By investing in our feed pads or herd barns, you can improve operational efficiency, reduce environmental impact, and promote better cow health, leading to a more productive and sustainable dairy farm.
Don Chapman Waikato designs and constructs customised feed pads and herd barns tailored to the specific needs of your dairy farm. Please get in touch to discuss how we can transform your dairy operations.
Covered and uncovered feed pads
Well designed and constructed feed pads are a critical component of modern dairy farming in the Waikato, offering significant benefits in terms of environmental management, cow health, operational efficiency, and regulatory compliance.
At Don Chapman Waikato, we specialise in designing and building feed pads tailored to your farm's needs, whether integrated with new or existing dairy systems, covered or uncovered.. With our extensive experience, we ensure that your feed pad is practical, versatile, and aligned with environmental and welfare standards.
Key features include:
- Economic Viability: Designed to be cost-effective while meeting environmental and animal welfare regulations.
- Integrated Design: Custom-built to fit seamlessly into your farm layout, enhancing stock flow, cow comfort, and feed management and effluent control.
- Durable Construction: Heavy-duty reinforced concrete slabs withstand the demands of heavy feed wagons and tractors.
- Maintenance and Access: Easy access for machinery and maintenance, with ample space for feed delivery and cleaning.
Design considerations include:
- Site Planning: Optimal location and size for effective operation, considering stock flow, proximity to feed sources, and effluent management.
- Feed Access: Adequate room for cows to access feed bins comfortably.
- Infrastructure: Includes water troughs and floodwash or high-pressure washdown facilities.
- Effluent Management and Pad Cleaning: includes floodwashing, scraping or high pressure washdown.
Our qualified team is here to guide you through the entire construction process, from design to completion. For custom solutions that suit your herd size, climate, and specific needs, contact Don Chapman Waikato today. Our feed pads provide a practical solution to challenges posed by Waikato’s climate and farming conditions.
Our feed pads and herd barns enhance cow health and operational efficiency for Waikato dairy farmers
- Covered feed pads offer weather protection for feed and cows, and offer better effluent management
- Herd barns provide a controlled environment with ventilation, durable feed walls and effluent control systems
Looking after farmers across the Waikato
The advantages of using a feed pad
Don Chapman Waikato's experienced team provides tailored solutions for feed pads from design to completion, considering key factors such as site planning, feed access, infrastructure, and effluent management to meet each farm's unique needs.
Here are some advantages of using a feed pad:
- Effluent Control: Feed pads help manage effluent by containing waste in a designated area, reducing the risk of nutrient runoff into water systems. This is essential for meeting environmental regulations and minimising the impact on local ecosystems.
- Reduced Pasture Damage: By providing a dedicated area for feeding, feed pads prevent overgrazing and soil compaction and pugging in pasture areas, promoting better pasture health and reducing land degradation.
- Comfort and Hygiene: Feed pads offer a clean, dry, and comfortable area for cows to eat, which helps maintain their health. Proper feed pad design minimises exposure to wet and muddy conditions, which can lead to hoof problems and other health issues.
- Efficient Feeding: A well-designed feed pad ensures that all cows have easy access to feed and water, leading to more consistent and efficient feeding practices. This helps improve overall milk production and milk quality.
- Enhanced Feed Management: Feed pads streamline the process of feeding and cleaning. With a dedicated area for feed storage and delivery, it’s easier to manage feed distribution and maintain cleanliness as well as reducing feed waste.
- Labour Savings: Feed pads reduce the time and labour needed to manage feeding and waste removal compared to traditional pasture-based systems. This can result in lower operational costs and improved farm efficiency.
- Reduced wear and tear of feed wagons, tractors and farm races compared to feeding out in paddocks.
- Seasonal Use: Feed pads are particularly useful during wet or adverse weather conditions when pasture can become waterlogged and unmanageable. They provide a reliable feeding solution regardless of weather, ensuring consistent cow nutrition year-round.
- Scalability: Feed pads can be designed to accommodate different herd sizes and farm layouts, offering flexibility for future expansion or changes in farm operations.
