural ventilation.
Air ventilation can be provided maximum by natural means by:
a) Air movement caused by breezes moving through open sided or side wall vents.
b) Air movement caused by thermal buoyancy, also referred to as stack or chimney
effect. This is most effective on roof slopes of 33%. Ridge vent should be at least
1 feet wide plus 2 inch for each 10f of structure width over 20 feet.

HOUSING MANAGEMENT OF CATTLE & BUFFALO

BUILDINGS
The type and number of buildings required will depend on the managerial skills. If dairy
cattle are managed indoor a number of buildings will be required with considerable
numbers of equipments. Space requirements of different classes are given below.
Table 1: Housing space required by different classes of dairy animals
Animals
Covered area (sq f) Open area (sq f)
Max animal/pen
Bull
120
240
1
Cows
36
72
50
Buffalo
40
80
50
Down calver
120
120
1
Young calf
10-12
10-12
30
Older calf
20
40
30
Table 2: Feeding and watering space required by different classes of dairy animals
Animals
Feeding
L / 100
Watering
Width
Depth
Height
Space (f)
animals
(L / 100 A)
(f)
(f)
(f)
Cow /
2-2.25
200-225
20-22
2
1-1.75
1.60
Buffalo
Calf
1.5
150-175
15-17
1.33
0.5
0.67
There are following two types of dairy building systems.
Loose Housing System
It is a system in which animals are kept loose except at the time of milking or treatment.
The system is the most economical. Loose housing system may be fully opened or semi
covered or whole covered type as the environs allow.
Fig. Fully Open House

Fig. Fully Covered House

Fig. Semi Covered House
Different buildings essential for running a dairy enterprise whether we adopt loose
housing system or conventional dairy barns are as under.
1. Cow Sheds or Cubicles
These are used for feeding dairy cows where they are fed and milked separately.
Cow cubicles spare the space and bedding and are useful where building material is
expensive. In most of the dairy in the tropics and sub-tropics Loose housing system is
preferred over conventional dairy barns, cow cubicles are an obsolete identity.
2. Calves Shed

On the one side of the main cattle shed there is calf shed, which is situated on
such place where labor can easily look.
3. Bull Pen
One or more bullpens are constructed as required for bull if natural insemination
is to be followed. It should be provided with escape gate and service area for cows.
4. Milking Parlor
This is specifically designed for milking. A milk room, feed store and assembly
and dispersal yards are associated with it. Milking parlor is an essential whether we use
loose housing system or conventional dairy barns. Followings are the two main types of
milking parlors.
a. Static Parlors
Static parlors are different to rotary parlors in the way that plate form doesnt rotate. It
has following types.
i)
Abreast type: It is the simplest for of parlor. The cows stand side by side in a
simple stall. After milking, each cow is released through a front gate. It is a
cheap & requires simple type of building work but milker has to bend to milk
the cow. This problem can be overcome by elevating the standing by 400mm.
As in back-to-back arrangements of cows, cows dont have to pass by the
operator so it is highly appreciated.

ii)

Tandem type: In this type, the milker stands in a pit about 1.5-1.8 m wide and
840mm deep, and cows stand head to tail along either side. Each animal has
its compartment, which has an individual entry and exit gates with access to a
passage running along the outside of the stall. There is high degree of
automation: this includes a preparation stall, mechanically operated entry exit
gate and automated cluster removers. Tandems have the basic weakness that
there is 2.4 m between units along each side so that there at the most four
cows on each side is practically, maximum on account of the distance to be
walked by the milker. Six or eight units are not enough to justify the
expensive and mechanically complex automation. This parlor allows a very
short time for eating concentrates.

iii)

Herringbone type: It has a similar pit but the cow stands at an angle of about
300 to the pit on either side and with their tails towards it. In this way the
distance between the udder and hence between milking units is reduced from
2.4 m to 1 m and one man can, given automation, handles 10 units on each
side without an undue amount of walking. Jars can be installed overhead, on
eye level or underneath the cow. Underneath jars dont obstructed while eye
level jars are easy to clean. Herringbone type may be arranged in Trigon form
or in polygon form in which milk time increased as compared to the idle time.
In USA, Trigon type is considered to be more useful for large herds.

