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Use when meal/supplements are fed to animals while milking if animals spend no extra time in the milking shed. If animals spend additional time in the shed or on a separate pad while feeding then use the feed pad option
Feed pad
a hard surface area (usually concrete) sited adjacent to the farm dairy where stock can be held for some time (1-2 hours), either prior to or after milking, and provided with supplementary feed. Feed pads are usually included in a farm system to improve supplementary feed use compared to paddock feeding.
If a feed pad is selected, some supplements (brought in or farm grown) or farm-grown fodder crops must be allocated to the feed pad.
Wintering pad
A wintering pad or animal shelter is a specially built area where animals are withheld from pasture for extended periods and supplementary feeds are brought to them. The herd may spend several months on the pad so a similar sized area as for stand-off pads is required for cows to lie down, as well as additional space for feeding (including separate concrete areas known as "the concrete feeding apron"). In some cases, rather than supplements being brought to the animals, or in addition to supplements, animals are allowed to graze pastures for a limited time (e.g. 3-6 hours) each day.
A wintering barn or animal shelter is similar to the wintering pad, except that it is covered. The animals are usually withheld from pasture for extended periods and supplementary feeds are brought to them in the wintering barn.
Animals on wintering pads/animal shelter can be recorded as grazing pasture on a monthly basis while on the pad, or only being fed on the wintering pad/animal shelter. If the option to only feed animals on the wintering pads/animal shelter is selected, or if in any given month no grazing on pasture is selected, then supplements (brought in or farm grown) or farmgrown fodder crops must be allocated to the wintering pad/animal shelter.
A wintering pad/animal shelter can be described for animal enterprises other than Sheep or ‘Other’.
Standoff Pad
A standoff pad is a specially built area where stock can be withheld from grazing during wet periods to minimise damage to pasture. These pads are typically constructed of free-draining materials such as sawdust, bark, wood chips, lime, or a soft metal (rock) mix. Since cows may be withheld for extended periods (20 hours/day) an area of about 8-10 m2 per cow is recommended.
There is no provision for stock feeding while animals are on the pad.
