Livestock Facility Needs Analysis: Beef, Swine, Sheep, and Goat

1. Lesson 1 Determining Livestock Facility Needs Reminder: student learning activities are at the end of this power point.

2. Next Generation Science/Common Core Standards Addressed! • RST.11‐12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., quantitative data, video, multimedia) in order to address a question or solve a problem (HS‐LS2‐6),(HSLS2‐7),(HS‐LS2‐8) • RST.11‐12.9 Synthesize information from a range of sources (e.g., texts, experiments, simulations) into a coherent understanding of a process, phenomenon, or concept, resolving conflicting information when possible. • (HS‐LS3‐1)

3. Agriculture, Food , and Natural Resource Standards Addressed! • AS.07.01. Design programs to prevent animal diseases, parasites and other disorders and ensure animal welfare. • AS.07.01.02.a. Explain methods of determining animal health and disorders. • AS.05.01. Design animal housing, equipment and handling facilities for the major systems of animal production. • AS.05.01.02.a. Identify and summarize equipment, technology and handling facility procedures used in modern animal production (e.g., climate control devices, sensors, automation, etc.).

4. Bell Work! • Describe facility needs for beef cattle. • Identify facility needs of swine. • List and explain facility needs of sheep and goats. • Discuss facility needs for dairy cattle.

5. Terms • Cold housing • Farrowing • Flat milking barns • Intensive grazing • Milking parlors • Warm housing

6. Interest Approach Tour an animal facility of any kind. Ask the owner about each building and what it is used for. Once you get back, discuss any questions that did not get answered on the tour.

7. What facilities are needed to raise beef? • Individual needs for specific facilities will depend on what production system you are in. • The first thing to consider when raising beef is the location of the farm or ranch. You must make sure that you have access to water, roads, electricity, windbreaks, and all other necessary amenities. The size of the ranch and number of animal units is also a factor to keep in mind.

8. You should build facilities where they can be expanded or changed to meet future needs. • Fences need to be sturdy to keep animals in. • They can be electric, wooden, vinyl, or barbed wire. Gates should be in useful and accessible areas. • No matter what kind of production system you have, water must be available for all animals.

9. Feeders need to be located where cattle have access to salt and mineral. You need enough feeding space for all animals to eat at the same time. If all animals cannot eat, they may become aggressive or some may go without food. Storage of feed is necessary to keep it clean and have minimal waste. Upright silos, feed rooms, trench silos, and metal storage bins all work well, depending on what feed you are storing.

10. You will also need equipment to work with your animals. • It is much safer for both the producer and the animal to have corrals. You should place corrals where cattle can be easily loaded onto trailers. • In addition to corrals, you should have head gates for tagging, vaccinations, and other treatments of cattle. Head Gate

11. Buildings should protect cattle from both heat and cold. • Placement should consider prevailing winds, accessibility to water, and space requirements.

12. What Facilities are needed to raise swine? • Swine production facilities require proper location, construction, and maintenance. • All factors should above all consider the type of production being done. • The facilities are important because they determine how hogs will be raised. • There are three main types:

13. Enclosed confinement buildings provide a completely controlled environment and if properly maintained, works on minimal labor requirements. • Open buildings with sloped concrete floors also work well to raise swine. Automatic watering and feeding is generally used in these buildings. • Pastures and dry lots are used, but they are getting less common. Protection from the weather needs to be provided with this setup.

15. Buildings need to be useful for their intended purpose. • A farrowing barn for example must contain a nursery. • There are three main factors to consider: • Temperature control, disease problems, temperature and excess moisture can all be controlled by ventilation.

16. Waste management is a major concern to promote good health and comply with regulations on manure disposal. • Make sure you have manure storage as well as a place to dispose of manure. • Buildings should be easy to clean. If the facility is difficult to clean, it will be done less often and require more time from the producer. Inside a swine confinement building

17. Examples of Controlling Swine Waste.

18. Swine Facilities Continued: • Location of your facilities is important to consider, especially if you live close to housing areas. • You should always build where you will later have room to expand if necessary. • Fencing is only important when pasturing your hogs. • Strong fences that are at least 3 feet tall should be built with sturdy gates.