iv)

Side-by-side type: In this type cows stand 900 to pit and are kept in place by a
bank of self-locking yokes. Jars are housed beneath the cow.
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b. Rotary Parlors
In rotary parlor, the cow stands on a circular revolving platform and miker may be on
either side or outside this circle. The cow goes through all the milking process on this
platform and can be arranged on the platform in three ways: head to tail (tandem), at an
angle (herringbone) or with heads to center (abreast). Rotary parlors may have 6 to 40
stalls and one man can handle 12 cows at a time. The advantage of rotary on static is that
it saves the time spent on changing batches of cows, and automation and other routine
tasks i.e. entrance & exit, feeding, udder washing, taking fore milk, attaching clusters,
milk transfer and disinfections of teats. However, disadvantages of rotary parlor include
need of man on entrance & exit, poor cow flow on to platform, mechanical breakdown
and heavy maintenance cost.

5. Isolation/Loafing yard
This is specifically built to isolate the diseased animals, newly purchased animals
or during different farm operations like de worming, vaccination and shed cleaning.

6. Calving Pen
Animals which are going calve are shifted to calving pen couple of weeks prior to
parturition in order to provide them security and intensive care.
7. Milk room
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It is the room where milk is collected, recorded, stored and then transported. It is
essential whether hand or mechanical milking is practiced.
8. Feed store
The size of the feed store will vary with the size of the dairy unit, type of feed and
equipments used. A feed store must be built.
Loose housing system is most preferable in our part of the world. It has advantages of
being economical, flexible, diagnostic, enhanced production & over all better
management.

Advantages

Advantages and Disadvantages of Free Stall Housing

Disadvantages

Economical operating costs

Expensive construction costs

Readily mechanized

Less individual attention

Animals exercised regularly

More competition

Some flexibility in organizing different

management-feeding groups

Dirtier cows if improperly designed or

operated

Conventional Dairy Barns

Although, conventional dairy barns are costly but in this system animals are more
protected. The basic buildings requirement is same as given above.

Fig. A Conventional dairy Barn

Within a shed, animals can be arranged in head-to-head or tail-to-tail fashion. Normally
not more than 100 animals are kept in a shed. Both head-to-head and tail-to-tail
arrangements have their own advantages as given below.
Advantages of tail-to-tail System:
More time can spent on the hindquarter of the animal, which is probably the
production head of the animal.
In cleaning & milking the cow, wide middle alley is the greatest advantage.
Less danger of spread of diseases from animal to animal.
Cow can always get more fresh air from outside.
Diseases can easily be inspected.
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 Inspection of labor is easy.

Advantages of head-to-head System:
Cow make better showing for visitors.
Cows feel easier to get into their stall.
Sunrays shine on gutters where are needed.
Feeding is easier.
It is better for narrow barns.

In side the dairy barn, there are following two types of stalls.
The Stanchion Stall
It is one of the standard dairy cow stalls. It occupied with a stanchion for fastening a cow
in place. Usually there is a stall partition in the form of a curved pipe between the stalls to
keep the cow in place and protect their udder & teats from being stepped on by other
cows. The stanchion should be arranged in such fashion that maximum comfort be
provided to cows. It should be flexible so that can be adjusted according to the size and
space requirement of the animal.

