Calf rearing shed designs

FIAT 450

Well-Known Member
Well lads. We have a shed here that we are planning on repurposing from a meal shed to a calf shed next year. It is 2 round roof sheds joined side by side approximately 3 spans long X 3 wide with two centre spans lattice beamed. The plan was to have a automatic calf feeder under which was a small tank to collect waste water and some individual calf hutches and also have trough space for when they progress from milk to tmr feeding. Looking for ideas on lay out from guys even pictures of their own set ups especially paying attention to air flow. All walls in the shed as is will have to come out along with the floor to get falls right. Plan to rear 40 odd calf's.
 
Well lads. We have a shed here that we are planning on repurposing from a meal shed to a calf shed next year. It is 2 round roof sheds joined side by side approximately 3 spans long X 3 wide with two centre spans lattice beamed. The plan was to have a automatic calf feeder under which was a small tank to collect waste water and some individual calf hutches and also have trough space for when they progress from milk to tmr feeding. Looking for ideas on lay out from guys even pictures of their own set ups especially paying attention to air flow. All walls in the shed as is will have to come out along with the floor to get falls right. Plan to rear 40 odd calf's.

If yo have a look in the buildings section on agriland there is a couple of calf sheds on there with photos
 
All our calves are in hutches under a roof,I don’t bother about walls just the roof keeps things drier where they feed.

Had an expert here from Holland last year,in the house he was telling us no need for a roof over hutches,once he’d been outside he could understand why we had roofs.:lol:
 
All our calves are in hutches under a roof,I don’t bother about walls just the roof keeps things drier where they feed.

Had an expert here from Holland last year,in the house he was telling us no need for a roof over hutches,once he’d been outside he could understand why we had roofs.:lol:
On the hutches do they add much more work onto your day and I know it all comes back to the dreaded snow how did they work out then?
Always open to different ideas just I have to set things up to allow it to be as little labour as possible
 
We had an automated feeder and we hated it,we just didn’t get on well with it,went back to the hutches and then a milk taxi,my mrs said it revolutionised calf feeding.

The next thing I’d like is a bale on a monorail platform for bedding,for now we’ve had the kids bed down the calves since lockdown,it hasn’t done them any harm.:lol:

Calves were fine when we had snow in hutches,it isn’t unusual to see calves sat outside the hutch in -5 or colder,we do however use calf jackets on every calf,used them till June this year.
 
Does anyone use those sheep hurdles to make smaller pens for the first few weeks
 
Sorry lads i shouldn't have said hutches more individual pens for seven days. We are in the johnes scheme and the vet is going on about it. I just think it's more work than anything.
 
Worth looking at this .
He gave a talk to rep`s in the calf house in work last year . Pointed out the flaws in the calf that he thought were causing the problem`s they were having . Forced ventilation is key for him calves dont create enough heat to drive out the stale air out of the shed . And bed the entire pen no concrete area at the front of the bedded area . Will try and find the link to more info that he gave us .
Well lads. We have a shed here that we are planning on repurposing from a meal shed to a calf shed next year. It is 2 round roof sheds joined side by side approximately 3 spans long X 3 wide with two centre spans lattice beamed. The plan was to have a automatic calf feeder under which was a small tank to collect waste water and some individual calf hutches and also have trough space for when they progress from milk to tmr feeding. Looking for ideas on lay out from guys even pictures of their own set ups especially paying attention to air flow. All walls in the shed as is will have to come out along with the floor to get falls right. Plan to rear 40 odd calf's.
 
Worth looking at this .
He gave a talk to rep`s in the calf house in work last year . Pointed out the flaws in the calf that he thought were causing the problem`s they were having . Forced ventilation is key for him calves dont create enough heat to drive out the stale air out of the shed . And bed the entire pen no concrete area at the front of the bedded area . Will try and find the link to more info that he gave us .
When we put ours up we were advised if going for forced ventilation then you want to force air out rather than in. Haven't gone down the forced route though, just opening flaps along the sides there's a link to a pic on here on the automatic calf feeder thread iirc
 
Well lads
Looking to put a shed for calf rearing one side and first winter feeders on the other side. I want it to be able to hold about 50 calves and about 30 weanlings thinking about a dry shed,interested to hear what ye think and if ye have any pics that would be deadly.

Thanks lads
 
Well lads
Looking to put a shed for calf rearing one side and first winter feeders on the other side. I want it to be able to hold about 50 calves and about 30 weanlings thinking about a dry shed,interested to hear what ye think and if ye have any pics that would be deadly.

Thanks lads

Just a quick point, should you really have any other group sharing airspace with calves?
 
Worth looking at this .
He gave a talk to rep`s in the calf house in work last year . Pointed out the flaws in the calf that he thought were causing the problem`s they were having . Forced ventilation is key for him calves dont create enough heat to drive out the stale air out of the shed . And bed the entire pen no concrete area at the front of the bedded area . Will try and find the link to more info that he gave us .
Is that your bosses yard or just on premade video.have to build shed meself but it 3 yr down the road .
 
We used to rear a lot of calves and used to keep detailed records of Antibiotic use and 35% of Calves would get an antibiotic. We had mostly converted round roofed sheds with the sheets lifted and had airflow tested with smoke bombs.
At a Grange open day a timber Calf shed by Wicklow Woods was being demonstrated and pushed by ACOT . When asked the Antibiotic use was 35% .
We made up hutches that held four calves and that reduced the pneumonia but had a Hospital shed with lamps for sick calves.
 
One of my best sheds for calves (weaned onwards) only had the one wall,40’ wide and a wall on the northwest side,it didn’t have anything above the 2m high wall but they did well in it.
It’s hard to recommend as what works for one doesn’t for another,we found hutches under a roof works best here due to high rainfall,low down drafts are something we try and avoid.
 
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