Symposium review: Future of housing for dairy cattle

Abstract

The objective of this review was to describe recent changes and expected developments in housing systems for dairy cows. These new developments should create an appropriate production environment for modern high-producing dairy cows and stimulate dairy farmingrelated developments in management, agro-technology, and equipment. Increased labor efficiency has been an important driver of the change from tie-stall barns to cubicle barns (also known as freestall barns). In future housing systems, the natural behavior of cows, climate control, emissions of ammonia and greenhouse gases, reuse of waste, manure quality, the aesthetics of buildings in the landscape, and capital efficiency are becoming increasingly important elements. To address future requirements, new concepts beyond cubicle barns must be developed. Freewalk housing systems; that is, loose housing systems without cubicles, would meet some of these future demands. These systems operate with composting bedding material or artificial permeable floors as lying and walking areas. However, these barns are still in development. Combinations of cubicle and freewalk housing systems, together with other techniques being developed, might become a major future housing system. Other techniques and systems that are being explored according to sustainability criteria include the multi-climate shed, the CowToilet (Hanskamp Agro-Tech, Doetinchem, the Netherlands) to separate feces and urine, and multifunctional buildings. These buildings and techniques can be part of land-based or, less commonly, city-based farming systems, such as floating farms.

Consumers’ and Farmers’ Perceptions in Europe Regarding the Use of Composted Bedding Material from Cattle

“…One major potential for the empty barn with the compost material during the grazing period (typically spring to fall) is to raise pigs or chickens [25,28]. Other options are to use the resting area of the CBP for the production of organic vegetables [29], or to pelletize the compost [30]. Some Italian farmers pelletize the compost since the dried pellets have a volume of only 60-90% of the raw compost and further concentrate manure nutrients [13].…”

Spatio-Thermal Variability and Behaviour as Bio-Thermal Indicators of Heat Stress in Dairy Cows in a Compost Barn: A Case Study

“…Further, regarding the variation of 45-62 during the study, which varied the pack area per cow of 12-17 m 2 , we stated that this variation did not influenced this study conduction or the results features. Leso et al (2020) recommended that the suitable pack densities range between 7.4 to above 15 m 2 per cow. We used an average data from environment and behaviour, and this variation was included in statistical models.…”

“…Compost-bedded pack barn systems are widespread in subtropical climates. This phenomenon is due to group housing characteristics, which aids better interaction among Animals 2021, 11, 1197. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11051197 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/animals Animals 2021, 11, 1197 2 of 19 animals, a reduction in mastitis and lameness caused by the use of bedding, and better thermal control [1][2][3]. However, the thermal environment could become a critical aspect in this system, mainly regarding ventilation management inside the facility.…”

Implantação da biomimética como processo de otimização das estruturas para produção animal

“…Os autores afirmam ainda que diferentes fontes de materiais e técnicas de cobertura podem ser empregadas com sucesso, como a utilização de telhado verde em instalações para bovinos leiteiros, de materiais reflexivos em bezerreiros, dentre outras que podem auxiliar na melhoria do ambiente térmico. Galama et al (2020) realizaram um estudo de revisão de literatura com objetivo de descrever mudanças e inovações recentes em sistemas de alojamento para bovinos leiteiras, notadamente em relação ao comportamento dos animais, controle das condições climáticas e emissões de gases causadores do efeito estufa, manejo e destinação de resíduos e eficiência de uso de recursos financeiros. Neste trabalho, os autores fazem algumas considerações: futuros projetos de instalações para bovinos leiteiros podem ser baseados em uma combinação das características benéficas de Freewalk e CowToilet, bem como com o uso de novas técnicas construtivas; animais com alto rendimento poderão ser mantidos em espaços reduzidos, desde que bem projetados, com presença de cama e piso transitáveis; sensores podem ser utilizados para guiar os animais para áreas específicas das instalações; e dejeto seco e urina devem ser separados, enquanto ferramentas e técnicas como CowToilet e captura de gases podem fazer parte do sistema.…”