The Tie Stall

The tie stall requires a few inches longer & wider than the stanchion stall. It is designed
to provide greater comfort to the cow. In addition to larger size, the chain type gives the
cow more freedom. Instead of the stanchion there are two arches, one on each side of the
neck of the cow. The cow is fastened by means of rings fitted loosely on the arch pipes &
connected to a chain, which snaps to the neck strap on the cow. The correct space
between arches is 10-12 inches. This prevents the cow from moving too forward in the
stall.
Stall Design:
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In the stall, your cow needs enough space to rise, rest and lie. When a cow rises in a
natural way, such as on pasture, she lunges forward, shifting her weight, and allowing her
hindquarters to be raised more easily. The stall must allow the cow to lunge forward as
she rises. While lying, the cow needs enough space to lie comfortably without being
restricted or injured by the partitions. The correct length and width of the stall will ensure
cows don't lie sideways or dirty the stalls with manure.
When a cow lies down, she should free-falls the last foot or so. The size of stall, the type
of partition, and the cushioning provided by the base are important to avoid injury to the
knees, hips or stifles.
Partitions:
The most desirable partition styles are those that provide space at the front for the cow to
lunge forward when rising up. Neither stanchions nor "comfort stalls" with low arch
chain ties provide adequate freedom for lunging forward while rising. In "comfort stalls"
there is inadequate space for the shoulders. In stanchions the short bottom chains restrict
forward movement.
Lengthening the chain is ineffective as it may cause the cows' legs to become trapped or
tangled. Only the single head rail tie stall, with a 14 - 16" chain tied to a neck chain or
strap, provides for natural rising of the tied cow.
Dividers encourage cows to lie straight. Traditional dividers have a post, which extends
into the platform. This interferes with the rear legs of the cow and leads to bumping when
the cow lies down.
Suspended or cantilever dividers don't have this post. They are the most suitable for the
installation and maintenance of new base and bedding concepts (e.g., mattresses).
Position of the head rail, height and shape of the front curb, slope on the stall, and stall
size are shown in Fig. All contribute to cow comfort.
Figure 2. Stall size, partition shape, and base design are all important features for the
comfort of the cow.

Length and Width:

Many producers prefer to have stalls with several different lengths and widths to
accommodate cows of different sizes in the herd. The number of different stalls and sizes
will depend on the herd size. One-way of achieving different stall lengths is to taper the
length down a row of stalls. For instance in a two row barn, the length at one end of the
row may be 65" and at the other may be 68". Then the length on the second row may go
from 68" to 72". Stall size recommendations for tie stalls appear in Tab.
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After selecting the size of the stall and the partition style, a number of other items can be
used to keep the cow clean and comfortable.
Table 1. Dimensions for Tie Stalls
Cow Size
Platform Width
Platform Length*
Kg
Lbs
Mm
in.
Mm
in.
400
880
1050
41
1450
57
500
1100
1150
45
1550
61
600
1320
1250
49
1650
65
700
1540
1350
53
1750
69
800
1760
1450
57
1850
73
* Length is with use of cow trainers (If no trainers are used decrease stall
length by 100 mm 4 in.).
Advantages and Disadvantages of Tie Stall Housing
Advantages
Disadvantages
Cleaner cows

Tying and untying difficulties

Individual attention for all animals

Reduced opportunity for exercise

Readily mechanized

Labor intensive if not mechanized

Comfortable for most chores

Stooping to milk

Economical and practical, particularly for

Less opportunity for choice, more criticism
smaller herds
from animal welfare groups
Housing of Small Ruminants:
Followings are the two different housing systems used for small ruminants housing.
1. Communal Housing
This system is desirable where a large herd is kept, as it is cheaper and easier to handle.
Animals sleep and all animals share rest in one building and feeding and watering in this
system. This system is followed in Pakistan.
2. Individual pens and Stalls
Sheep and goat are kept in individual stalls with small yard. This system is expensive
than communal system. When a large herd is kept on commercial basis then different
sheds are constructed for different age groups which include Milch animal shed,
Lambing/Kidding pen, Lamb/Kid shed, Breeding male shed and Isolation shed.
Floors of the shed may bedded (on ground level) or slatted (elevated above the ground).
Slatted floors are constructed in the regions of high humidity and where rain fall is quite
frequent. Space requirement of different classes of small ruminants are given in the
following tables.

