Abstract

Global warming is one of the most importantenvironmental problems. Gases originating from dairy farmshave an important place in world greenhouse gas production. Inorder to minimize the environmental impact of harmful gasesoriginating from milk production, dairy cattle barns must beconstructed in accordance with the planning principles. Inaddition, it is possible to increase the quantity and quality of themilk, which has an indispensable place in human nutrition, asthe barns are constructed in accordance with the animal welfare,as well as the limit level of the harmful gas in the barn. This canbe done in two steps. First, it is necessary to investigate thesuitability of existing livestock building for animal breeding andto propose solutions by identifying problems. In the second stage,the newly established livestock buildings are designed which isappropriate for animal welfare. This study was carried out in2017-2018 in order to examine the structural characteristics ofdairy cattle barns in the Ilgın district of Konya in Turkey and todetermine its suitability for animal welfare and the effects on theenvironment. In the study, 20 shelters with the ability torepresent dairy cattle houses in the region were investigated.The shelters examined in the study were determined bypurposeful sampling method. In the study, face-to-face surveyswere conducted to determine the characteristics of dairy farmsand barns. Measurement, observation and photographing werecarried out in order to examine the structural features of theshelters in more detail. As a result of the study, it wasdetermined that about 50% of the dairy cattle barns were builtin the last ten years and 25% were built before 1990. it wasdetermined that while the owners of the shelters designed theshelter projects with his own thought in 70% of the shelterssurveyed, they designed projects with support of an expert inonly 30%. In the majority of the farms surveyed, no measuresagainst environmental pollution were observed. The eliminationof the deficiencies of the shelters in the research area will be veryuseful in terms of animal welfare, production performance andenvironmental pollution.