What would be the smallest stall a full size cow would be comfortable in? A friend on 16 acres is considering a couple of cattle,and already had a barn/shed type structure on property. I think we could convert it, but a stall would only be 10'x10'. Would that be enough space?
If we decided to go smaller, what could we get away with? There's not a lot of room for storage and we're either going to add some partitions, or build a separate structure.
Is there a reason that you'd have to have the cow inside? Ours are seldom under cover. If there's shade and a way to get out of the wind, unless you live in a really cold place, you may not even need a cow stall.
I can understand putting the cow and a newborn calf inside during a storm. And personally I wouldn't go any smaller than a 10x10 pen if you have a cow and calf. I haven't noticed a reply yet as to why you would want them inside anyway?
Just keep them outside unless you're going to milk them or want to handle them for showing etc. Cows do better outside and do not require shelter even during the extreme cold as long as they have hay to lay in and have a wind break. Mine live outside all year and they have shade in the Summer, hay to lay on and wind breaks in the Winter.
Tie stall barns have cows just tied up in rows, which would be a little over 4 feet wide and 6 ft long - plus head space. This conserves space and keeps them cleaner then a tiny pen.
Do you have a big herd or just a couple heifers? If you have a big herd and you want a 'shelter' I would go for having a pasture with a shelter belt, but if you don't have a shelter belt or don't want it then go with a pol e barn. If you have a couple cows a 10 by 10 is fine. I just got 5 first calf hereford heifers today. They will stay inside with the option to go outside when they calve, bad weather, too hot, too cold... etc. The same goes for my bottle calf. But, if my cows weren't going to be showing cattle and they weren't going to calve I would just keep them outside, it won't hurt them.
