Tie-up stable

Two different kinds of feeding racks

Free-stall stable

Situation in our countries

Food supply in Austria:

You heard that in Austria the tie-up stables are common so there is not much to say about feeding rack, because cows are normally tied up in a chain. In loose stall stables we mostly saw a normal rack, but also a safety rack is coming in use. The concentrate supply in tie-up stables is mostly done by a farmer. Somo of them have a concentrate box, which is moving in front of  cows and gives the concentrate. In loose stall stables, the common system is the concentrate box. Sometimes you see that a farmer gives the concentrate in a milking parlor. Cows like a parlour more if they get the concentrate there.  But it is not so good, if they get the whole concentrate only two times a day. Nearly no farmer in Ausrtria uses the real TMR, because farms are too small and it is a lot of work to feed three small groups with a different ration.

Food supply in Finland:

We think that food storages problems are same kind in both countries. On the farms we visited, food storages were organized well. In Finland in loose stall stable cows get food in concentrated boxes. In stool stables a feeder distributes food to cows.  Calves have their own feeding ground. On one farm which we visited, calves food places was organized very well. There was a food machine where calves could eat. All stables in Finland have a feeding rack.

Food supply in the Netherlands:

There isn`t  anuthing really special about food supply in the Netherlands, because it is common to use the normal feeding rack, since most of the stables are free-stall stables. In new barns you can often see the "safety rack", because they had some problems with the normal ones. The common system for the supply of concentrate is the concentrate box or concentrate supply in the milking parlour. Only a few farmers had a real TMR without a seccond concentrate supply.

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Page updated 23.5.2006