Stalls

3 Open Minutes with Dr. Nigel Cook

kimmi@agproud.com — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0500

During a Dairyland Initiative podcast episode, Courtney Halbach and Dr. Nigel Cook discussed how to manage sand bedding in freestalls. Progressive Dairy visited with Cook to follow up on a few of the topics covered and discuss the most important points he would like dairy producers to know when bedding freestalls with sand.

Are you focusing on these cow comfort essentials?

kristin.brommer@ves-artex.com — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Ventilation, cooling, bedding, lighting, feed and water access are the main foundations of cow comfort. Focusing on these aspects when designing and building your dairy barn will greatly enhance cow comfort, leading to better milk production, reduced health issues and overall improved welfare.

What are the 6 freedoms of a cow?

amelie_mainville@cargill.com — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 18:02:32 -0500

The six freedoms of a cow outlined by a dairy farming training organization are space, rest, water, air, light and feed. These freedoms have aligned benchmarking goals to help producers realize higher returns on current and future farm investments.

4 considerations for laying out your robot barn

bradley.biehl@amsgalaxyusa.com — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 06:37:30 -0400

Bedding stalls, manure alley cleaning, footbaths and sorting are four activities that will need to be managed differently when installing robots.

Flipping your freestalls: 4 more tips

jbewley@holstein.com — Mon, 26 Oct 2020 21:38:48 -0400

This is the third of three articles in the “Flipping Your Freestalls” series. Read Part I and Part II.

Flipping your freestalls: Top four tips

jbewley@holstein.com — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 15:00:54 -0400

This is the second of three articles in the “Flipping Your Freestalls” series. Read Part I and Part III.

Flipping your freestalls: What to watch for and how to measure

jbewley@holstein.com — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 21:02:03 -0400

This is the first of three articles in the “Flipping Your Freestalls” series. Read Part II and Part III.
In recent years, the concept of buying old houses, renovating and reselling them has been popularized by many television shows. This process is called house “flipping.” You can apply the same concept to freestall barns.

10 tips for dry, clean corrals

daprante@gmail.com — Sun, 19 Jul 2020 13:00:01 -0400

Maintaining dry, clean corrals requires a lot of work, but it is very important for the cow. Whether you have open drylots or freestalls with or without exercise pens – dry, clean corral conditions are imperative for optimal cow health.

Stall benchmarks: Does your dairy measure up?

Tue, 30 Apr 2019 19:52:54 -0400

Cow comfort and welfare are often measured by lying time, the way cows enter the stalls and duration of stall movement. In fact, cows show preference for lying on softer materials.

4 ways to cut back on a new build without compromising cow comfort

arambrosius@baylandbuildings.com — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 13:00:01 -0400

Trying to figure out how to make the numbers work on a new-construction barn can be a bit challenging when you know exactly what you want, but the price exceeds your budget allowance. Cow comfort is not an area to skimp, but there are other things a dairy owner can do to be more cost-effective with a project.

Before you pour: Ask your builder these stall design questions

amyt@advancedcomforttechnology.com — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 14:00:01 -0500

We’re finding more dairy farmers are looking for experts in specific areas of barn design rather than accepting a “one-size-fits-all” approach. The best builders coordinate these experts, ensuring the new building will not just look good in the photo taken on day one but will continue to provide a return on investment 30 years later.