When working on a farm, your animals are your top priority and their safety is highly important. You cannot afford to lose any animals to predators or diseases, and safeguarding each and every farm animal can be tricky. So, while livestock barns are considered to be the best protection against a range of elements, are they enough?
Well, no! Every farm activity has to be carried out with precision, along with understanding the temperament as well as training of your farm animals.
There are numerous practices that can be carried out in order to protect and safely house your cattle. Along with minimizing the risk of accidents in your cattle, some care-taking tips will also help you in creating a harmonious environment.
From Theft To Pests: How To Protect Your Livestock?
To design the best cattle shelters, you need to understand what all do you need to protect your animals from. Moreover, by knowing the elements that you need to create a defense against, you can easily fulfill your cattle’s housing, feeding, and grooming needs. So, how can you protect them against different elements?
Theft
Livestock theft is a severe issue, and a few ways to prevent it are:
- Locks: It is crucial to add heavy-duty locks on all the access doors. Instead, you can opt for smart locks to further reduce the possibility of break-ins.
- Security system: Surveillance cameras and motion-detector alarms at entry points and grazing areas.
- Lighting: Adequate lighting at night can deter intruders from entering and stealing your cattle.
- Identification: Labeling your livestock with identification numbers will help you recover stolen animals.
Environmental
Harsh climates like extreme temperatures, storms, or floods can affect the health of your animals.
- Shelter: Metal barns and shelters will protect your livestock from freezing temperatures, scorching sun, and heavy rainfall. Their durability and sturdiness make them withstand adverse weather conditions.
- Insulation: With proper insulation, you can maintain a stable environment within livestock barns and protect your animals from extreme cold or heat.
- Ventilation: You should ensure that your barn is adequately ventilated to avoid heat stress during summer and condensation during winter.
Predators
Coyotes, foxes, wild dogs, wolves, and bears are a massive threat to your animals. Along with these, several birds, like eagles, are also likely to harm your cattle.
- Fencing: You can add mesh, metal, or electric wire fencing around the property as well as grazing areas to prevent animals from entering.
- Guard animals: Adding llamas, dogs, or donkeys to your farm can be significantly helpful as they will guard your animals.
- Doors: Latched doors within cattle shelters will prevent your animals from going outside in the middle of the night.
- Motion-sensor alarms: These will go off as soon as they sense any motion on your farm, scaring off predators approaching your cattle.
Pests
Pests, termites, and rodents can often infiltrate structures and harm your animals. While steel barns are not susceptible to damage by such elements and protect your cattle, more can be done not to let them come in the way of your healthy animals.
- Cleaning: It is essential to remove manure and waste to reduce the breeding of any flies or mosquitoes.
- Feed storage: Your feed should be stored in sealed containers that are rodent-proof. You should also constantly check for pest infestations.
- Insect control: You can add fly traps or insect repellents to reduce the population of insects.
- Baits: You can consider setting up barriers or bait stations around the livestock barns to stop rodents like rats and mice from contaminating cattle feed.
Diseases
If you are a rancher or farmer, you know how diseases can wreak havoc and devastate the population of your cattle if they are not contained properly.
- Vaccination: In addition to following veterinary guidelines to vaccinate your livestock, you should ensure routine vaccination and booster shots and maintain a health record of all animals.
- Proper quarantining: To prevent the transmission of diseases, sick or new animals should be isolated from the rest of the cattle.
- Maintain water quality: Clean and uncontaminated water is essential, and you should ensure that your cattle are not exposed to unclean water to avoid infections.
- Disinfect: Regularly disinfecting livestock barns as well as equipment will stop pathogens and illnesses from spreading. These practices will also help you keep their hygiene at par.
Tips To Maintain Optimum Cattle Health
Besides protecting your animals from various elements, ensuring their health is crucial for farm success. Healthy livestock directly affects your produce. Here are some tips to keep them thriving:
- Every animal’s dietary requirements differ, and you should contact a veterinarian to create a feeding plan to meet the nutritional needs of your farm animals. You should also assess and regulate their diet as per their activity level, age, and weight.
- Regular health monitoring, deworming, and parasite control will help you immensely in keeping your animals healthy and up-to-date. They will also help you in detecting issues early on and provide proper treatment to your animals.
- Your animals should have enough room to move around and lie down.
- You should ensure that their bedding is comfortable and clean for resting. Using materials like straw or sawdust is the most preferred choice.
- No matter what type of cattle you have, you should ensure they get regular physical movement and exercise for a healthy lifestyle. This will reduce the risk of obesity and behavior issues.
- You should work towards minimizing stress as well as anxiety in animals by handling them gently, offering long-term housing solutions like steel barns, and maintaining a consistent routine.
- Ensure that you do not make sudden movements or loud noises, which can cause animals to make any unpredictable moves that can lead to injuries.
- You should be extra cautious around new mothers, especially cows and sheep, as they can often be highly aggressive and protective of their babies. Maintain a safe distance or use barriers.
- Clean and adequate drinking water is crucial to ensure proper hydration of your animals. You should invest in waterers to offer a clean and constant supply of drinking water.
Health And Safety Of Farm Animals Utmost Important
Maintaining the health of your cattle, as well as protecting them from external factors, are essential for their long lives and proper functioning. You should invest in sturdy metal barns along with constantly inspecting your animals for diseases. Prevention is better than cure, so don’t wait for something to go wrong and begin safeguarding your livestock today!
