5 Key Ways to Design Cattle Sheds for Healthy Livestock
Whether you’re making changes to an existing shed or adding a new barn to your property, any farmer worth their salt knows the best quality beef comes from happy and healthy livestock. This is also an important factor if you export or sell it right here in Australia.
While it may seem like a no brainer when you mention them, the key criteria to keep in mind when designing a new cattle shed should include a convenient layout, adequate stall space & well-designed stalls, quality roofing, fencing & structural resilience, all of which can be achieved through switching to steel.
Convenient Layout
A cattle shed should be designed in a way that makes it easy to:
- Have cows access feed & water
- Have manure removed
- Expand on the shed at a later point
- Easily transport cattle through your property
- Easily load cattle for end-use/processing
Designing a floor plan that takes your property, weather and the land into account will be able to create a seamless way to operate your farm and minimise the level of stress to your cattle.
Good Feedlot Designs & Cattle Stall Space
Ensuring that your cows have adequate space to roam & feed will depend on both the number of cattle you have and their average sizes. Pennsylvania State University & the University of Minnesota both provide excellent design & material guides for the feedlot designs & living spaces of single cows as well as dairy cattle with calves, which can be adapted to Australian standards of 9m2 per cow for feeding and 1.5 to 2 acres for roaming & resting.
This isn’t just important from the perspective of keeping in line with standards, but also social distancing too. Bizarre as it might sound, the prevention of common illnesses such as Bovine Respiratory Disease usually occurs through meeting these types of standards.
Outside of the stall design, having appropriate room to roam around is essential for the physical and emotional wellbeing of your livestock, which is best achieved through the use of high-quality steel.
Quality Roofing
A roof exists to do 3 things for your cattle, which are to provide shelter, shade and protection from the rain. But not all roofing is made equal, especially not under the harsh Australian sun. Going with steel is by far the best roofing option to protect your property from weather extremes such as drought or storm, as it is usually galvanised with other metals like Zinc Alumina, which provides it with protection from rust & grants a quality assurance usually lasting over 30 years.
There are a variety of options to chose from in terms of how steep you want the slope of your roof to be, as well as the style of roof sheeting, gutters, and downpipes so you can make store your water well and keep it off your cows!
Fencing
In a similar standing, switching to local steel providers offer great options for general wire fencing and other cattle handling equipment, as they know your needs and can provide steel that allows you to keep your workers and your cattle sanitarily socially distanced.
Structural Resilience
You obviously want your cattle to be safe, so a stable structure is the most important thing to account for. Luckily, steel is the industry standard when it comes to the production of domestic and industrial living & workspaces as the backbone of any building. Ensuring you have the highest quality end-to-end steel fabrication to meet the needs of your business is an absolute must when it comes to protecting your investments and your livestock.
If you’d like to learn more about how to protect your livestock today, why not get in touch with us.