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Free stalls ?

J

JayinNY

Well-known Member
I have worked with horses for 23 years, and cows for only 10 years, I like the horses better! Any way my fil and the guy who I'm taking care of his cows for
while he's in Florida both have there beefers in tie stalls. I can see using tie stalls maybe for milking, then turning the cows outside, but keeping beef tied up all winter seems silly. What I was wondering Is how free stalls work, I mean I know the cows can come and go and are not tied, but say at night in the winter, do they just stay in the stall, or wander around the barn? I have also read cows are the most content when there laying down chewing there cud. We finally forced my fil to get rubber mats, because he wouldent use any bedding. But, when I go into the other guys barn the cows are never laying down. Just thought I'd ask about how freestalls work.
 
Gosh, there aren't any cattle inside around here! They do enjoy laying around chewing cud if they are satisfied feed-wise. I find that they always lay near the bale feeders on the bay pile. If you stir that you find it steaming - I think they are getting heat there.

When I had cattle that could get in the barn I just bedded an area with straw. If they wanted to come in they could. When the cattle are in the pasture by the house they can get into a three-sided building if they want. There isn't any bedding in there.

If they can get out of the wind they are fine. I can't imagine keeping them in 24/7, though. Seems like a lot more work for the farmer. I know big dairies do it that way due to space and other constraints, but around here the hogs and cattle are outside. It's just less cleaning for me.
 
Content dairy cows/heifers will lay in a free stall and chew their cud. It is quite a sight to see 1,500 head all bedded down for the night and content.
You have to sneak up on em and not let them know your there. There always seems to be a few headed out for a drink.

Ours are bedded with limestone sand/chips. Good for the fields or better than sand anyway. The buildings are comfortable in the cold but we have to manage the curtains to maintain proper ventilation. Easy to clean with the skidder and a quick rake of the bedding.

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I agree with you, my beefs stay out all year, but they have a shed to go in to get out of the wind if they want, ect. Both of these guys do have barn cleaners, but tied up 24/7 for 5 months seems stupid.
 
Ok so your saying the cows will stay in the stalls all night?
Not lay in the ally or anywhere else? Great looking barn by
the way, but were are all the cows? Lol, and thanks for the
info,,
 
Beef cattle need exercise, just like dairy cattle. Beef cattle would do better in a loafing barn, which should bedded. Dairy cattle are in free stalls which is a easier way to keep them clean.
 
Asking for info is one thing, making dumb comments about something you don't know about is another. Each system has its bennefits. Tie stalls require less square feet per cow, the ability to tweek rations per cow by feeding low producing cows less grain while feeding high producing cows more, feeding cows individualy and not in a group at a bunk allows the farmer to make sure every cow stays on feed and if not they are cought much faster before the typical free stall cow would show clinical signs which makes them easier to treat. In the winter its more comfortable for the farmer and he can work in his shirt sleeves. Most tiestalls have a gutter cleaner so with the flip of a switch the barn is automaticly cleaned, but those who have delt with problamatic gutter cleaners cringe at the thought of them. A properly bedded tiestall will be comfortable for the cow. Boss cows can't beat on others. This is just a few reasons tiestalls arn't stupid. I'm not saying one is better than another but each has a place. There are more cows in stantions and tie stalls than you think. Tell your father in law sand is cheep to bed with. I pay $75 plus delivery for a triaxle load of bedding sand and it lasts a long time. Cows love it and it stays in place better than straw or shavings.
 
The only place they ever lay down is in the stalls and yes they will stay there all night. The building is empty cause I just finished cleaning it and the cattle are locked in the feed alley.
There are 4 buildings with 8 pens.

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Bedded packs are a good housing system. The draw back is you need more square feet per cow than any other housing, bedding costs are much higher and higher chances of steped on teats and udders. It is a good system other than that.
 
I just don't see the need to tie stall beef cows all winter. I think tie stalls are banned in new zeland!
 
Funny, sounds similar to the recent gun control argument. Maybe we should ban selling beer in convienience stores because canada did too. New zealand is a heavily grazing dairy country and its hard to compare us apples to apples. You should go check out a good tiestall farm before you condem them. You might even like them.
 
I'm not condeming them, I'm sure they have there place. As I said 3 times, I don't think beef cows need to be in them. I'll say it again a forth time for you, I don't think beef cows need to be in tie stalls. Can you understand that yet???
 
Even here in MN I don't know of any farmers with beef cows in tie stalls. Most are outside and may have some type of shelter available. Tie stalls are the most efficient for space where free stalls are most often a little larger. I've milked in station, tiestall and parlor setups. They all have there place. I just never even herd :roll: of beef in tie stalls. But each to their own I guess.

Rick
 
Well at least you went from saying they are "stupid" and "banned in new zealand" to saying "they have their place" so thank you. Hopefully the weather here in ny breaks soon and they will be outside anyway.
 
Grew up on a beef farm. it had an old stanchion barn on it. Dad had us feed silage to the beef cows morning and night.We put them in the stanchions at night and fed them. Left them over night and fed in the morning , then turned out for the day .Two of the cows were half dairy, and milked twice daily. That may have had something to do with it.The concrete feed bunk made it nice to see that all got their share.
 
