Calf houses: what are there, how to do it yourself

Content

1 What are calf houses for?
2 Advantages and disadvantages of raising calves in huts
3 Types of houses for young cattle
4 Requirements for houses
5 How to make an individual calf house with your own hands
6 Rules for caring for calf houses
7 Conclusion

Calf houses are successfully used in individual farms and on large farms for raising young animals. In homemade construction, the structure is a small wooden box. Prefabricated boxes are made of durable polymer.

What are calf houses for?

Previously, young animals were kept together with an adult herd. The calf near the cow gains weight faster. In addition, there is no need to equip an additional room. However, the legacy method has a huge drawback. Adults are carriers of pathogens. Cows have good immunity and young calves are still weak. Young animals start to get sick, lose weight, and some individuals even die.

Due to the great competition in the agricultural market, farmers have become a serious problem associated with the need to improve the survival rate of young animals. To separate the calves from the adult herd, houses were invented. The design resembles a box. Private livestock breeders knock down wooden houses. For farms, boxes are produced from food-grade polymer. The material is durable, completely eliminates the possibility of injury to animals.

Plastic boxes are lightweight, durable. The lower part has an expansion, thereby ensuring the stability of the structure. The house lends itself well to washing, easily moved or carried by two people to another place. Install the box inside or outside the barn. From the side of the entrance, they equip a metal fence for walking animals, install feeders, drinkers.

Important! Initially, the technology of using houses gave a negative result. Livestock breeders began to refuse it. As a result of the studies carried out, it was found that the problem was inadequate feeding of the calves.

Advantages and disadvantages of raising calves in huts

The technology of keeping calves in separate boxes has its positive and negative sides.

Benefits:

Separate rearing of calves eliminates the possibility of contracting dangerous diseases from adult cows.
It is easier to keep the houses clean. Plastic boxes lend themselves well to washing, it is convenient to change the bedding for calves more often.
The box installed outside the barn allows calves to breathe clean air rather than ammonia vapor.
When the box is installed outdoors, young animals receive sunlight. Animals absorb health-promoting vitamin D.
Solid walls of the house protect the calf from drafts and cold winds. The likelihood of an animal developing a cold is reduced.
Young growth grown separately is easier to control: to assess the general condition, growth, weight gain.
Separate houses allow to provide individual nutrition to each calf, to raise weak individuals.

Disadvantages:

additional costs for the purchase of boxes for calves;
with the onset of cold weather, it is more difficult to heat the box, the calves begin to consume more feed;
free space is required for the calves to set up the boxes separately.

However, due to the possibility of repeated use, the houses pay off over time, they begin to make a profit.

Types of houses for young cattle

The houses differ in the material of manufacture:

wooden;
plastic.

By design:

individual;
group.

Only one animal is kept in an individual calf box. The calf grows from birth to 10 weeks. An animal isolated from the general herd develops faster, its immunity improves. The factory-made plastic individual box resembles a small hangar with a semicircular roof. Opposite the entrance doors there is a metal fence that forms a calf walking area.

Youngsters up to 4 weeks old, weighing up to 30 kg are produced boxes measuring 150x130x130 cm.The dimensions of the house for calves aged from 4 weeks, weighing 40 kg are 200x130x140 cm.The size of the doorway in the first case is 84x55 cm, in the second version - 94x57 cm.

Group boxes are in demand by farms with a large number of livestock. Youngsters are transferred here after ten weeks of keeping in individual houses. In group boxes, calves adapt to the herd lifestyle. The number of individuals for one house depends on their physique, mass:

calf weight 150 kg - minimum area 1.5 m²;
calf weight 200 kg - minimum area 1.7 m²;
calf weight over 200 kg - minimum area 1.8 m².

It is optimal to create a herd of young animals of 5-20 individuals of the same age. Calves herded into a group should not be sick. There should be free space inside the house. Young animals are kept in group boxes until they reach the age of 6 months. Depending on the model, the size of the factory-made structure reaches 43x21.8 m.

Requirements for houses

For the successful rearing of young cattle, compliance with sanitary standards, strict requirements are imposed on the houses and the technology of keeping animals:

A place for young growth boxes is chosen on a hill where there is no likelihood of flooding by sewage. Consider the wind rose.
The box is removed from residential buildings, sources of water intake.
When making houses for calves on their own, they use safe, strong, durable materials. Hardwoods are generally preferred. In addition, wood has high thermal insulation properties.
The dimensions of the house must correspond to the age and build of the animal.
It is important to take care of additional heating of the young stock. Calves aged from 14 days to 6 months maintain an air temperature of +15^aboutFROM.
Ventilation is required. With the help of adjusting dampers inside the house, the air speed is ensured in winter - 0.3 m / s, in summer - 0.5 m / s.
The humidity is maintained by ventilation - from 40 to 75%. Ventilation is achieved so that the maximum concentration of gases inside the box is: ammonia - 15 mg / m³, carbon - 0.25%, hydrogen sulfide - 5 mg / m³.
Each house is assigned individual drinkers, feeders, maintenance equipment, overalls for working personnel.

