Tie stalls, also known as stanchion or stall barn, are a type of stall where animals are tethered at the neck to their stall. It is mostly used in the dairy industry, although horses might also be stalled in tie stalls (often referred to as stands or straight stalls). Typical the barn has two rows of stalls, where the cow is tied up for resting, feeding, milking and watering. This type of housing is used in both regular and organic farming. [1]
Deep litter barns were commonly used on mainland Europe until the late 19th century. The mixture of bedding material (usually straw) and manure proved to be perfect fertilizer. However, the introduction of artificial fertilizer meant farmers no longer needed to use animal manure as fertilizer. In addition, around 1870, people started to increasingly realize hygiene within the dairy industry was important. Cows in deep litter barns were often dirty, which meant they also had dirty udders, resulting in contamination of the milk. Standing in manure all day also resulted in lameness and other hoof problems. Hence, farmers started to build the more hygienic tie stalls. After World War II farmers started to replace tie stalls with the free stall barn. [2] [3] [4]
Two types of tie stalls can be distinguished.
Modern tie stall are quite different from the tie stalls in the 20th century. Most of the barn used to have low ceilings stagnating the airflow. This is especially troublesome in the summer, when cows are likely to suffer from heat stress. Nowadays, ventilators are used in tie stalls with low ceilings. In the US, tunnel ventilation might be applied, in which one wall contains (lots of) exhaust fans and there is an open wall on the opposite end. A sprinkler system, often used as prevention of heat stress in free stalls, isn't used in tie stall as the bedding might get too moist.
As cows spend most of their day ruminating, it is important they have enough space to stand up and lie down. Older barns didn't have a divider between the stalls, which meant a cow could put her legs in the neighboring stall preventing the neighboring cow from lying down. Nowadays, the usage of stall dividers is common placed and in some countries even mandatory.
The stall dimensions depend on the on cow size, with pregnant and sick cows needing even more space. In the Netherland dimensions of 1,85 meter by 1,25 meter are used. In the USA 52inch (1,3208meter) is most common. The front of the stall should be open so that the cow can lunge forward when standing up.
Different materials can be used for the bedding. In the 20th century, the bedding consisted of concreted, now waterbeds and matrasses are more common. However, as these surfaces are not comfortable enough on their own, usually a layer of sand, sawdust or straw is added.
Chain length is of crucial importance. When too long, a chain might allow the cow to lie too far backwards in the manure gutter. In addition, the cow might get her legs stuck in the chain. A chain that is too short prevents the cow from lying down / standing up. [5]
in 2014, 39% of American dairy farms used tie stalls for lactating cow. [6] Furthermore, 73% of the Canadian dairy farms used a tie stall in 2021. [7]
Until 1970, when the free stalls with cubicle were introduced, the almost all farms used tie stalls (called 'grupstal'). It was common practice to keep the cows indoor from autumn to spring, while they were out grazing during the summer. In 2017 Stichting Kwaliteitszorg Onderhoud Melkinstallaties (KOM) indicated that approximately 6.5% of the farms still used tie stalls. [8] The usage of tie stalls hasn't been allowed for organic farming since 2016. However, dairy processors no longer accept new suppliers using tie stalls.
According an estimation in 2010, approximately 27% of the cows are kept in tie stalls especially on smaller farms (< 20 cows). Differences between areas are large. In 2017, 30% of the dairy farms in Baden-Württemberg used tie stalls, while 60% of the farm in Bavaria did so. Note, it is quite common to keep the cows inside all year round. [9] [10]
In the alpine area it is very common to keep animals indoor in tie stalls from autumn to spring and move them to mountain pastures in the summer. [1] [10] However, in Switzerland it is required to give the cows outdoor exercise for at least 4 hours a day.