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Table 3: Housing Specifications of Small Ruminants

Animals
Covered area (sq f)
Open area (sq f)
Ewe / Nanny
10
-Lamb / Kid
4
-Ram / Buck
30-36
-Pregnant doe
18
--

Max animal/pen
60
75
-1

Table 4: Feeding & Watering Space Specifications of Small Ruminants

Animals
Feeding
L / 100
Watering
Width
Depth
Space (f)
animals
(L / 100 A)
(f)
(f)
Sheep /
1.5
150-175
15-17
1.67
1
Goat
Lamb / Kid
1
50-60
5-6
1.67
0.67

Height
(f)
1
0.8

C) Housing Horses:
The arrangements favored in Europe & America are not desirable under our local
conditions for housing horses. It is necessary to site the line of loose boxes so that the
prevailing wind can be used to the utmost. The height of the ceiling should be at least 4m
and layout should be north to south so that maximum shade and protection is ensured.
Ventilation can be provided by only taking the wall to 2m in height and using bird proof
netting to the eaves. On the windless days or if the humidity is high, ceiling fans can be
used. Slopping roof are the best as these secure air space & light. Walls should be at least
3.7 m high to the spring of the roof, about 30-40 cm thick and damp proof. The roof may
be made of such material that helps to keep equable. The floor should be made on a solid
foundation, raised above the outside ground, should be absolutely impervious but not at
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all slippery. It should have a bed of cement concrete about 15 cm thick, having a slope of
5cm in 3m from front to rear. Each stall should be 2 m wide and 3.5 m long. Height from
3.7 to 4 m is sufficient to give not less than 33 cu m for each horse. It may be mentioned
here that a stable ventilated to such a degree than the temperature doesnt differ from the
open air, will be extremely cool in winter. Therefore, protection from draught and chilling
is necessary. However, the health of animal may still cope up with cold since horses stand
varying temperature remarkably well. In cold weather, the heat and condition of the body,
is necessary, may be maintained by extra feed, bedding & clothing.
Stable doors should be 2.5 m high and 1.4-2.5 m wide, according to weather the men
have to lead single horses or pairs through them. Doorsills should be very low. Mangers
are made entirely of concrete/iron. They should be large, broad, with the perfectly smooth
surface and all corners well rounded. The height of the manger for a full-sized horse
should be about 1 m from the ground. High rakes should be at the same height as the
mangers and above the horses head. Electricity should be well out of reach and protected
to avoid a conditional interference. In addition, stallion stall, feed store, tack room and
breeding paddocks are also part of the horse houses.
D) Housing Camel:
Camels, in general, are well adapted to housing in open. At the most during very chilly
nights, they are provided thatched roofs. In individual cases, some sort of clothing may
be provided in winter. Until a few years ago, valuable animals i.e. racing camels were
thatched to a buried object within their camps with front legs hobbled with the rope. Now
portable pens constructed from steel piping are becoming popular. They are so
constructed as to pen together to from small pens or large yards. Some people do provide
permanent stable for their animals. They are usually run of 4X4 m under gable roof.
Height at the ridge is about 4 m and at eave 3m. Most camps provide at least plywood or
dead leave shade for the summer often tethering the camel under them. This simple
protection from radiant heat offers significant comfort.
The desert nights and winds can be very chilly in winter. To protect the animals from
wind chill, a common practice is to surround the camp with the permanent wall, a shade
cloth fence are bulldoze up a surrounding earth mound behind with the camel can couch
and shelter. In addition, the camels are rugged with blanket. Also, in winter, during night,
they sit together in a hooded manner to economize on the heat loss from their bodies.
1) G.C. Benerjee. 2002. A Text Book of Animal Husbandry. Ed. 8 th. Oxford &
IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, Kolkata.
2) S. Iqbal Shah. 1994. Animal Husbandry. National Book Foundation,
Islamabad.
3) W.J.A, Payne. 1990. An Introduction to Animal Husbandry in Tropics. 4th Ed.
Long man group, UK.

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