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The calf hutch has been in use for more
than 50 years. It works well to raise healthy calves and
is still widely used today for starting wet calves. |
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In fact the hutch is the housing by
choice of nearly every custom heifer raiser and is widely
used by dairies handling large numbers of calves. Why?
Because isolation is so important to their health and minimizing
the risk of disease. If you fly on an airplane and are
seated next to someone with the flu, you might wish you
were in your own car driving to the same destination. Same
applies to calves. But, hutches are made for calves and
not for the comfort of labor. |
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Calf hutches have come a long way in
their design. The modern hutch is very portable, sanitary,
affordable, and with a UTV and milk replacer batch-mixer
it is fairly labor efficient. |
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But there is a movement back into the
barn into equally sanitary individual stalls. |
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Calf barns like this one are springing
up all over, especially in areas with inclement winters. |
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Such barns offer labor efficiency and
employee comfort. These barns require more intense management
of the calves environment and immunity levels. |
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Often associated with such a barn is
a mixing room for milk replacer and bucket sanitation. |
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If enough calves are on milk, a batch
mixer can be used to economically and quickly mix batches
of milk replacer. |
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One last thing you might find in a mixing
room would be a freezer for managing quality colostrum. |
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After calves graduate from
hutches they most often go into a group transition structure
or pen. The most common and longstanding is the "super
hutch". This is a 3 sided shelter that houses 5-6 calves
at a time of similar aged heifers. |
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These are also widely used among custom
heifer operations for their transition calves. |
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An alternative to the superhutch would
be a similar sized group housed in a group pen in a calf
barn. |