88% of the cows were estimated to be kept in a tie stall in 2005. [11] However, in 2004 a new law was introduced prohibiting cows to be kept in tie stalls from 2034 onwards if the stall was built before 22 April 2004. [12]
The restriction of movement is a general animal welfare concern. Hence, animal welfare organizations are general against the usage of tie stalls. In addition to the restriction of movement, the inability to socialize with other cows is a concern. [10] [13]
Tie stall advocates argue, however, that tie stalls limit competition for feeding and drinking. It is also impossible to have an overcrowded barn, which occurs in free stall barns when there are more cows than resting places.
A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also describe a dairy farm or the part of a mixed farm dedicated to milk for human consumption, whether from cows, buffaloes, goats, sheep, horses or camels.
A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain. As a result, the term barn is often qualified e.g. tobacco barn, dairy barn, cow house, sheep barn, potato barn. In the British Isles, the term barn is restricted mainly to storage structures for unthreshed cereals and fodder, the terms byre or shippon being applied to cow shelters, whereas horses are kept in buildings known as stables. In mainland Europe, however, barns were often part of integrated structures known as byre-dwellings. In addition, barns may be used for equipment storage, as a covered workplace, and for activities such as threshing.
Vermicompost (vermi-compost) is the product of the decomposition process using various species of worms, usually red wigglers, white worms, and other earthworms, to create a mixture of decomposing vegetable or food waste, bedding materials, and vermicast. This process is called vermicomposting, with the rearing of worms for this purpose is called vermiculture.
In agriculture, rotational grazing, as opposed to continuous grazing, describes many systems of pasturing, whereby livestock are moved to portions of the pasture, called paddocks, while the other portions rest. Each paddock must provide all the needs of the livestock, such as food, water and sometimes shade and shelter. The approach often produces lower outputs than more intensive animal farming operations, but requires lower inputs, and therefore sometimes produces higher net farm income per animal.
Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed for eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a history that goes back to the early Neolithic era, around the seventh millennium BC, in many regions of Europe and Africa. Before the 20th century, milking was done by hand on small farms. Beginning in the early 20th century, milking was done in large scale dairy farms with innovations including rotary parlors, the milking pipeline, and automatic milking systems that were commercially developed in the early 1990s.
Dairy cattle are cattle bred for the ability to produce large quantities of milk, from which dairy products are made. Dairy cattle generally are of the species Bos taurus.
Agricultural wastewater treatment is a farm management agenda for controlling pollution from confined animal operations and from surface runoff that may be contaminated by chemicals in fertilizer, pesticides, animal slurry, crop residues or irrigation water. Agricultural wastewater treatment is required for continuous confined animal operations like milk and egg production. It may be performed in plants using mechanized treatment units similar to those used for industrial wastewater. Where land is available for ponds, settling basins and facultative lagoons may have lower operational costs for seasonal use conditions from breeding or harvest cycles. Animal slurries are usually treated by containment in anaerobic lagoons before disposal by spray or trickle application to grassland. Constructed wetlands are sometimes used to facilitate treatment of animal wastes.
An animal stall is an enclosure housing one or a few animals. Stalls for animals can often be found wherever animals are kept: a horse stable is often a purpose-built and permanent structure. A farmer's barn may be subdivided into animal stalls or pens for cows and other livestock.
Corn stover consists of the leaves, stalks, and cobs of maize (corn) plants left in a field after harvest. Such stover makes up about half of the yield of a corn crop and is similar to straw from other cereal grasses; in Britain it is sometimes called corn straw. Corn stover is a very common agricultural product in areas of large amounts of corn production. As well as the non-grain part of harvested corn, the stover can also contain other weeds and grasses. Field corn and sweet corn, two different types of maize, have relatively similar corn stover.
Organic fertilizers are fertilizers that are naturally produced. Fertilizers are materials that can be added to soil or plants, in order to provide nutrients and sustain growth. Typical organic fertilizers include all animal waste including meat processing waste, manure, slurry, and guano; plus plant based fertilizers such as compost; and biosolids. Inorganic "organic fertilizers" include minerals and ash. The organic-mess refers to the Principles of Organic Agriculture, which determines whether a fertilizer can be used for commercial organic agriculture, not whether the fertilizer consists of organic compounds.
