21 – 100 cows
A professional dairy with structured employee shifts, formal records, and a production-focused barn layout. This is the sweet spot for ROI on milking automation. Plan a 5-year expansion buffer when sizing infrastructure.
Climate adjustments
Switch climate to see how the design changes.
Cold / continental. Long, hard winters (mean < 8 °C; deep snow). Animal heat retention and freeze protection dominate.
Sample farm layout
Schematic top-down view. Final designs are tailored to your land and climate.
What changes in cold / continental climate
Housing
Compact footprint; higher cubicle walls reduce draughts; consider compost-bedded pack barns at small scale.
Ventilation
Closed or partially closed barn with positive-pressure tube ventilation in winter.
Bedding
Composted bedded pack (cows + dry bedding generate heat) or insulated mattress with sand topping.
Water
Electrically heated waterers; freeze-protected supply lines (deep burial or heat trace).
Waste handling
Lined manure storage sized for 7+ months — frozen ground prohibits spreading.
Also consider
- •Heated parlor floor + auto-drain on milk pipes
- •Compact equipment-yard layout to minimise tractor warm-up cycling
- •Roof pitched ≥ 30° to shed snow
Housing systems
- •Free-stall barn, 2 or 4-row layout (9 m² per cow)
- •Cross-ventilation with ridge vent or tunnel fans
- •Sand or mattress cubicles
- •Designated fresh, dry, and hospital pens
Feeding arrangements
- •Center feed alley TMR delivered twice daily
- •Headlock feed barrier 75 cm per cow
- •On-farm feed storage: silage bunkers + commodity shed
Water systems
- •1 waterer per 15 cows
- •Recirculating supply with float valves
- •Plate-cooler heat recovery for warm wash water
Waste management
- •Automatic alley scrapers
- •6+ month covered slurry lagoon
- •Nutrient management plan filed with regulator
- •Optional sand separator if using sand bedding
Farm management
- •Herringbone 2 × 8 or parallel 2 × 10 parlor
- •Bulk tank with full-time cooling + agitation
- •ID + activity collars feeding into the platform
- •Quarterly nutrient + financial reviews
Want this tailored to your land?
Try our AI preliminary design — instant — or request a full consultation.