1) Milking Barn / Milk Parlour

• This is a barn where milch animals are milked and is fully covered.
• It should be located at the centre of the farm with all other farm buildings arranged around it.
• There shall be an individual standing in the milking barns and the number of standings required should be 25% of total number of milch animals in the herd.
• The milking operation should be carried out in batches.

2) Down calver shed/ calving pen

• Pregnant animals are transferred to a calving pen 2 to 3 weeks before the expected date of calving.
• Calving pen of 3m x 4m (12 m2) is essential to keep the animals in advanced stage of pregnancy.
• It should be located nearer to the farmer’s quarters for better supervision.
• The number of calving pens required is 10% of the number of total breed able female stock in the farm.

3) Calf pen

• This is meant for housing young calves separately.
• It can be located either at the end or on the side of the milking barn
• This facilitates taking calves to their dams quickly.
• If there are large numbers of calves, the separate unit of calf shed should be arranged and located nearer to the milking barn.

4) Young stock/ Heifer shed

• It is meant for housing young heifers separately.
• Older heifers calves from about six months of age to breeding age are to be housed separately from the suckling calves.
• When a large number of young stocks are there, they should be divided into different age groups and each group housed separately to facilitate scientific feeding.

5) Dry animal shed

• In large farms, milch and dry cows are housed separately.
• The floor in the covered area should preferably be made of cement concrete.
• Under Indian conditions, in smaller farms, milch and dry animals can be housed together.
• Normally, one third of the animals in a farm will be in dry or in dry cum pregnant stage.

6) Bull shed

• It is meant for housing bulls separately in a farm.
• It should be constructed towards one end of the farm.
• There shall be one shed for each bull.
• The number of bulls required being one for every 50 breed able females on the farm, if natural breeding is practiced.
• When artificial insemination service facilities are available, no necessary to keep the bulls on the farm.
• The bull shed shall have covered 3x4 meter dimensions, leading into a paddock of 120 square meters.
• The bull sheds shall be located in such a way that the bulls are able to see the cows and hear their sounds.

7) Isolation shed

• It is the separation of sick animals from apparently healthy animals to avoid transmission of diseases to healthy stock.
• It should be located at the corner of the shed so that these sheds are inaccessible to other animals

8) Quarantine shed

• It should be located at the entrance of the farm.
• The newly purchased animals entering into the farm should be kept in quarantine shed for a minimum period of 30 to 40 days to watch out for any disease occurrence.