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CNY | I managed a dairy with 125 calves in hutches for 8 years. This is what we did/what I would do:
We had the Calf-Tel hutches, half with the door on the left half on the right. We had them alternating so you only had to go between every other one to access 2. Less snow shoveling that way. We only had a bucket with grain inside. Outside at the front of the cage we had an opening with a bucket holder for the water bucket. That way you can drive along with a Gator and water them and also do milk the same way. We later switched to feeding with bottles with bottle racks and just used the bucket for water. In my opinion you have to have the grain and water buckets separated otherwise they drink water and then slop into the grain bucket. Hutches were on a large gravel pad in 5 rows of 25, with room for 7 rows total. Landscape fabric under the hutches to keep the bedding from the gravel. When calves were weaned we cleaned the hutches out then steam cleaned them and set them up on the next row, so the rows sat for awhile empty. It was a lot of work but we had very healthy calves and 1% death loss. Hutches are the best for calves and the worst for people. | |
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Calf hutches: is there a perfect one out there?
