Page 172 - The Welfare of Cattle

ChaPter 14

Cattle Welfare and Principles of
handling Facility Design

Temple Grandin
Colorado State University

CONteNtS

Avoid These Common Mistakes in Facility Design....................................................................... 149
Conflicting Goals on Dairy Facility Design ...................................................................................150
Never Skimp on Sitework Grading in Open Dirt Lots for Beef or Dairy Cattle............................150
Beef Cattle Fed on Concrete Get Swollen Joints ........................................................................... 151
Animal-Based Outcome Measure to Monitor Problems with Housing or Management ............... 151
Design of Beef Cattle Handling Facilities ..................................................................................... 151
Mistakes That Make Handling Facilities Work Poorly .................................................................. 152
Restraint Device Evaluation ...........................................................................................................154
References ...................................................................................................................................... 155

There are many different designs for milking parlors and beef cattle handling facilities. Personal
preference often determines the type of facility that is chosen from a wide variety of good designs.
During a long career, the author has observed that there are certain design mistakes that people
keep making over and over. There are three kinds of mistakes. The first kind is that the people
designing the facility did not take the time to look up design information. This results in layout mis-
takes, which cause balking and animals fail to move easily through the facility. The second type of
mistakes is cutting costs on construction to the point where welfare may be severely compromised.
Common cost-cutting methods are overcrowding dairy cows in a free stall barn or flimsy construc-
tion that is more likely to fail. The third area where many mistakes are made is flooring surfaces.

aVOID theSe COMMON MIStaKeS IN FaCILItY DeSIGN

The most common mistake is a hard troweled glass smooth floor installed in a facility for
handling cattle. This results in animals slipping and falling. In 2016, the author visited a university
Experiment Station that had a new beef cattle handling facility with glass smooth floors. The profes-
sors knew it was wrong, but it happened because nobody told the mason who was finishing the floor
that it should not be totally smooth.
Ramps for loading or unloading trucks that are too steep are another common mistake. Romero
et al. (2017) compared cattle handling in two abattoirs in the country of Colombia. One was an old

149