battleing the north

[buckshotbob]

Hi All been reading for a month or so lots of articles with helpful info.

I own a small herd of red cows of various cross breed with a preference towards red angus. I bought a commercial gelby two years ago and love the calves he throws. The average birth weight is around seventy to 80 lbs. I am originally from southern Ontario and since my youth have always wanted a cow /calf to butcher farm. I am retiring from construction this year after over 38 years of welding and ironworking .

The wife and I bought a hundred and fifty acres of bush four years ago with about three acres of cleared ground. Clearing more has been a slow expensive process . The best expense I believe has been our calf huts.

Diary farmers have been using them for years but before I bought some for my heifers I had never seen them up north or at a beef farm.. I still have snow on the ground here and a few flurries. The nights are still below freezing but getting warmer.
My first calf is a week old and spends his time with mum and then retires to his hut a night to stay warm. I use lean twos for the cows/heifers and stockers for the winter months. My cattle are bush tough and very heathy the only meds I use is penicillin when I buy at auctions.

The question I have for you fine cattle people is why I never see calf huts on large praire farms during your calving seasons.
Finacially losing calves hurts all of us and cold wet springs cause headaches and heartbreak when they happen like this year.


I also load all my new calves with a bottle of colostrum as soon I can get to them just incase they have problems with nursing. I learned this from a neighbour who calls it his sleeping medicine. The quickest I have seen a new calf climb in a hut has been twenty minutes after walking for the first time. I find once they find it they use it steady and I have had as many as five curled up together keeping warm.

I have been reading and hearing about calf losses in the U.S. this year and hope maybe my story can help others as many on this forum have given me advice .

 

[msplmtneer]

Howdy and :welcome: :tiphat:

 

[Rydero]

The question I have for you fine cattle people is why I never see calf huts on large praire farms during your calving seasons.
Finacially losing calves hurts all of us and cold wet springs cause headaches and heartbreak when they happen like this year.


I also load all my new calves with a bottle of colostrum as soon I can get to them just incase they have problems with nursing. I learned this from a neighbour who calls it his sleeping medicine. The quickest I have seen a new calf climb in a hut has been twenty minutes after walking for the first time. I find once they find it they use it steady and I have had as many as five curled up together keeping warm.

Hi. Good luck on your adventure/dream of having a cattle farm. People will tell you you can't make it, the economics don't work etc. but just persevere, figure out the math for yourself and enjoy what you love doing, the rest will figure itself out. My wife and I purchased a home with 100 acres of property 10 years ago after a work transfer. Our farm started when visiting a friends farm during calving season and he was going to put down a giant calf that was injured being born. I took it home, he sold me another one later and the rest is history. We're calving almost 100 cows this year.

To answer your question. We live in one of the harsher environments as far as cold is concerned and don't use calf huts or much in the way of shelters outside of trees. The reasons being that it's unnecessary for one - we supply lots of bedding and the trees supply wind breaks (you can use windbreak panels too), like you said the calves huddle together, they'll also huddle w cows and are pretty smart about getting out of the wind. Second reason is shelters tend to be left in one place, calves huddle up together and any sick ones in particular will gather in the shelters and spread it to the other ones. You may not have much in the way of illness now in a new place with only a few head but things have a way of building up over time. If you're not constantly moving to new ground those shelters can become a liability.

 

[Dave]

Over on my place on the coast(rain and 36 degrees nearly every day every winter) I made several sheds. They were 3 sided 8 by 12 and tall enough for a calf but to short for a cow to get in. Calves piled in the get out of the weather. Every so often I would pull it ahead a notch. I know several others who has similar sheds. They worked well for me.

 

[Silver]

We use them, attach a pen in front and bed the whole thing well with straw. Our first pairs often go out into some very cold weather so it's nice to give them a place of their own that stays nicer than if the cows had access to it. We keep the bedding fresh, but after the weather warms up a bit the calves don't use it much. I wouldn't want to be without them.