HOUSING FOR DAIRY CATTLE
HOUSING FOR DAIRY CATTLE
Good housing is important to achieve the following:
- Promoting easy handling of animals (in the crush)
- Providing clean and hygienic conditions (e.g. for milk collection)
- Protects cattle from rain, wind and very hot sunlight (adverse weather conditions)
- Controlling/monitoring exposure to disease and disease vectors
- Reducing feed wastage
- Enhancing security of the animals
- Enhancing manure collection.
Site Selection for Khola Construction
Site selection should be based on the following criteria:
- Should be constructed 70-90 metres from the dwelling house to avoid theft and attacks by wild animals
- Should be sited on land with a slight slope to enable some effective drainage
- Construct on windward side to avoid foul smell to dwelling houses
- The sloping side of the roof should face the prevailing wind direction to prevent water from getting into the khola
- The floor should be made of rough concrete cement if possible
- Farmers are encouraged to use locally materials for constructing animal houses. Therefore, farmers should be encouraged to practice agroforestry to have easy access to poles
- A manure pit should be dug near the shed/stall for easy composting and storage. A cover should be provided on the pit or heap to reduce the fly population, bad smell and release of methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Size of Khola
Adequate space is important to ensure that animals are free to rise and lie down, easily turn around and groom themselves.
Floor plan for a dairy cattle khola.
- Each cow requires 9. 3m2 and a calf need 2.3m2. Therefore two cows need a khola measuring 3.7m by 6.1m and you can increase as the number of animals increase
- Bedding should be clean, comfortable especially where the cow sleeps and / or can rest
- Roof styles may be different as long as they are able to keep the animals safe from sun heat and rainfall
- Construction material may also be different as long as the animals are kept inside always and well protected from predators.