- Regulatory Compliance: Feed pads assist farmers in meeting New Zealand’s environmental and animal welfare regulations by managing waste and ensuring proper feed access.
- Sustainable Farming: By reducing environmental impact and improving cow health, feed pads contribute to more sustainable farming practices, aligning with broader goals of environmental stewardship and animal welfare.
The extra advantages of a covered feed pad
Covering a feed pad offers several significant advantages over an uncovered feed pad, particularly given the climate and the demands of modern dairy farming in NZ.
Here are some advantages of covering a feedpad:
- Reduced Moisture Exposure: Covering a feed pad protects feed from rain and moisture, which helps to maintain the quality and nutritional value of the feed. This is crucial in the Waikato, where rainfall can be frequent.
- Enhanced Cow Comfort: A covered feed pad shields cows from adverse weather conditions such as rain, wind, and intense sun, providing a more comfortable and consistent feeding environment.
- Controlled Effluent: With a covered feed pad, effluent is more manageable as it is less diluted by rainwater. This makes it easier to collect and handle waste, improving overall waste management practices.
- Easier Cleaning: Covering the feed pad simplifies cleaning and maintenance, as the area remains drier and cleaner compared to an uncovered pad exposed to the elements.
- Comfortable Feeding: A covered feed pad ensures cows can eat comfortably without exposure to harsh weather, which can reduce stress and contribute to better overall health.
- Consistent Feeding: Provides a consistent feeding environment regardless of weather conditions, leading to more predictable and efficient feeding practices.
- Reduced Runoff: A covered feed pad helps prevent feed and waste from being washed away by rain, which reduces the risk of nutrient runoff into local waterways and supports environmental sustainability.
Versatile and high quality herd barn designs
At Don Chapman Waikato, we specialise in constructing farm buildings that offer a safe and comfortable environment for your livestock while promoting efficiency and ease of management. Our herd barns are designed with features such as proper ventilation, durable feed walls, and effluent control systems, ensuring the health and well-being of your dairy cows. With a range of customisable designs, we can tailor a solution to your specific needs.
Why are herd barns important for Waikato dairy farmers?
Herd barns provide dairy farmers with a controlled environment that protects cows from the region's changeable weather conditions. Offering shelter and consistent comfort for your herd enhances cow health, reducing stress and promoting productivity. Healthy cows yield higher-quality milk, making herd barns a key investment for sustainable, high-output dairy farming in New Zealand.
Additionally, herd barns help preserve paddock quality. By rotating cows between barn and paddock, farmers avoid overuse and damage to pastures, allowing for more sustainable grazing practices. Herd barns are also an ideal space for calving, helping farmers monitor their livestock with greater ease and efficiency, which reduces labour costs and improves animal welfare.
Herd barn design with our popular standard barn layout
The standard barn layout is generally preferred for Waikato dairy farms due to its balance of practicality, cost-efficiency, and operational simplicity.
Key Features of the Standard Barn:
- Feed Walls & Machinery Lanes: A dedicated feed wall allows for efficient feed distribution without the need for cows to leave the pad during feeding. Machinery lanes are separated from the feeding area, ensuring stock are undisturbed and reducing stress. This layout improves feeding efficiency and minimizes pasture wear and tear, offering year-round operational advantages.
- Flood Wash Systems: Standard barns normally incorporate flood wash systems that simplify cleaning and maintenance, saving labour and ensuring cleanliness for both the cows and the farm.
- Cow Comfort: Many standard barns include rubber matting in the feed and resting areas, providing additional comfort and reducing hoof issues, while maintaining a dry and hygienic environment.
Composting Barn
While composting barns can provide soft and warm bedding for cows, the additional labour, equipment, and materials required for maintaining the composting process often make them more costly and time-consuming to manage.
For many Waikato farmers, the standard barn offers a more streamlined and cost-effective solution that still meets the highest standards for cow comfort and operational efficiency. The emphasis on feed lanes, cow comfort, and ease of management makes the standard barn the ideal choice for large-scale operations seeking high production output without the ongoing overhead of composting management.
Contact our team at Don Chapman Waikato to find out more.