My first cows and their barn

[Brunolem]

This is a follow up to a thread I opened last month, about buying a few cows. 

 

I now have my first 2 cows, a mother and her 4 month old girl... both quite shy. 

 

The mother eats insane quantities of grass and poops in proportion, which leads to my question. 

 

I have noticed that, in my area, the farmers don't bother to clean the barn where their cows eat, sleep and spend a lot of time, especially when it is raining like mad, like now. 

 

Thus, the cows end up living on their own poop, piled up to maybe half a meter... which I find disgusting... 

 

I, on the other hand, collect the poop regularly and drop it in a place where it will dry in order to be used later. 

 

Meanwhile, my cows live in a clean environment. 

 

So, is it me who is crazy, or the local farmers who are lazy? 

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by Brunolem

[faraday]

What little I know about Farming, having done a C&G in Agriculture 40+ years ago, tells me you are right.

 

[grollies]

My Father kept 12 bullocks when we were kids. During the winter they were housed in the barns and straw added when the beds became too <deleted>ty. When let out in spring the barns would be around that thick in straw and manure which we removed with a buck rake on the back of the tractor to the manure heap. Two months later we'd spread it on all the veg plots and dig it in. Mum had some of the best veg at the local shows, we ate well and had half a bullock in the deep freezer at any one time.

 

I wouldn't fancy picking up the <deleted> on a daily basis.

[dimitriv]

I grew up in a village with a lot of cows. We owned horses ourselves. I spend every day a couple of hours in our stable after school. To clean up <deleted>.

 

Animals like cows or horses standing in poop all day can get problems with their hoofs. They get weak, can burst, bleed. Next they can get infected. For horses this can be fatal if not taken care of very quickly. En best of course is to prevent this from happening. A horse that cannot walk is only useful for meat. Animals with hoofs need a dry place to stand. Some days in a wet place is ok. But for sure not too long.   

 

Poop can also contaminate food. It attract flies etc.

 

Your cows will love you for a clean place to live ????

[Tayaout]

You are doing it right. In nature no animals live in their own manure. You should consider adding chicken to eat the fly larvae directly from the cow manure. 

 

 

 

Edited August 30, 2019 by Tayaout

[khwaibah]

My wife is involved with the Department of Livestock and Development in a project that is located on her property. Over 100 cows and calfs and along with her personal stock of 20. This is strictly a Thai operation. All that premium cow pies are cleaned out weekly and monthly. A lot of it she gets for her ever ongoing projects. She mixes the cow with pig and straw then waters it and cover it, about 2 months latter she has excellent compost.

 

[Rimmer]

Troll post reported and removed

[kickstart]

I see it all the time cattle kept in yards that are never cleaned out ,the op would be right ,they are lazy ,some farms only have 3-4 animals ,kept in one shed that is cleaned out once a year ,the muck gets rancid ,and one of the problems is mosquitoes ,and horse fly's they will bite cattle ,and horse fly's can spreed tic fever ,fatal in a lot of cases ,mainly with dairy cattle ,not so with beef cattle .

Also they are a big problem at night time ,cattle are not happy when they are waving they heads trying to get rid of the fly's ,that is why a lot of farms light fires ,mainly evening time  ,using smoke to get rid of mosquitoes and other flying insects .

Regarding feet ,it is a big problem again with dairy cattle standing in wet yards cause feet and heel ulcers  and foot rot ,a big cause of loss of production ,mainly milk yield ,not so much a problem with beef cattle ,they feet are harder than dairy cattle.

One problem with all cattle is that cattle do not walk ,no exercise  the feet do not wear ,toes get long ,and you get what is known as Turkish slippers, toe's curl upwards  ,the animal walks on her heels not on they toes like they should ,this will put undue pressure on the hip joints ,with bulls meaning they can not work properly ,and with heifer and cows they will not come on heat ,or show silent heat systems ,with female stock thy are afraid of other animals riding them because of the painful hips .

Why farmers do not have a 1 rie paddock ,not a lot of land where cattle can walk for some exercise ,may be lie down under a tree for some shade well away from the mud /<deleted> and fly's ,of the shed ,cattle will be a lot more content a happy,and of coarse it will keep they feet in good condition  .

 

[grollies]

On 8/30/2019 at 6:44 AM, dimitriv said:

I grew up in a village with a lot of cows. We owned horses ourselves. I spend every day a couple of hours in our stable after school. To clean up <deleted>.

 

Animals like cows or horses standing in poop all day can get problems with their hoofs. They get weak, can burst, bleed. Next they can get infected. For horses this can be fatal if not taken care of very quickly. En best of course is to prevent this from happening. A horse that cannot walk is only useful for meat. Animals with hoofs need a dry place to stand. Some days in a wet place is ok. But for sure not too long.   

 

Poop can also contaminate food. It attract flies etc.

 

Your cows will love you for a clean place to live ????

Horses are a completley different animal ????. We also had a horse. The stable was mucked-out daily. Horse poop is a lot easier to pick up than cow slop. We'd even go around the fields once a week and pick up horse poop as it apparently encouraged the growth of a particular weed that was bad for horses to eat. Mind you, this might have been a ruse by Mum to keep us out of the house and collect manure for her roses........

[Tayaout]

Extract of p. 27 of "You can farm" by Joel Salatin