Investigations and evaluations of construction characteristics of traditional water buffalo barns in Istanbul province of turkey regarding Animal Welfare

The aim of this study was to investigate and evaluate the construction characteristics of traditional water buffalo barns around Istanbul, considered as a pilot district in Turkey, regarding animal welfare. The research was conducted at 31 different administrations of Istanbul Water Buffalo Breeders Association. The 35.5 % of the investigated farms were small scale administrations whereas 64.5% of them were classified as medium scale. It was determined that 80.7% of the administrations were placed within the settlement areas while the remaining 19.3% were 200 to 500 m away from the settlement areas. Conducted surveys by interviewing with the farm owners face to face revealed that the existing barns were constructed through traditional methods without any technical projects. All barns were constructed in stall type and the values of inside volume, resting and walking area per animal differed from each other. These values were between 4.50 and 17.60 m3, 2.00 and 3.87 m2 and 1.03 and 9.81 m2, respectively, for inside volume, resting and walking area per animal. Natural ventilation system was generally preferred but 38.7% of the barns had no vent stacks, instead, windows were used for air entrance and outgoing. The window areas for lighting changed between 0.66 and 4.80% of barns ground area, varying from barns to barns. When evaluating all these data with the climate characteristic of the district and literature, it may be concluded that neither optimum climatic environment required by the buffalos nor the animal welfare for the traditional water buffalo barns cannot be fulfilled.