What are the key considerations for building a cattle farm? Explained clearly in one article
The selection of a cattle farm site requires careful consideration, comprehensive planning and relatively long-term planning. It must be integrated with agriculture and animal husbandry development plans, farmland capital construction plans and residential construction plans, and must meet the needs of modern cattle farming. The selected site must have room for development. Now let us take a look at the key considerations for building a cattle farm!
Cattle farm construction planning
1. Cattle barn: Each barn is 60 m long and 10 m wide, with a 1.5 m central aisle, double-sided feed troughs with a trough width of 60 cm, height of 75 cm and depth of 25 cm, a spacing of 1.1 m between each cow, a floor slope of 15 degrees, and good ventilation is required.
2. Feed shed construction land: For every 100 cattle, 30 m long, 8 m wide and 4.5 m high is needed. A total of 240 sq m of forage shed, with good ventilation required.
3. Manure storage pit: For every 100 cattle, 1 to 1.5 mu is needed. Cattle manure can be used to produce biogas, grow mushrooms and other fungi, and raise earthworms.
Cattle farm site selection
1. High and dry terrain: A beef cattle farm should be built on high, dry terrain, sheltered from the wind and facing the sun, with a low groundwater level, a gentle slope higher in the north and lower in the south, and generally flat ground. It must never be built in low-lying areas or wind gaps, to avoid drainage difficulties, water accumulation during flood season and difficulty in keeping warm in winter.
2. Good soil quality: Sandy loam soil is best. The soil is loose and highly permeable, so rainwater and urine do not easily accumulate, there is no hard crust after rain, and it is conducive to keeping the barn and exercise yard clean, hygienic and dry, and to preventing hoof diseases and other diseases.
3. Sufficient water source: There must be a sufficient water source that meets hygiene requirements, ensuring water for production, daily life and human and livestock consumption. The water quality must be good and free of toxic substances, ensuring the safety and health of humans and livestock.
4. Abundant forage: Beef cattle farming requires large amounts of feed, especially roughage, which is not suitable for transport. A beef cattle farm should be close to straw, silage and hay feed resources to ensure forage supply, reduce transport costs and lower costs.
5. Convenient transportation: The purchase of feeder cattle and large quantities of forage and feed, and the sale of fattened cattle and manure, involve very large transport volumes and frequent traffic, and some transport must proceed regardless of wind or rain. Therefore, a beef cattle farm should be built in a location with convenient transportation close to a highway or railway.
6. Hygiene and epidemic prevention: Keep away from major traffic routes, villages and factories by more than 500 m, and from ordinary roads by more than 200 m. Also avoid slaughtering, processing and industrial and mining enterprises that pollute the beef cattle farm, especially chemical enterprises. Meet veterinary hygiene and environmental hygiene requirements, with no sources of infection nearby.
7. Land conservation: Do not occupy farmland, or occupy as little as possible.
Basic structure of a cattle farm
1. Foundation and walls: Foundation depth 8 to 100 cm, brick wall thickness 24 cm, double-slope cattle barn ridge height 4.0 to 5.0 m, front and rear eave height 1.0 to 3.5 m. The lower part of the inner wall of the cattle barn has no wall skirt, to prevent moisture from seeping into the wall and to improve the wall's sturdiness and insulation.
2. Doors and windows: Door height 2.1 to 2.2 m, width 2 to 2.5 m. Doors are generally made as double doors, or can be made as up-and-down rolling doors. Enclosed windows should be larger, with a height of 1.5 m and a width of 1.5 m, and the windowsill height is preferably 1.2 m from the ground.
3. Site area: Beef cattle production, cattle farm management, staff living and other ancillary buildings require a certain amount of site and space. The size of the cattle farm can be calculated based on the area required per head of cattle, combined with long-term planning. The area of the cattle barn and other buildings accounts for 15% to 20% of the total site area. Because of differences in cattle size, production purpose, feeding methods and so on, the barn area occupied per head of cattle also varies. Each fattening cow requires 1.6 to 4.6 sq m. In open free-stall fattening barns with bedding, each cow occupies 2.3 to 4.6 sq m, and in barns with partitions, each cow occupies 1.6 to 2.0 sq m.
4. Roof: The most commonly used is the double-slope roof. This form of roof can be applied to cattle barns with larger spans and can be used for all types of cattle herds of various scales. This roof is both economical and good for insulation, and is easy to construct.
5. Cattle beds and feed troughs: Beef cattle farms mostly use group feeding with open troughs. Cattle beds are generally required to be 1.6 to 1.8 m long and 1.0 to 1.2 m wide. The slope of the cattle bed is 1.5%, with the trough end positioned higher. The feed trough is set in front of the cattle bed. For cattle farming, fixed cement troughs are most suitable, with a top width of 0.6 to 0.8 m, a bottom width of 0.35 to 0.40 m, in an arc shape, with an inner edge height of 0.35 m (on the side near the cattle bed) and an outer edge height of 0.6 to 0.8 m (on the side near the walkway). For simplicity of operation and labor savings, it is best to build a combined walkway-trough design with a high walkway and a low trough position. That is, the outer edge of the trough and the walkway are on the same level.
6. Walkways and manure and urine ditches: For a double-row cattle barn with head-to-head feeding, the central walkway is 1.4 to 1.8 m wide. The passage width should be based on allowing a feed cart to pass through, with a depth of 0.15 to 0.3 m and a slope of 1:50 to 1:100.