Shelters: Stall Considerations

Stalls are great to have when you need to contain a Dexter for health, safety, weather, maternal bonding or a number of other reasons. There are important factors to consider when creating a stall area or adjusting a stall area that maybe you inherited from the purchase of your farm. Looking at all of the pictures below you would think my Dexters spend their entire life in the barn, but they don't. The Dexters love the barn because I have made it so comfortable for them and I always keep it a low stress place to visit. They come and go as they please, which is often!

• Most mature sized Dexters can do fine in a 10×10 or 11×11 stall.
• If you are confining a cow for health reasons you don't want them to have too much room.
• A cow/calf pair who just need a little more time for the calf to get stronger can do ok in more of a stall run, where it is longer than it is wide. (I.e. 24×12)

Above: Stall is 10×10 ( Short walls are 5' tall.) Red gate is 6' long with hardware. Tall sided walls is due to the hay area behind this stall. This pic is right after construction- no cattle yet.

Above- Same stall above but ready for cattle. The Dexters prefer this stall when they are in the barn.

Above: 10x10x5' stall with short sided back wall. This pic is right after construction- no cattle yet.

Above: Same stall as the pic before it, but now ready for cattle. The Dexters prefer the other stall with the tall back wall because they have more privacy.

Above: Full view of constructed stalls and hay area in barn. As time went on I also built additional stalls on the right side. I left a large area in front so the Dexters could get out of bad weather without being too crowded.

• You want the location of your stall area to be close enough to your home that it is easy for your to check on an Dexter confined in a stall.
• You want the stalls to be close enough to your working area, that if you have to move a cow to a stall, you can do so without too much distance.
• You want the stall area to be separated, yet still accessible to your pasture area, for ease of transition back to the pasture.
• It is helpful to allow the cows to have privacy but still be able to see their herd if they are separated for a short time.

Above: Cow was in a stall with her brand new calf and a yearling heifer found a way to the window so she could see what she was missing. HAHAHA

• Make sure the stall gate/door is easily accessible to the cow.
• Stalls can be made from several products, like metal, wood etc.
• Make sure the cow can see out, to reduce panic from cows not used to stalls.
• Allocate an area for water access (where you can fill up the individual water easily.)
• Consider having some of your hay supply in smaller manageable square bales for use in the barn
• If no electricity, LED lanterns work great. ( Even better if the ceiling is white, because it magnifies the light.)
• Summer usage needs to have great ventilation. Consider having fans if you can run electricity.

This stall has slotted views from 2 walls, so they can see out just fine. The other 2 sides of the stall are solid walls of 2×10 boards.

Above: A cyclone fan in a closed stall. The cows love napping in front of the fans. Looking at this picture closer, I should have made sure that extension cord was further away from their reach.

• Height of top rail on stall wall- They should be above the Dexters head, but with a view out from at least one area of the stall.)
• Height of bottom rail on stall wall- Should be as close to the ground as possible, especially if young calves are going to be in the stall. Calves can accidently SLIDE under a corral panel, gate or other side wall that is elevated off the ground. In our stall area, we hang our stall gates fairly close to the ground to prevent calves from sliding underneath.
• Ensure there are no loose screws, exposed nails or anything sharp that could pose a danger.
• If possible keep the hay off the ground, so food doesn't get contaminated easily. If you use hay bags make sure they are made of cotton, which breaks if a Dexter gets caught.
• Keep all non necessary items put away, since cows are non discriminate eaters.
• Keep feed bags and other supplement food storage locked away so Dexters don't get free access to this food.
• Keep electrical wires away from stall areas and out of cattle reach.
• Good solid footing in the stall itself and to and from the stall area.

Above: Cow with just born calf in stall. Cow has clean water, hay in bag and plenty of bedding to relax on. Stall is a 10×10 with 5' side walls to the ground. One stall wall is a slated type with 2×6 boards.

Above: Cow with just born calf in stall. Cow chose to take him to this stall. Red gate is installed low to the ground.

Above: This Dexter cow brought her brand new calf to the barn, on her own. She thinks she hid him well in the stall. Can you find him? Haha

Above: Dexter calf and new calf warm and snug on a very cold icy Texas morning.

If you have some good pictures of your stall setup that you would like to share with our region please email them to me at dynastydexters@gmail.com