Most dairy cows live inside barns. Have you ever wondered why? Farmers keep dairy cows inside so they can stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter, among other reasons.
Why Are Cows Kept Inside?
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Keeping dairy cows comfortable in their home (barn) is just as important as making sure they are fed a good-quality food and have access to plenty of water. Keeping cows inside is one way that farmers can control the temperature they live in, protect them from predators and diseases, and monitor how much they are eating and drinking.
This is one “wing” of the New Generation Dairy. The gravel drive goes all the way around the farm. The grass field to the right of the picture was recently harvested for chopped alfalfa to feed to the girls. Calf Village is in the background.
You can see that the barn has an open design. All the walls of the barn are open when the weather is nice out (which it sure was on the day I visited!). The long sides of the barn have curtains that can be lowered during cold or bad weather. The ends of the barn have large overhead garage-style doors that can also be closed. This is similar to the curtain ventilation used in Heather’s pig barns.
Keeping the barn open as much as possible allows for great natural ventilation (in other words, wind), and there is no shortage of that in this area of Indiana! When the wind gets to be too much (like in the winter) these curtains are closed to keep the wind off the cows.
We’ve seen the cows at their buffet feeder in another post, but did you notice all the fans? There are large fans throughout the barn – near the feeders (which are part of their pens) and in the milking parlor. Each barn has 122 3-foot fans, and there are more fans in the milking parlor to keep the cows cool there.
In addition to the fans that keep the air moving, this barn also has a system of misters. You can see the little nozzles in the photo below. The entire barn is equipped with this mister system along the feeder. It sprays a very fine spray of cool water into the air. The water is blown around by the fans, and this works wonders to keep the air cool in the summer months! There are also more misters in the milking parlor. Wouldn’t want the ladies to get hot while they’re being milked!
Cows can’t sweat like we can, so keeping them cool in the summer is very important. Overheated cows can become stressed and sick very quickly. Keeping dairy cows indoors means that farmers can help to control the temperature to keep them as comfortable as possible.
Keeping cows cool is harder than keeping them warm. These cows weigh at least 1500 pounds, and create a lot of body heat! When the temperature starts to drop, the misters are turned off, the fans are turned off, and the garage doors and curtains are closed. This keeps all the body heat from the cows inside the barn. Cows aren’t nearly as picky about their temperature as turkeys and pigs are. Cows actually prefer to be a little colder – anything 60 degrees Fahrenheit or below is good for them! (Of course, too cold is not great.)
In this 4-row free stall barn, the pens are set up in long rows. This “wing” of the barn has two pens, one along the front side and one along the back side of the barn. A large aisle separates the two pens, and this is where we have been looking at the feeders. Inside each pen is an open area behind the feeders, two back-to-back rows of free stalls, and another open area on the other side of the free stalls. The floors of the pens are textured cement. This makes it easy to clean the manure and urine from the pens, but the texture keeps it from being too slippery for the cows to stand on.
Free stalls are spaces that are large enough for one cow at a time. The cows can go into these free stalls to relax and lie down. There is sand bedding in each stall. Each pen has two rows of free stalls, facing each other, with no barrier between the rows. The open spaces behind each row of free stalls gives the cows plenty of room to move around and socialize.
Whenever they want, the cows can lie down and take a nap (or chew their cud) or they can get up and walk around, get a drink, have a snack, or go visit their other friends. The nice thing about the free stalls is that it’s a place for each cow to “get away” from other cows, but still be with her herd.
Every time the cows are in the milking parlor, the sand bedding is cleaned (manure and urine taken out) and their pens are scraped out. Wouldn’t you love to come home from work to a clean house every day?
What other questions do you have about dairy cattle? Read these other articles about dairy cows, and leave me a question in the comments if you want to know more!
8 Ways to Take the Fear Out of Your Kitchen
- Why Do Farmers Keep Animals Inside?
- Taking Care of Dairy Cows
- Milking Cows is an Every Day Job
- Milk Collection System
- What Do Dairy Cows Eat?
- Where Do Dairy Calves Live?
- Hormone Use in Dairy Cows
- Are There Antibiotics in My Milk?
Hi!
Am Arbanus Muinde from Kenya and every time I go through this article my heart burns with passion,for dairy farming .it is very motivating. How can I design my barns here in Kenya.
Am excited to know
Our cows are always tied up. We don’t know how you manage roaming cows. Tell me how