Freestall barn design concepts center around optimizing stall occupancy each day while minimizing bed contamination. Four pieces of stall anatomy serve to achieve this by positioning the cow correctly in the stall: the divider loop, neck rail, brisket locator and deterrent wire.

Summer is here and the cows are getting hot. Our dairy cows are large fermentation vats on legs, and they generate a lot of heat. The thermoneutral zone for an adult dairy cow is typically in the range of 40 to 70ºF, and cows suffer heat stress above the upper critical temperature – before most humans become bothered by heat.

“The only thing that should happen at calving time is that the cow should deliver a live, healthy calf.” All too frequently, the transition period is a tumultuous time for our dairy cows: Changes in diet, new surroundings and group changes are very challenging to cattle, who can best be described as lovers of a mundane routine.

The following is the first part of a two-part series of articles regarding freestall design and its impact on the cow’s comfort and health. The dairy expansion era in North America, which gathered pace throughout the 1990’s and continues to this day, has resulted in the migration of dairy cattle from traditional tiestall and stanchion barns to the freestall facility, which has emerged as the dominant form of dairy cattle housing worldwide. The basic premise of milking more efficiently through a parlor, while being able to keep larger groups of cows together in management groups in larger herds, is sound from a management and economic perspective.