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The shed for the bulls is planned taking into account the number of livestock. Additionally, the characteristic features of the breed and a number of other nuances are taken into account. To build an outbuilding yourself, you need to have minimal construction skills, but first you need to clearly understand the requirements for a barn.
Requirements for a barn for cattle
A barn is for bulls what a house is for a man. Everything must be thought out here: walls, floor, ceiling, interior design. Animals spend at least 10 hours a day indoors. In winter, cows stay here almost around the clock. To ensure that cattle do not experience discomfort, a number of important requirements are imposed on the barn:
- ensuring complete safety for animals and the people caring for them;
- reliable fixation of workpieces when performing maintenance work;
- free access to drink and food, availability of devices for abruptly stopping feeding;
- the presence of free space so that the animal can lie, stand, and enter and exit without hindrance;
- the internal arrangement should be thought out in such a way as to reduce the amount and time of maintenance work to a minimum in the future.
It is useful to take bulls out of the barn even in the cold season.In order to provide animals with comfortable walking, you need to take care of the paddock. A fenced area is being set up near the barn. The size depends on the number of livestock. The top of the pen is covered with a canopy and blind side partitions are installed.
How to build a barn for cattle with your own hands
When deciding to build a barn for bulls, you need to take into account the features of the agricultural structure. In addition to adults, calves will be kept in the barn, and they are more fastidious. For the cold season, you will need to build individual houses. The easiest option is to fold them from straw bales. Inside the house the calf will be warm, dry, and comfortable.
The modern type of housing for young animals is a plastic box. The house is made of durable polymer, can be easily washed off from dirt, and can be treated with disinfectants. The lightweight box can be easily carried by two people around the barn and placed in the right place. The house is equipped with a doorway. There is a dry food dispenser and a hay compartment. The box's dome retains heat perfectly. The calf feels comfortable.
When building a barn for keeping cows, it is important to foresee what breeds of cattle will be kept here in the future. Animals of each species differ in size. A stationary shed made of blocks or other material is considered reliable. If we talk about practicality, then the sliding barn comes first. The structure is erected from panels. The materials used to make a sliding shed are boards, metal pipes, profiles, and wooden beams.In the future, if necessary, such a shed can be quickly disassembled and reassembled to change sizes.
Inside the barn there will be bulls and heifers of different ages. Every animal will need a stall. Young animals are given less footage, and adult animals are given more space. The size of the stall should provide free space for bulls and cows. The animal is given just enough space to go to bed, turn around freely, and go to the feeding trough and drinking bowl. The width of the stall should be enough for a person to freely approach the cow and milk.
However, the size of the free space cannot be greatly overestimated. In addition to not saving space inside the barn, the problem of unsanitary conditions arises. In a stall that is too wide, bulls feel free. They freely take food out of the feeder and scatter it on the floor. The problem of rapid contamination of the litter arises.
The video shows more information about sheds for keeping bulls:
Create a plan
To build a shed, you will need to develop a plan and create a drawing with dimensions. They begin to sketch out the scheme when they have already precisely determined the number of bulls to be kept.
When they are going to build a barn for calves and adult bulls, in addition to drawing up drawings, the plan takes into account the location of the outbuilding in a private yard. It is optimal to remove the barn 20 m from residential buildings, water sources, and other vital facilities. If it is impossible to fulfill the requirement due to territory restrictions, the distance is reduced to 15 m.
When the issue with the construction site of the barn is resolved, they return to drawing up the drawings. When determining the size of the barn, one adult bull or cow is given an area 1.1-1.2 m wide and 1.7-2.1 m long. Young bulls have different requirements, which is due to their active mobility. The plot is allocated with a width of 1.25 m and a length of 1.4 m.
When calculating stall size, feeders are taken into account. They must be kept away from the bulls. The steam coming out of the nostrils when the feeder is close will fall on the food. It will quickly become damp and moldy.
The ceiling height of the barn is set to a standard of 2.5 m. This parameter is sufficient for the bulls and service personnel. If the barn turns out to be 3 m high, there is nothing to worry about. It's worse if the barn ceilings are too low. It creates discomfort for the bulls and service personnel: movement is limited, and the accumulation of dampness and harmful gases increases inside the barn.
Knowing how much space one bull needs, multiply the value by the number of livestock kept. The resulting result will show the overall dimensions of the barn, but without the paddock. If a large number of bulls are expected to be kept, double-sided stalls are installed inside the barn. A free path of at least 1.5 m wide is left between the rows of sections. It is advisable to make a through passage in the barn by installing doors at the end of the building.
