Bringing them in the barn

[dominiquer60]

I finally gave in the other night and brought my shorthorn calves into the barn. They have been in calf hutches in a small sheep pasture near the house since they arrived in October. Our barn is small and fits about 10 adults and 4 young cattle when full. It can get humid and stale when it is fully closed up. I avoided the barn til now for the better air quality that the hutches tend to provide.

The boys were getting to tall to crawl in and out of the hutches comfortably and I really didn’t need much of an excuse to stop shoveling snow out to them and give up using the wheelbarrow on an icy 2×8 across the creek. With last nights -26 closing in on us I decided to make the change.

I found a stall mat to lay down under them and tied the stanchions still with baling twine. they each have a short rope and snap that slide up or down the stanchion as they need it to. We have been keeping the barn a little open to avoid getting a weak calf sick and my boys are right next to a 2.5 square foot window that the bull broke completely open last winter, so we have good air.

I am looking forward to having them closer at hand for training purposes and even though walking them to water now creates work, it also creates more opportunity for training. So far they have caught on real quick to the routine of walking to water and know where there stalls are when we get back.

I am amazed that even though I saw them everyday next to each other at the hay rack in the sheep pasture, or tied to yoke up, bringing them in and looking at them from behind on level ground really sheds the light on how different and similar their bodies are. I think that I am going to enjoy the different set up:)

keep warm Northeasterners!

Erika

[Tim Harrigan]

@dominiquer60 24132 wrote:

It can get humid and stale when it is fully closed up. I avoided the barn til now for the better air quality that the hutches tend to provide.
Erika

I am glad you understand how bad a closed up barn can be for stock. If it is more than 5-10 degrees warmer inside than outside, the barn is too tight. Warm barns are for people, not animals.

[dominiquer60]

Thanks Tim,

Now if only the air quality in my house could be as good as the barn, then I would be in great shape, I don’t care for dry heat at all:) I know with the barn it is easy to keep the air good by cracking the doors some, and the cracks do a perfectly fine job on their own on a windy night.

I think that it is preferred warm so that it is easier to clean out. Those frozen piles make a real chore out of cleaning the barn twice a week. We are striking a good balance most days, and the ever opened window is a huge selling point for me. My red calf was a little snuffly when he was younger, but has been good and strong since weaning. I consider the little Hereford calf the canary in the coal mine, if his breathing is off I open the doors a little.

Off to start chores!

Erika

[Carl Russell]

A friend told me yesterday a quote from an old timer he used to work for. He said the old guy never wanted running water in the barn because “Cold is dry, and dry is warm”..

Carl

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