19. Swine Facilities Continued: • Spending the extra money to get strong feeding and watering equipment is important because swine are hard on it. • You will be more efficient if your equipment is easy to clean and automated. • As with all animals, consider how many animals you plan to raise so there is enough space for them to be comfortable. Swine Nursery feeder

20. What facilities are needed to raise sheep and goats? Since sheep are hardy animals, they don’t require as much protection from the environment as other animals. Sheep are less expensive to raise because they do not require costly shelters.

21. Sheep and Goat Continued: • Housing for goats and sheep will vary with operations, but barns are usually built so they are open to the south. • You will need bedding, troughs, feeders, and waters all in accessible areas. • Free stall facilities are built for does that are milking. • Loose or open housing is used for kids and yearlings. • Any goat kept where they can get to other goats should be dehorned.

22. Sheep and Goat Continued: • Fencing needs to be 60 inches or higher and have only 4–5 inches between strands for sheep and goats. • When raising goats and sheep, it is more important to focus on keeping predators out than keeping your animals in. Lambing pens

23. Sheep and Goat Continued: • Depending on the operation, you might also need showing and grooming equipment, corrals, loading chutes, and pregnancy testing cradles to name a few. • Always make sure you have enough space for all animals to be comfortable. CORRAL SYSTEM

25. What facilities are needed to raise dairy? Facilities and equipment are very important to the efficiency of your dairy operation. Housing, milking systems, feeding equipment, and manure facilities are the most important factors to consider.

26. Dairy Facilities Continued: • Housing protects both the animals and humans. • Since dairy operations are very labor intensive it is necessary to also consider your needs for a comfortable environment. • Cold housing is the term used for a building that is not heated and kept cold during the winter. • Cold housing is usually loose housing in the form of a free stall building. • Cold housing is not generally provided for cattle in NM as we have a relatively mild climate. Cold housing is commonly seen in mid-western and northern states.

27. Dairy Facilities Continued: • Warm housing is the term used for a building that is heated and kept warm during the winter. • Warm housing can also be a free stall, but it is insulated. • Warm housing also refers to enclosed barns with tie stalls. • Calf hutches are used for young calves and open sheds are commonly found housing young stock or dry cows. • Dairy animals on open pasture should be protected from extreme heat, extreme cold, and high winds. • Warm housing is not seen in New Mexico!

28. Dairy Facilities Continued: • Milking facilities are essential to dairy production. • Flat milking barns are barns where dairy are milked in their stall. Not common in NM as our dairy herds are too large to accommodate. • Milking parlors are concrete structures where cows come into to be milked. This is the general means of milk herds in New Mexico. • Milking parlors are built to increase efficiency, decrease labor, and improve working conditions and sanitation.

30. Milking Equipment

31. Dairy Facilities Continued: • Feeding systems are important to dairy operations. • Efficiency, cost, and location is important when considering where to store feed. • Many types of feed must be stored including corn, silage, haulage, dry hay, straw, minerals, and grains. • Silage bags, upright silos, metal bins, and hay mows are a few examples of where feed can be stored.

32. Examples Automatic feeders Silage Bags

33. Dairy Facilities Continued: • Intensive grazing is when cows are on pasture as graze for 24–48 hours and are then moved to another pasture. • It is labor intensive, but requires less storage of feed. • Feeding carts, track feeders, computerized feeders, and other modern techniques help make feeding dairy easier and less time consuming. Note: NM dairy cattle are generally dry lotted and not allowed to graze due to lack of adequate pasture and the number of head milked.

