Ranchers who calve early know the value of shelter for baby calves.
When my husband Lynn and I started ranching in 1967, our cows were calving in March and April and we had terrible scours, especially when the weather was wet. The pastures on this place were contaminated with scour “bugs” after intensive cattle use for nearly 100 years before we arrived.
By 1970, we changed our calving from spring to January to avoid the mud and to have the cows all bred at home to our own bulls before they went to summer range in May) Calving while the ground was frozen decreased our incidence of scours, but also made it imperative to have shelter for the calves during cold weather.
Read Also
The glimmer of hope after a loss
The unexpected loss of a prized stallion and the loss of two relatives — one who lived a long life, and the other taken too soon — results in reflection by rancher Heather Eppich.
About 90 per cent of our calves arrived in a three-week period during January. The cows calved in a barn, but each pair went outside as soon as the calf nursed, dry and with the navel cord dried up to prevent risk of navel infections, since our fields and pastures were very contaminated.
We have a row of second-day pens next to the barn, and each pen had a windbreak corner bedded with straw. The calves quickly learned to use these sheltered corners. These pens helped calves make the transition from barn to field. Many are not quite ready to be out in the cold at 24 hours of age; mama often takes them to the far corner and might hide them in a snowbank. However, after being in the second-day pens,the calf was more likely to use the little calf houses we have in each field.
First shelters built 55 years ago
Lynn designed and built our first calf house in 1968, and then built several more. Each of these long, narrow shelters (eight by 16 feet) can house about 20 calves and is built on wooden runners so it can be moved if necessary.
Each house has a sloping galvanized metal roof (higher in front) and a floor to keep calves up out of the mud or melting snow run-off that may flow across the field. The floor is slatted so urine runs through it; the bedding stays drier. The floor also makes the house more durable (it holds together better when moved) and adds weight to the house so it can never be blown over in a strong wind.
The front of the house is partly closed, with an opening low enough to keep cows out and help hold warmth in (the body heat of several calves can make the house warmer) and keep cold breezes out. Cows can still reach in to eat bedding or worry about their calves. There is risk of a calf being stepped on or laid on if cows congregate in front of a house. We keep the front area yarded off with pole panels or an electric wire so the calves can come and go, and lounge in the bedding in front of the house on a sunny day, but the cows cannot get to it.
Clean and dry is the key
At first, we worried about concentrating the calves this way, fearing that having so many together might aid spread of scours. We moved the houses periodically to clean locations. But over the years we learned that this is not a problem if we kept the bedding clean and the calves grouped according to age.
The calves in each field were generally no more than a week apart in age, which also cuts down on spread of scours. It’s often the older calves in a group that pass infections to the younger, more-susceptible ones. We put in clean bedding every few days, or whenever the old bedding becomes soiled.
In recent years, we’ve cut our herd size, selling most of our cows to our son, and we no longer use the range. We don’t have to breed the cows so early; they can stay at home and be bred to our own bulls. We now calve in April. However, we still get snowstorms at that time of year and the calves still appreciate shelter.
They learn fast about using them. On a wet or windy day or a cold night, all the calves will be inside the houses. During bad weather, they may come out only to nurse their mothers and then go right back in. Having proper shelter can dramatically cut stress from wet or cold weather; calves can withstand a lot of cold if they can stay dry and don’t have to be outside in the wind.
The lounging area in front of the houses is a good place to put a little alfalfa hay for the calves to nibble on in their leisure time, where the cows can’t get at it, or put a tub of salt and mineral for the calves.
We’ve never lost a calf to bad weather. Even during the severe winter of 1978-79, when it was 42 below zero during our first week of calving, the cold weather of 1983-84 and the Siberian Express of February 1989, our calves came through just fine.
We were diligent in getting every cow into the barn when she started labour to minimize chances of one calving outside, though we dried a few newborns in the house. We lost ears and tail tips off some cows during the extremes of cold weather, but not on the calves. They were relatively snug in their calf houses, out of the wind. We are convinced that our calf shelters saved lots of doctoring each year, and helped eliminate losses from bad weather.
A calf shelter can also be made from big straw bales (with mesh panels to keep the cows from eating the outside surface) and a tarp roof. Pole panels can be placed in front so the calves can get in but the cows cannot. This can be a very effective type of shelter in an emergency or whenever yo=u didn’t have time to make a permanent shelter.