I dident mean to offend anyone who uses tie stalls. I know guys who milk on a pipeline with tie stallls, but beef can stay out all winter, that was my point. A neighbor had a barn fire here 5 years ago, most of the fireman had no idea how to deal with cows (in tie stalls) or cows at all, but 1 guy did, he used bolt cutters to cut the neck chains and free the cows, out of 75 cows I think 7 were lost. I wasent trying to say tie stalls are no good, just not for beef to stay in all winter.I also can't understand how the cows stay in place in free stalls, we have ones get loose from there tie stall and they make a mess in the barn!
 
I had my beef cows outside in a yard all the time unless they had just calved and their was trouble with the calf. -40 didn't bother them at all. A barn is for keeping the water bowl warm, a chute to doctor them, and a few calving pens, as far as I'm concerned. It's been more than 30 years since I worked on a freestall dairy, but I think you need to keep the stalls well bedded, and then they will lay down in them instead of in the alley full of manure. They would probably need to be trained a bit. Outside on a pack is easier.
 
Cool, I wonder if your father in law is on to something. If the beefers are in a barn and its warmer than outside they are using less calories. And if they arn't moving as much, as the old timers used to say, running their weight off, they are using less calories. All the saved colories will go to growth instead of maintance. I'm just trying to give you a good reason for it, if nothing else it will make you feel better when you have to go feed them tomorrow!
 
Beef animals in tie stalls?????? Why? Tie stalls are for dairy cows, to give the farmer some animal control for feeding, milking, breeding, etc. They require extra work for that extra care. With larger dairies, farmers go to free stalls to relieve that workload, so they can handle more cows. Who would put any beef animals in any kind of stalls?
 
My buddy just moved up to NY from lancaster county PA. There seams to be a BIG geographic difference on the way things are done. Down here only dairy cows are in tie stalls. Even dairy heifers just stay in a bedding pack. In NY heifers are in tie stalls. In NY guys use tie stalls for beef, down here NO ONE does that. Bedding is also an interesting topic. Up in NY where my friend moved no one bales corn fodder. Everyone just beds with mulch hay. Down here no one beds with mulch hay. Its either corn stalks,straw or sand...
 
It depends where you live. My cows are outside year round. When it is cold and wet and their hide gets soaked they don't like it. They don't like hot neither but they just have to take it. If I had a small herd 20-40 cows, in your snow & rain country I'd keep them in tie stalls. I'd turn them out for exercise a few minutes every morning while I cleaned the stable and plan to calve after they were turned out on pasture. I don't like free-stall setups. They are always cold and damp and the floor covered in excrement. The only reason cows use the stalls is because it's the best place to lie down. If you do a good job of cleaning the alleys and a poor job of bedding the stalls the cows will lie in the alleys.
 
That needing exercise is the best reason in the world not to use tie stalls for any animall. Just think if it was you and could not move what your joints and mussels would be like and those problems would cut the usefull life of that animal in half.
 
As soon as I pull in I can hear them bawling, after they get there grain the stop, then it's on to hayledge, than there hay. Maybe they lay down over night, I dont know I'm not up there then.
 
Here are a few reasons that may account for keeping the beef cows in tie stall or stanchions -1)may be using an old dairy barn and not want to modify it .2)may need to keep cows inside to keep it warm enough so water bowls dont freeze 3) If the cows freshen this time of the year it is easier to keep track of them and keep them out of the mud/weather when they freshen. 4) may be easier to feed them in the barn if using silage in an upright silo attached to barn. 5) If there is a gutter cleaner- easier to clean the barn and older dairy barns would not have the ceiling height to let a bedded pack build up. I have seen several older dairy barns used for heifers or beef cattle .Sometimes the barn is changed to allow loose housing . I agree it isnt the best idea to keep them tied up all winter but there may be good reasons for it . I have fed beefers outside through the winter- deep snow and deep mud take the fun out of it fast.
 
My grandfather kept all his beef animals in tie stalls.

Although I can't ask him I'm 99% it was all about not wasting feed. In the morning they were fed then let out, then at night they would come in and be fed again.

Worked that way all winter, in the summer/fall they were on pasture.

I don't think it was dumb at all. When you had to put everything in square bails and it was all hand feed then you wasted at as little as possible. He could also keep a good handle on who was getting what. Pretty handy for finishing.

K
 
Are the bunks clean when you get there? Try giving them a little more hay if they are.

A clean bunk means they are hungry.

In a dairy cow that means they aren't making all the milk that they can. Took a year to convince my dad of that once we went to the TMR.
 
contented cows don't bawl. Hungry cows do. I'd guess yours are hungry. I don't know how many times a day you feed but it's pretty hard to put enough in front of a cow in a stall barn for once a day feeding. Maybe that's why you don't like it.
 
I'm doing as the guy told me, they get grain in the morning, then haylage and then hay in square bales, I'm using 13 bales a day for 20 adult heifers, and 14 calfs 1 year old or less, the calfs are also in the tie stalls. The 5 outdoor cows get a round bale every 3 days.
 
maybe the only reason the old timer does it is he is probably such a cheap .... Dosen't realize that his cows are wearing out faster because of less exercize and actually in the long run costs him more.
 
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