Slope :- Proper and sufficient slope is very important for maintaining clean and dry sheds, slope in the open paddock should be 1: 60 for effective drainage of rain water, slope of the standing space shall be 1: 40 & slope in the drain should be 1 in 40.
There should be shallow drain in open paddock for complete drainage of rain water,The common drain of the dairy farm should be sufficient sloped and with optimum width for effective drainage of dairy washing etc.
Open drain is more preferable than closed underground drain which develops frequent blockade.
Roofs :- The milking cows and milking buffalo sheds should preferably be a double roofed structure with a separate roof over the middle gallery (feeding passage), This roof will cover at least 6-8 feet on either side of the midrib which will be 16-18 feet in height and will slant towards the edges, The standing space on the either sides will have separate roof which will have a gap of about 1 foot to facilitate smoother passage of the air and to provide better ventilation and lighting, The roof will have a height of at least 15 feet towards the midrib and 12 feet at eaves of projection and will cover 12 feet on either side.
The roofs of the calf shed, heifer’s shed and dry cows and dry buffaloes shed shall be of asbestos sheets and shall be constructed at a height of 12-14 feet above the floor level,The pitch of these roofs should be 12 degree to 18 degree with their horizontals,The eaves of the roofs should project out at least 50 cm away from the walls/pillars.
A provision for fan with mist cooling could be installed to protect the animals from severe heat stress during summer months, For protecting the animals from cold stress during winter providing wind breaks on the windward side which could be considered with provision for comfortable bedding material such as tree leaves/ rubber mats or surplus/ soiled paddy straw etc.
Flooring :- The floors under the roofed area should be made of RCC or cement concrete flooring tiles, surfaces of RCC floors should be made rough and non-slippery by making grooves, grooves shall be formed in square of 15 X 15 cm for adult cows & buffaloes shed and in squares of 10 X 10 cm for the calf shed,floors should have a slope of 1 in 40 towards the drains, U shaped drains of 30 cm width and 6 to 8 cm depth should be provided at the ends of covered area,slope of the drains shall be 1 in 100 and it shall lead through two settling chambers to the septic tank constructed with a length, width and depth of 5, 5 and 10 feet respectively.
About one half to one third of the open area towards the other end should preferably be katcha or sand bedded and the remaining one half to two thirds should be brick paved, floors of the straw store, chaff cutter shed and implements room may be brick paved whereas the floors of the milk storage and feed grinding, mixing-cum-storage room should be made of RCC.
Walls :- The covered areas and the open areas should be enclosed by 5 feet high brick walls which are 22.5 cm thick, height of walls along with which mangers have been constructed inside the sheds shall be 3 feet so as to allow for comfortable feeding from outside the sheds.
walls of milking cows and milking buffalo should have 10 feet wide centrally placed gates opening towards the road and the walls of calf shed, heifer sheds and dry cows & dry buffaloes sheds should have 6 feet wide centrally placed gates opening towards the road,gates should be made of iron or strong wood.
The height of straw store walls should be 20 feet, covered part of the calf pen/shed should have walls on three sides up to the roof with door in the wall facing the open area,fourth side (behind the manger) may be left open in summers and a tarpaulin curtain may be hanged from the roof in winters, During winter nights calves can be folded into this room and the doors closed, During daytime the calves can move through the opened doors into the open area to have the benefit of sunshine.
Boundary wall/fence and gates :- The boundary wall/fencing material should be cheap and locally available,effective height of the outer boundary wall for calf and adult may be 1.2 meter and 1.5 meters respectively, boundary may be made by brick wall or iron railing, provision of suitable size gates is also to be made in the boundary wall,main gate of the farm premises should be bigger in width i.e. 5.5 to 6 meters for easy entrance and exit of tractors, trolleys and other heavy vehicles.
Orientation of shelter :- Shelter provides protection to the animals from various climatic extremes i.e., rainfall, hot and cold weather, wind, snow, frost etc. In coastal area, the sheds shall be oriented across the prevailing wind direction in order to protect the roof from being blown off by high wind at the same time to provide sufficient air movement in the shed,In humid region, building should be so sited as to avail the natural aeration and sunlight,so the structure shall be east to west in coastal area and North to South in the dry hot area.
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