Top Six Things to Consider When Updating Calf Housing

The future of your farm relies on every new calf. Healthy calves become productive cows. Treating and losing calves can and will cost your farm. Why not do your best to prevent sickness in calves? Here’s our top six focuses when building or revamping a barn for happy, healthy calves.

Ventilation

Respiratory diseases and infections are one of the most critical health issues in calves and can have long-term effects or even result in a loss. Ensuring your calf barn has proper ventilation is critical. The goal should be to keep clean air coming in and moving the bad air out. There should be a minimum of four air changes in an hour. Air changes means the total air volume in the barn is completely removed and replaced. Having positive-pressure ventilation protects the calves from environmental conditions outside of the barn, this is like the air-pressure systems used in hospitals. Having proper ventilation removes stagnant air and reduces ammonia, minimizing bacteria. By minimizing bacteria, you are minimizing the risk of respiratory issues.

Sanitation

Sanitizing calf barns is crucial for positive health from beginning to end and cannot be expressed enough. Killing contaminants in between calves reduces cross-contamination from one calf to another. This applies to moving weaned calves out and a new calf in, and in everyday care. When considering your barn layout, think about the cleaning process. Being able to keep calves in sections by age means you can wean and move calves in those sections. By doing this, you can clean larger areas at a time, rather than trying to clean around young calves in surrounding pens. Letting clean pens set empty before moving in newborn calves can allow the pens to dry and pathogens to die. Consider using sanitizing solutions like chlorine dioxide as it kills broader spectrums of bacteria. Bleach does not kill all pathogens and it does not remove all biofilms either.

Materials

When building or remodeling a barn to be used for calf housing the material is important. Saving money by using exposed wood may cost you more in treating sick calves. The pores in wood house bacteria and are hard to thoroughly clean. Consider using modular, plastic pens instead. They are easy to clean as they are solid, non-porous, and easy to move and scrub. Since they are also free standing and portable you can use them anywhere, including other barns, and increase space between calves.

Space

By using materials that you can move, you are better able to prevent overcrowding calves. Overcrowding can cause stress to calves, resulting in health issues. By keeping distance between calves, cross-contamination is lessened, and viruses cannot travel. Allow enough space that the calf can be clean and dry, this ties in to having good drainage as well.

Drainage

Promoting proper drainage of excess water and urine is key to healthy, dry calves. Having dampness and humidity in your calf barn will increase survival of and contamination from pathogens. We recommend separating bedding and feeding areas, allowing the feeding area to be on concrete where water and milk is more likely to be spilled, and calves urinate more often. Sloping the floor when building and installing gully drains or slat floors can improve drainage. If sloping the floors, ensure your drain is located a safe distance from other calves and that the water will not cross other calves’ pens.

Delivery Efficiency of Milk + Medicine

When building or retrofitting an existing barn for calf housing, consider the distance from where you will be prepping milk or storing medicines. Milk should be fed at 105-degree Fahrenheit and the temperature can drop during travel when the milk is being relocated long distances. Also consider the time and labor that goes into providing milk, water, grain, and medicine to calves. This can be a time-consuming process if the supplies are located a reasonable distance from the calves.

Temperature

Barn temperature plays a key factor in calf health, year-round. Think about the barn being too cold in the winter or too hot in the summer. Ask yourself questions like: Can I install a heater or fans in the future? Are my calves able to be covered from snow drifts and is their shade from the sun?

If you have questions or comments on our calf housing considerations, let us know. We are here to help!