34. Dairy Facilities Continued: • Since dairy produce 8 percent of their body weight in waste every day, manure handling facilities are extremely important to the success of the operation. • All manure handling systems should serve three functions: • Keep animals clean • Provide labor-friendly collection • Dispose of waste in a responsible manner

35. Dairy Facilities Continued: • There are two types of handling systems that are named for the type of manure they handle: • Solid manure removal systems • Liquid manure removal systems • Both have advantages and disadvantages but the largest difference is that liquid systems are more expensive but are also more efficient.

37. Review/Summary 1. Describe facility needs for beef cattle. 2. Identify facility needs of swine. 3. List and explain facility needs of sheep and goats. 4. Discuss facility needs for dairy cattle.

38. The end!

39. Student Learning Activities • Sample tests are available in the Lesson Plan tab.

41. Hands-on activity:Digest your food! • In a multi-week experiment, student teams gather biogas data from the mini-anaerobic digesters that they build to break down different types of food waste with microbes. Using plastic soda bottles for the mini-anaerobic digesters and gas measurement devices, they compare methane gas production from decomposing hot dogs, diced vs. whole. They monitor and measure the gas production, then graph and analyze the collected data. Students learn how anaerobic digestion can be used to biorecycle waste (food, poop or yard waste) into valuable resources (nutrients, biogas, energy)

42. Materials List • Each group needs: • 6 2-liter soda bottles • 3 2-liter bottle caps • 3 500-ml plastic water bottles with caps • 1.5 meters (5ft) thin tubing, such as fish tank aeration tubing, • 1.5 liters cow manure, or sediment from the bottom of a pond, swamp or other consistently wet area • 1 hot dog • lab gloves, one pair per student • safety goggles, one per student • lab coat, one per student • sharpie or similar marker for labeling plastic bottles • graduated cylinder • Anaerobic Digestion Data Sheet, one per group • Anaerobic Digestion Worksheet, one per student • To share with the entire class: • hot glue gun and glue sticks • drill and a drill bit that is slightly larger than the aeration tubing diameter; alternatively, use a knife to cut holes in bottle caps • measuring cup • bucket of tap water that has been left sitting out at room temperature for 24 hours (to help the chlorine dissipate); need at least 1.5 liters per group • scissors, for cutting plastic bottles and tubing • knife and cutting board, to cut hot dogs • graph paper, colored pencils/markers, for plotting graphs

43. Before the Activity • In the weeks before the activity, ask students to bring in the two sizes of rinsed plastic bottles with caps. figure 1. To measure gas production in the mini-anaerobic digesters, make a gas measurement bottle from a graduated water bottle. • Gather materials, tools and lab supplies. • Cut the tubing into 0.5 meter (~1 foot) sections, enough for three sections per group. Alternatively, have students do this themselves during the activity. • Make copies of the Anaerobic Digestion Data Sheet, one per group, and the Anaerobic Digestion Worksheet, one per student. • Leave the experimental water supply sitting out overnight to rid it of chlorine. • Divide the class into groups of four students each.

44. With the Students: Preparing the Gas Measurement Bottles • Cut 2.5 cm off the bottoms of the three 500-ml water bottles. • With the cap on, invert the bottle so the cap is on the table. Use a graduated cylinder to measure 50 ml of tap water and put the 50 ml of water in the inverted bottle. Mark the water line with a permanent marker and label it "50 ml." • Continue to fill the water bottles, 50 ml at a time, marking each new 50-ml water level until the bottles are full. The three bottles should look like the one in Figure 1. These are the "gas measurement bottles" for the experiment. • Cut 3 of the 2-liter bottles in half. Recycle the tops; they are not needed for the experiment. The bottom halves serve as water traps to keep the gas in the gas measurement bottles (see Figure 2). • Fill the three 2-litter bottoms three-quarters of the way with regular tap water. • Uncap each gas measurement bottle and place it within a water bath with the bottle cap side up. Let the bottle fill completely with water, as shown in Figure 2. figure 2. Prepare the gas measurement bottle by placement in a water bath.

