What are the different types of

animal housing?
At different times in your life, you may have slept
in a cradle, a crib, a bunk bed or a cot. You may
have lived in a townhouse, a cottage, a college
dorm or an apartment. Where you lived depended
on where you were in your life. Were you a toddler
or a bachelor? A student or a young married
person?
Just like people, animals live in different places
depending on their stage of life.
Read about some common farm animals and where
they live as they mature:
Pigs
When it is time for baby pigs (piglets) to be born,
their mothers are moved to farrowing (gestation)
crates. These individual pens have metal bars that
separate the mother from the piglets when they
are born. This allows the piglets to nurse from her,
but prevents the mother from accidentally laying
on the baby pigs and crushing them. Gestation
crates also allow the farmer to better control the
housing temperature. The separation allows the
piglets to be in a warmer area and the mother in a
colder area. Farrowing crate flooring also helps
maintain a dry environment. This helps to prevent
the spread of diseases. This is especially important
as the piglets and mother are more susceptible.
 Gestation crates are not only necessary to keep the
piglets and mother safe, but also the farmer!
Pregnant sows display very aggressive behavior
that can lead to injury. By using gestation crates,
farmers can assist during delivery, monitor the
wellbeing of the young, and stay safe.
Piglets stay with their mother for about two to four
weeks. After that, they are moved to a nursery.
Here, they are kept warm and given special food to
help them transition from their mother’s milk to
the adult pig feed they will be eating later on.
Sheep
The type of housing given to sheep depends on
what kind of production system the farmer is using.
In “farm flock” production systems, the farmer may
allow his sheep access to pasture during the day
and keep his sheep in a barn at night. During the
winter, he may keep some sheep in the barn all
day. These systems are usually found in the
eastern part of the United States, where farms are
smaller. In the western United States, “range
flocks” are more common. These production
systems often let sheep run free throughout the
year, with the farmer moving with them as they
graze. The sheep are less intensively managed
than in farm flocks. The farmer has less control
over his flock’s environment, but the sheep get
more exercise and more time to graze.
The type of housing necessary for sheep also
depends on what time of the year the baby sheep
(lambs) are born. Because the producer has more
contact with his sheep and more choice over where
they are housed, this is more of an issue for farm
flocks.
Usually, female sheep (ewes) are what farmers call
short-day breeders, which means that it is easiest
for them to get pregnant when the days are short,
during fall and winter months. A ewe’s pregnancy
lasts around 147 days, so lambs from ewes bred in
the fall are born in the spring.
Beef cattle
Housing requirements for beef cattle largely
depends on season and age. As a result, many beef
farms are either calf/cow or feeder, though some
are a combination.
During the summer, beef cattle are able to graze
on pasture due to the comfortable temperatures.
In the winter, as the temperatures begin to drop
and the wind starts to increases, beef cattle have
access to the indoors. It is important to remember
that cattle are built for these cold temperatures
due to their thick skin and hide. As cattle mature,
they are moved to what is known as a feedlot. In a
feedlot cattle are able to roam in large fenced in
areas. Feedlots allow for their to be free access to
food and water.
Cattle who are calving (ready to give birth),
weaning (ending the period in which they
breastfeed the young), or sick cattle should have
primarily indoor housing. These barns are built in
such a way that the natural air flow helps increase
ventilation. The continual air flow helps to keep the
area comfortable and prevent and control possible
disease causing pathogens.
Dairy cattle
Unlike most other farm animals in larger
production systems, dairy cows tend to stay in one
place for most of their lives.
When baby cows (calves) are born, they are
separated from their mothers to prevent the
spreading of diseases from cow to calf. They are
fed colostrum from their mom as quickly as
possible. Colostrum is the first milk from the cow,
which has special antibodies to protect the calf
from diseases. Calves are then fed milk replacer for
six weeks in order to preserve their mother’s milk
for human consumption.
The female calves (heifers) are placed in individual
pens, such as hutches, or together in groups,
where they are fed milk replacer, grain, water and
hay. At about seven weeks, calves are weaned,
taken off milk, they are moved into group housing
with other dairy heifers. These heifers then grow
and once they have a calf, they begin producing
milk and move into a barn with other cows.
The male calves are either kept to grow into dairy
bulls or sold to other farms to be raised for veal or
beef.
Adult dairy cows are usually kept in large, open
barns with free stalls, meaning that they have the
freedom to walk around the barn at will. These
stalls are bedded with straw, sand, wood shavings
and other bedding materials that make it
comfortable for the cow to lie down.
On some farms, dairy cows are allowed to graze
periodically throughout the day and are also
provided with feed and water when they return to
the barn. At least twice a day, they are taken to
the milking parlor, where their milk is collected and
pumped into a large steel vat and held there until a
milk truck takes it to be processed.
Broilers (meat-type chickens)
There are two types of domestically-kept chickens:
broilers and layers. Broilers are chickens that are
raised for meat. They may live in several different
places before they are old enough to go to market.
On special breeding farms, fertilized eggs are laid
by a breeding hen. These eggs are taken to a
hatchery and stored for up to ten days before they
are placed into incubators. These incubators keep
the eggs at a temperature of 55–88° F before they
hatch into chicks at 21 days.
After hatching, the chicks are taken to other farms
where they will grow to market weight. When the
chicks first arrive, farmers may choose to divide
their long, ventilated chicken houses into smaller
sections, as the chicks are still very small and may
have trouble finding their feed and water in a large
space. Farmers may use brooding rings (small,
round pens) to keep the chicks close to the food,
water and heaters necessary to keep them healthy
and warm.
As the birds grow, the farmers will take the
dividers down and let the chickens move around
the entire barn. The chickens will be kept in this
barn until they weigh about six pounds and are
ready to go to market.
Laying hens
After they have hatched, laying hens are kept in
cages until they are around 17 weeks old. They
arethen moved into a laying house where they
begin laying eggs. On larger farms, laying houses
are connected by a series of conveyor belts that
transfer the eggs from each house to a central
building. Here the eggs are refrigerated and either
processed on the farm or transported to another
facility for further processing.
In conventional layer chicken systems, farmers can
keep their chickens in either a floor system or
battery-style cages. The floor system is a lot like
broiler chicken housing, where chickens can roam
the floor of the barn. Farmers can also keep their
chickens in battery-style chickens, which separate
the chickens from each other to prevent them from
fighting.