housing

[pudser]

We normally outwinter the cows but with a view to increasing numbers will house for a few months from next year.Straw bedded pens approx 15' X 14' 9'' i.e. one bay . Normally 8 adult cows would be housed in such pens. What is the equivqlent in Dexters without feeding meal

Pudser

[Mark Bowles]

Most interesting, i house in the winter, my stocking rate worked down to 15 x 15 is 2 to 3 dexters. I don,t have pens that small. I am running 1 group of 22 in a large pen of 30 x 75, the group does include our senior stock bull.
Onother pen of 30 x 30 has 7 in it, not all adults either.
On refelection i am understocked, but thats how i like it.

[Broomcroft]

8 full sized cows housed in 15' x 15' !!! We have one horse per unit that size. Something wrong with the figures. Do you mean metres?



Edited By Broomcroft on 1236104211

[Broomcroft]

Just looked up the standards for cattle housing space at Freedom Foods. For average Dexter cows, they need 8 sq mtrs each on total of clean dry bedding area. I think that means that for 8 cattle you would need an area measuring 26' x 26'.

Or in a 15' x 15' area you could house 2.6 average Dexters. I hope I've got the figures right! Sounds believable.

[pudser]

Thanks ,the figures I gave relate to the size of a slatted pen and 8 adult bovines would be the standard stocking. I just referred to to departmental guidelines which recommend 2.5 to 3 square metres per suckler cow on slats while loose housing should provide 4 to 5 square metres per cow.

IOFGA(organic crtification body) require these figures to be approximately doubled but do take account of live weight up to 200 kg 2.5 square metres per head ,350kg 4metre per head 500 kg 5 square metre per head.

The assumption which I made that well bedded pen and slats could handle the same stocking rate is probably a tad ambitious.