A few years ago, my family decided to update our barn that houses heifers from weaning through 8 months of age. The original facility was constructed in the 1980s and was of decent design. However, it was sized for heifers a little smaller than the ones we raise now and a herd that had fewer of these size heifers. When we modified the barn, we found ourselves asking several of the questions addressed in a recent Miner Institute Farm Report article by Cari Reynolds.
“Today’s heifers are consuming more feed and growing at a faster rate than before, and this means that management strategies need to remain dynamic,” Reynolds explained. “Simply put, today’s animals just don’t fit in the shelters of years past.”
This was our experience as we looked to fit the perfect barn to our herd of healthy and developing heifers.
“Space, ventilation, and feeding considerations need to account for animals that are eating more, growing faster, and creating more manure and heat,” Reynolds described.
With that in mind, she shared some benchmarks from a presentation by John Tyson at a Penn State dairy nutrition workshop. Specifically discussed in Reynolds’s article were the recommendations for bedded packs and freestalls. “Bedded packs for heifers should be generously bedded and allow for 40 to 80 square feet per animal of space, with an increase of about 10 square feet for every 200 pounds of body weight gained,” Reynolds detailed.
Just as allowed space should expand as the heifers grow, so should their feeding area. Young calves should be allowed at least 18 inches per head at the feeding area, and that number should increase to 24 inches by the time the heifers reach 1,100 pounds.
For heifers housed in freestalls, Tyson shared this table of recommendations for appropriate sizing based on weight. Importantly, Reynolds noted that freestalls should be designed to fit the heifers that are sized to leave the pen.
All of this is easier to achieve for those that are building new or even remodeling calf facilities. For those who are making do with what they have, keep in mind that group sizing and uniformity of sizing of calves in a group can go a long way in maintaining healthier calves.
The basics still apply, as well, that healthy calves are ones that have adequate access to feed and water living in an environment that is clean, well-bedded, and ventilated appropriately.
The author is a dairy farmer in Kansas and a former associate editor at Hoard’s Dairyman. Raised on a 150-cow dairy near Valley Center, Kansas, Maggie graduated from Kansas State University with degrees in agricultural communications and animal sciences.