Give me some opinions on housing!

[willow_girl]

I'm thinking of building a new shelter for my cows this summer.

I have 4 now, and it's possible a 5th may be coming to join us in the next 6 months or so.

Originally, my thoughts were to go with the typical 3-sided saltbox run-in shed, put some gravel on the floor and loose bedding (sawdust and straw) atop that.

Then, after giving it s'more thought, I wondered if maybe I should put dividers in it, like a freestall barn. (As retired dairy cows, all but the heifer already would be accustomed to sleeping in free stalls). I could go with the same flooring, but put a concrete gutter in the back. The advantage to this would be the ease in cleaning ... all the manure would be in one place, and the girls wouldn't be lying in it.

Thoughts?

[DaleK]

That sounds like what I'd do. You still want to have them fed outside right? By going with the dividers over an open pack, you can save quite a bit on space as well.

[willow_girl]

Hmm, you raise another point. Right now they have a run-in shed of sorts (a lean-to) and I feed them in it ... the wasted hay (and there is a lot of it! grrr) becomes bedding.

So, with a freestall arrangement, I'd lose the free bedding, unless I wanted to transport the wasted hay from wherever I was feeding (prolly a bale ring).

I think it would be worth the extra work to keep the manure out of their stalls, though!

[cjb]

Hey Willow,

Are your retired cows a sort of rescue project or did you used to milk them? Just curious.