Automatic milking is the milking of dairy animals, especially of dairy cattle, without human labour. Automatic milking systems (AMS), also called voluntary milking systems (VMS), were developed in the late 20th century. They have been commercially available since the early 1990s. The core of such systems that allows complete automation of the milking process is a type of agricultural robot. Automated milking is therefore also called robotic milking. Common systems rely on the use of computers and special herd management software. They can also be used to monitor the health status of cows.
In agriculture, poultry litter or broiler litter is a mixture of poultry excreta, spilled feed, feathers, and material used as bedding in poultry operations. This term is also used to refer to unused bedding materials. Poultry litter is used in confinement buildings used for raising broilers, turkeys and other birds. Common bedding materials include wood shavings, sawdust, peanut hulls, shredded sugar cane, straw, and other dry, absorbent, low-cost organic materials. Sand is also occasionally used as bedding. The bedding materials help absorb moisture, limiting the production of ammonia and harmful pathogens. The materials used for bedding can also have a significant impact on carcass quality and bird performance.
The Hoard's Dairyman Farm, just north of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, was purchased in 1899 by W. D. Hoard, a former governor of Wisconsin. Hoard used the farm as a laboratory for testing ideas for his magazine Hoard's Dairyman, like the use of alfalfa for feeding dairy cattle.
Animal-free agriculture, also known as veganic agriculture, stockfree farming or veganic farming, consists of farming methods that do not use animals or animal products.
Agricultural pollution refers to biotic and abiotic byproducts of farming practices that result in contamination or degradation of the environment and surrounding ecosystems, and/or cause injury to humans and their economic interests. The pollution may come from a variety of sources, ranging from point source water pollution to more diffuse, landscape-level causes, also known as non-point source pollution and air pollution. Once in the environment these pollutants can have both direct effects in surrounding ecosystems, i.e. killing local wildlife or contaminating drinking water, and downstream effects such as dead zones caused by agricultural runoff is concentrated in large water bodies.
A housebarn is a building that is a combination of a house and a barn under the same roof. Most types of housebarn also have room for livestock quarters. If the living quarters are only combined with a byre, whereas the cereals are stored outside the main building, the house is called a byre-dwelling.
Manure is organic matter that is used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Most manure consists of animal feces; other sources include compost and green manure. Manures contribute to the fertility of soil by adding organic matter and nutrients, such as nitrogen, that are utilised by bacteria, fungi and other organisms in the soil. Higher organisms then feed on the fungi and bacteria in a chain of life that comprises the soil food web.
The New England Barn was the most common style of barn built in most of the 19th century in rural New England and variants are found throughout the United States. This style barn superseded the ”three-bay barn” in several important ways. The most obvious difference is the location of the barn doors on the gable-end(s) rather than the sidewall(s). The New England and three bay barns were used similarly as multipurpose farm buildings but the New England barns are typically larger and have a basement. Culturally the New England Barn represents a shift from subsistence farming to commercial farming thus are larger and show significant changes in American building methods and technologies. Most were used as dairy barns but some housed teams of oxen which are generally called teamster barns. Sometimes these barns are simply called “gable fronted” and “gable fronted bank barns” but these terms are also used for barns other than the New England style barn such as in Maryland and Virginia which is not exactly the same style as found in New England. A similar style found in parts of the American mid-west and south is called a transverse frame barn or transverse crib barn.
A compost bedded pack barn (CBP) is a type of housing for dairy cattle. It's a loose housing system, similar to free-stall housing, except there are no stalls or partitions.
Floating Farm is the first floating dairy farm in the world located in the harbour of Rotterdam. The farm produces fresh dairy products from 40 cows who live on the facility. All raw dairy is processed onsite into fresh milk and yoghurt and distributed inside the city.
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