Necessary tools and building materials
A bull barn is often built from materials that are available to the owner. Wood is considered a good option.The material is available, inexpensive, and has good thermal insulation properties. The bulls will feel warm and cozy inside the wooden barn. If blocks and bricks are available, then this material can be used to build walls. The roof of sheds is usually built from inexpensive materials. Slate, roofing felt, and corrugated sheets are suitable.
Tools for building a shed for bulls are selected taking into account the selected building material. In any case, you will need:
- shovel;
- Master OK;
- hammer;
- Bulgarian;
- saw;
- screwdriver
If you are building stone walls for a barn and pouring a strip foundation, it is advisable to have a concrete mixer. It is very difficult to manually pound a large amount of solution.
Construction works
The process of constructing a barn for keeping bulls consists of several stages, each of which involves the construction of a certain part of the building: foundation, floor, walls, roof, ceiling. The last stage is the interior arrangement of the barn.
The construction of a barn begins with the foundation. How long the structure for keeping bulls will last depends on its strength. Sheds are usually placed on a strip or column base. It is important to take into account that the bulls create an additional large load on the foundation. If a wooden barn is being built for 2-3 bulls, then a columnar base is sufficient. From the name it is clear that the foundation consists of individual concrete pillars installed at a certain distance along the perimeter of the future barn.
Large barns where a herd of bulls is supposed to be kept, as well as buildings with stone walls, are placed on a strip foundation. A trench is dug under the monolithic base and the walls are covered with roofing felt. Formwork is installed around the perimeter. Inside the trench, a reinforcing frame is tied from rods.Concrete is poured in layers. It is advisable to complete the work in a day, otherwise you will not get a monolithic base.
The depth of the shed foundation is laid below the seasonal freezing point of the soil. If the soil on the site is heaving, additional strengthening measures are taken. Sometimes, for complex areas, a strip foundation is combined with a columnar base, and thick layers of crushed stone and sand are poured.
The floor in the barn needs to be durable. Bulls create an impressive load with their weight. The boards quickly become unusable. The hooves wear down the wood. Dampness has a negative effect. Worn boards begin to break under the weight of the bulls. In addition, the wood is saturated with the odors of manure.
A concrete floor provides ideal strength. The coating is resistant to dampness, can withstand the heavy weight of bulls, and does not absorb the odors of manure. The disadvantage is that concrete is cold. Bulls will catch colds and get sick.
It is optimal to make a combined floor for the bulls in the barn. The base is poured with concrete. Removable wooden panels are laid on top. If necessary, they are taken outside, cleaned, disinfected, and dried. Additional warmth for the bulls is provided by a bedding of hay or straw on the floor.
The walls of a barn for a small herd of bulls are made of wood. For such a building, a frame is assembled from timber, placed on a columnar foundation, and covered with boards.If you plan to keep a large herd of bulls from 20 heads, then brick or blocks are chosen to build the walls of the barn.
Small ventilation ducts are installed in the walls at a height of 2.5 m from the floorboards. Ventilation in summer provides fresh air. In winter, the barn vents are closed to conserve heat. For ventilation, air ducts with adjustable dampers are installed.
Windows are installed on the walls at a distance of 1.2 m from the floor. They provide daylight to the barn. It is advisable to equip the barn windows with vents for ventilation.
The roof is installed with a single or double slope. The first option is simpler, but not practical. The gable roof of the barn forms an attic. Due to the additional closed space, heat is better retained inside the barn in winter. The attic is used for storing hay and work equipment.
The frame of the roof of the barn is the rafter system. Waterproofing and roofing are laid on the sheathing. A lean-to canopy extends from the roof, covering the entire area of the paddock for walking.
Interior arrangement of the barn
The arrangement of the barn begins with the installation of a pen for each bull. The structure is made of durable materials. Usually they use metal or install concrete partitions. A feeder and drinking bowl are hung on the outer wall of the stall. They will be available to animals and owners for service.
Homemade feeders are made in the form of boxes with a height of opposite sides of 30 and 75 cm. The low part is located towards the stall. The animal will freely get food, but will not throw it over the high opposite side.
Feeders and drinkers are not placed on the floor. It is optimal to raise them about 10 cm from the flooring.The best option is an automatic drinking bowl with an uninterrupted water supply. It can even be installed in the far corner of the stall.
Conclusion
The bull barn can, if necessary, be converted to house other animals or poultry. Only the internal arrangement of the barn is changed, and the building itself continues to fulfill its functional duties.