The inside of the boxes is kept clean at all times. After each cleaning, the floor is disinfected with bleach or formaldehyde.

How to make an individual calf house with your own hands

A self-made box for young cattle helps to save on the purchase of an expensive factory-made structure. If there are materials, tools, construction skills, they create a suitable project and get to work.

Required tools and building materials

The base and floor of the house will be wooden. To work with the material, you will need a saw, a screwdriver, a plane. Roofing material is chosen corrugated board. To cut sheets you need metal scissors. You will also need a marking tool: tape measure, pencil, level.

The frame of the box for calves is made of a bar with a side size of 50x50 mm. A 40 mm board is suitable for the floor. The cladding of the walls of the house is made with OSB boards or a board with a thickness of 20 mm.

Project creation

Adhering to the recommended size of the house for a certain age of calves, draw up a drawing.The boxing diagram will help to roughly calculate the required amount of material. Separately, the project provides for a fence for walking young animals. Its optimal dimensions are 150x130x100 cm (length, width, height, respectively).

Building a house

The step-by-step process consists of the following:

Workpieces are cut from a bar. First, knock down the rectangular frame that forms the base of the boxing frame. The corner connection of the bar is made with saws with a depth of 25 mm. For connection, nails or screws are used.
The racks of the box frame are attached perpendicular to the frame. Elements are reinforced with mounting metal corners. The verticality of the racks is checked with a level. They are installed 4 pieces in the corners and 2 additional ones, forming a doorway.
The rear pillars are cut in height so that they are shorter than the front pillars by 100 mm.
From above, the racks are fastened with a strapping from a bar. It is identical in size to the bottom frame. Irregularities arising at the joints are cleaned off with a plane.
The finished calf box frame is sheathed with OSB boards. When using a board, it is laid end-to-end, and the joints are additionally closed by stuffing strips on top.
Lags are attached to the lower frame. The floor is laid from the board.
Three slats are nailed to the upper strapping of the box frame: one in the center, and two closer to the edges. Sheets of corrugated board are fixed on the crate with self-tapping screws. A wind bar is attached along the perimeter of the roof to protect against drafts.
The doorway of the box remains open. With the onset of cold weather, it is hung with a tarp.
The fencing for walking the calf is made of metal racks and mesh. It can be designed as a removable or stationary one with a wicket.
If the house will stand outside in winter, from the inside, the ceiling and walls are insulated with foam or basalt wool. The thermal insulation is covered from above with OSB sheathing.
Ventilation holes are cut out in the ceiling, air ducts with adjustable dampers are inserted.

When the house is ready, they proceed to the internal arrangement. Install feeders, drinkers. The floor is covered with hay.

Advice! To protect the wood, the house is treated with an antiseptic on the outside, painted.

Rules for caring for calf houses

Individual housing allows you to take better care of the calves, pay more attention, prevent diseases in a timely manner, introduce useful additives into the diet of young animals, and prevent mold from fodder. Housekeeping is based on maintaining cleanliness. Plastic structures are equipped with a smooth floor. It cleans well from manure, dirty litter, and is easy to clean. To remove calf waste, open the back cover. Part of the manure is thrown out through the doorway.

On the threshold of the house, a timber must be laid. The element prevents the animal from taking out the litter, as well as from the drift of organic waste from the street. The inner surface of the walls and ceiling of the plastic structure is washed out with a cloth soaked in a disinfectant solution. Wooden houses are disinfected with lime whitewash or processing with special store-bought preparations.

For ease of maintenance, the fence is equipped with structural elements that allow you to close the calf inside the house or corral. It is optimal to have a removable or hinged-lifting fence. During maintenance without a corral, access to the house is simplified. A removable canopy is considered a big plus. It is placed for shade or to protect the animal from precipitation, and if necessary, removed.

Up to three feeders are installed on the fence of the pen. Each inventory is designed for a specific type of feed. Don't forget about the drinker. To simplify the care of young animals, boxes are installed as close to the farm as possible. Service personnel will need to cover a shorter distance. Productivity and quality of care will increase. In addition, the calves will constantly see the cows, which improves their appetite.

Conclusion

Calf houses accelerate the growth of animals and improve their physical condition.With a separate keeping of young livestock, you can resort to early fertilization of the heifer, which allows you to increase milk production.

Homemade wooden houses for raising young cattle