Rules for housing

Outcomes of Nasek / Improving animal welfare / Floor and walking areas / Rules for housing

Wednesday 11.2.2009

There should be enough place for stressfree cow-traffic

Space is very important, in this case it is too narrow

Rules for housing

Enough space is important for cows to move stressfree in the stable. There should be enough place for weaker cows to get out of the way of stronger cows without the danger of injuries. As you see, space is a important point for welfare, too.

There are also rules by the government, and it is important to take notice of them when a new stable is planned. They are big differences between our three countries, and therefore we collected the most important ones from each country.

Austria:

roaster floors:

- size of the openings:

kind of animal	max. size of openings
cattle (<200 kg)	25 mm
cattle (>200 kg)	35 mm
cows with calves	30 mm

- min. size of concrete part: 80 mm

- The openings have to be devided.

Roaster floors made of wood must not be used in new stables.

Feeding

- Animal : feeding place = max. 2,5 : 1

- size of feeding places

weight of cattle

min. size (feeding place)

<150 kg

40 cm/animal

<220 kg

45 cm/animal

<350 kg

55 cm/animal

<500 kg

60 cm/animal

<650 kg

65 cm/animal

>650 kg

75 cm/animal

Calves:

- Calves (<150 kg) need a dry and soft laying area

- min. area a calf needs when it is kept in a group

weight of the cattle

size of area a kalf needs

<150 kg

1,60 m2/animal

<220 kg

1,80 m2/animal

>220 kg

2,00 m2/animal

Cattle older than 6 months

- The width of the feeding area for cows has to be at least 320,00 cm.

- The width of the walking areas has to be 250,00 cm.

- There are special rules when an old building is used for a new stable

(smaller widths are possible).

- min. size of the area every animal needs (group keeping)

weight of cattle

size of area they need

<350 kg

2,00 m2/animal

<500 kg

2,40 m2/animal

<650 kg

2,70 m2/animal

>650 kg

3,00 m2/animal

à There has to be a big enough laying area.

Finnland:

If a cow house has a crack floor, beams width and between those cracks length have to be as follows:

cow`s age (month)

beams wight (cm)

crack width (cm)

less 6

7,0

3,0

6-12

9,0

3,5

12–18

10,0

3,5

18–22

11,0

3,5

over 22

12,5

4,0

If young or crown- up cattle are hold in groups, in laying box area have to be following per one animal:

Meat cow’s age (month)

Other cow`s (month)

Cow’s average weight/animal (kg)

crack floor stall (m²/animal)

solid base stall (m²/animal)

6-9

8-12

200–300

1,8

2,5

9-13

12–15

300–400

2,0

3,0

13–15

15–20

400–500

2,3

3,5

over 15

over 20

over 500

2,5

4,0

Stall stable where there is the slurry system, space per one animal has to be:

Cow`s age (month)

Cow’s average weight /animal (kg)

Stall`s height (m)

Stall`s width (m)

6-12

75–200

1,00–1,20

0,70–0,80

12–18

200–300

1,20–1,30

0,80–0,90

18–22

300–450

1,30–1,40

0,90–1,00

Heifer

350–550

1,40–1,70

1,00–1,20

Cow

500–750

1,65–1,80

1,20–1,30

Stall stable, where is some other slurry system, minimum space per one animal has to be:

Short stall

Long stall

Cow`s age (Month)

Cow’s average weight/animal (kg)

Stall`s height (m)

Stall`s width (m)

Stall`s height (m)

Stall`s width (m)

6-12

75-200

1,00–1,20

0,70–0,80

1,20–1,50

0,70–0,80

12–18

200–300

1,20–1,50

0,80–0,90

1,50–1,80

0,80–0,90

18–22

300–450

1,50–1,70

0,90–1,00

1,80–2,00

0,90–1,00

Heifer

350–550

1,65–1,80

1,00–1,20

1,80–2,10

1,00–1,20

Cow

500–750

1,65–1,80

1,20–1,30

2,00–2,20

1,20–1,30

Per animal the minimum space in stall has to be:

Cow`s age (month)

Cow’s average weight/animal (kg)

Stall`s height (m)

Stall`s width (m)

2-6

175

1,70–1,90

0,80–0,90

6-18

350

1,90–2,00

0,90–1,00

18–22

500

2,00–2,10

1,00–1,20

over 22

700

2,10–2,40

1,20–1,30

Netherlands:

In Holland there are no rules for walking space in common farming. Of course there are rules for lying areas and feeding places when you build a new stable, but not for how much a cow needs for walking space. There are only rules for biological farmers and you can read them here below.

Cattle

dairy cows

meat cows

space (amount m2/rund)

6

1,5 (<100 kg.)
2,5 (100–200)
4,0 (200–350)
5,0 (>350 kg.)

floor

Min. 50 % closet

Min. 50 % closed

litter

Obligatory

Obligatory

cows outside

Obligatory

Obligatory

At a biological farms there are rules for the space in combination with the closed concrete floors and the lying area were dry litter is obligatory. Dual purpose cows are obligated to go outside. The biggest difference between a convetional farm and a biological farm is cows' natural behaviour. This is because on a conventional farms about 8 % of cows stay inside during the whole year.

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Page updated 23.5.2006