Calf Barns

As we celebrate the Christmas season and we all rush to get those last minute gifts I 

always struggle to find the perfect gift for the hardest person to buy for, my wife.  I 

can never seem to figure out what to get her.  Jewelry? Clothes? A day at the spa?  I 

can never settle on a good present and invariably wait till the last minute before 

making the decision. 

During the first year I was married I asked my mother what she got my father 

during their first Christmas.  She laughed and informed me that the first Christmas 

gift she ever got for my father was calf hutches…  This is ironic, because for most of 

my childhood, it was my mother and grandmother who took care of the calves.  

Maybe my wife would like a new set of golf clubs this year…

For the longest time calf hutches were considered the gold standard for raising 

healthy calves.  Individual hutches provide an ample area for the calf to move 

around, shield the calf from inclement weather, keep them dry and warm, and don’t 

allow for direct contact with their herdmates.  All of these attributes make for an 

ideal environment for the healthy growth of nursing calves.  

There are many drawbacks of calf hutches, however.  The space needed is quite 

large when compared to the number of animals that are housed.  The people feeding 

the calves have to deal with the snow, rain, wind, heat, and cold.  Extreme heat can 

be rough on calves without proper shading.  Cleanup and sanitization between 

calves can be very labor intensive also.  Because of all of these reasons there has 

been a move towards housing calves in barns to cut down on labor, and make calf 

rearing a more pleasant undertaking.

In the following weeks we will highlight some of the changes that our clients have 

made in calf housing and management.