45. With the Students: Preparing the Anaerobic Digesters • Now let's build our reactors! Take the six bottles caps (three from the 2-liter and three from 500-ml water bottles) and use a drill to make one small hole in the center of each cap. The hole must be large enough to permit the tubing to slide through it. • Cut the tubing into 0.5 meter (~1 foot) sections, enough for three sections per group. Place the end of one section into the cap of the 2-liter bottle used as the anaerobic digester. The tubing should only go into the cap about 2-3 cm (~1 inch). • Use hot glue to secure the tubing in place with no air leaks. It is critical to have a tight fit because if any air enters the bottle, the microbes won't be happy and the biogas will escape. Figure 3 summarizes these steps. figure 3. Bottle cap preparation using a drill, tubing and hot glue. • Place the other end of the tubing in the hole of a 500-ml bottle cap. • Glue the tubing in place. Refer to Figure 4 to see the final experimental setup composed of an anaerobic digester and a gas measurement device. • Repeat these steps for the remaining two sections of tubing so that three experimental setup are prepared.

46. With the Students: Food Preparation • Cut the hotdog in half. Dice one half as finely as possible; leave the other half unchanged. • Place the diced hotdog in one anaerobic digester bottle and label it "Diced Hotdog." • Place the remaining hotdog section in the second anaerobic digester bottle and label it "Hotdog." • The last/third anaerobic digester bottle serves as a blank (control); do not add any food to it. Label it "Blank." • Place 500 ml of cow manure or pond sediment into each of the three bottles. This is the source of the microbes. • To each bottle add 500 ml of the water that has been standing out overnight. • Seal the filled anaerobic digester bottles using the caps that have tubing attached to them. Refer to Figure 4. • Take the opposite ends of the tubing and use them to cap the gas measurement water bottles. Refer to Figure 4. • Your three experimental setups (diced hotdog, hotdog and blank) are complete! • At this stage, verify student understanding by assigning students to each draw the experimental setup, labeling all components and writing a brief description/prediction of what is expected to happen.

47. With the Students: Observation and Data Recording Figure 4. The experimental setup in progress: mini-anaerobic digester (left) and gas measurement device (right). • Over the course of two to three weeks, observe the bottles (see Figure 4). • As gas is produced, it pushes the gas measurement bottle up from the water bath. Each day (or as often as possible), measure the amount of gas produced by reading the marked line at the level of water inside the gas measurement bottle. • Once the gas has been measured, uncap the gas measurement bottle. This permits the bottle to completely refill with water from the water bath and resets the bottle so it is ready to collect more gas. It may not be necessary to reset the bottle every day, as it depends on the amount of biogas being produced. The point of refilling, or resetting the gas measurement bottle, is so that it never overfills with gas. If it overflows with biogas, then gas measurements are lost. • Hold groups accountable for monitoring, measuring and recording the amounts of gas produced. Have them record data on the team data sheets. • Once done, empty the bottles into the toilet, and rinse and recycle them. • Give students some time to plot and analyze their collected data, as described in the Assessment section. • Lead a class discussion to share results and guide students in the interpretation of their data. See the Assessment section for suggested questions. • Hand out the worksheets. Have students individually complete and hand them in for grading.

48. Safety Issues • Wash hands after touching anything in this system. Always wear gloves when handling cow manure. • The gas inside the bottles is flammable. While it does not pose a large risk, do not keep open flames near the gas. With the correct safety equipment (gloves, safety goggles, lab coat) this gas can be flared once gas collection has been completed. • Do not fill a reactor bottle to more than 50% of its volume. If large particles clog the tubing, extreme pressures can build up within the reactor. If this happens, place the clogged bottle in a trash bag and unscrew the bottle cap through the bag to prevent the reactor contents from spraying in the classroom. • The bottles may have on odor, like rotting eggs or cow manure. Be sure adequate ventilation is available when conducting the activity.