Housing for Adult Cattle

In this chapter, we look at the effect on animal welfare of the way that cattle are housed. Housing conditions affect animals throughout their life. Images of modern housing systems, such as veal calves in individual veal crates, have figured prominently in public concern about the welfare of farm animals. Many modern housing systems involve keeping animals indoors, in a restricted space, at high density, and often separated from other animals. In this chapter we concentrate on welfare issues that arise primarily from the physical and social (e.g. group versus individual housing, stocking density) aspects of the environment. Housing factors associated with feeding, such as feeder design, etc. are also discussed here. For convenience, we discuss housing for adult cattle (almost exclusively dairy cows) in this chapter, and housing for growing animals, including veal calves, dairy heifers, and beef cattle raised for meat production, in Chapter 7.