Conversion of tie stall barn to calf barn for northern climates

John and Wendy Taekema

Leduc, Alberta

1-780-986-2199

taekema@iglide.net

 

Greetings from Leduc, Alberta, Canada – up in the country some of you might call the “COLD NORTH”, where we custom raise 500 dairy heifers from 3 – 22 months.

 

In 1997 we renovated our existing dairy tie-stall barn into our present calf barn, which holds approximately 100 calves from 3 – 6 months.  When we first renovated, the intent was to keep the barn as a warm barn, so that water lines would not freeze in winter.  Calves would be warmer and we were hoping to maximize growth by doing so.  After using this system for 2 years we were very dissatisfied with our results and with the amount of pneumonia cases we experienced

 

The decision was made to go to a natural air cold barn.  In order to accomplish this we removed the siding from the top 46” of the side walls and replaced this with a product called 50/50 wind & sun screen, a very tough and durable product normally used as a wind fence or screen around sun decks, hot tubs, yards, etc in windy southern Alberta.

 

This product is made out of a heavy-duty nylon and looks very similar to fly screen but MUCH stronger.  The reason for using this product was strength and longevity.  The only problem we have had so far is that the screen will get plugged with dust from the bedding.  Every other month, we will take a small pressure washer and wash off the screen on a nice sunny day.  This takes about an hour.  During extreme cold, the screen will frost up but will still allow enough air through to keep the barn fresh.

 

The screen allows lots of fresh air and sunlight to enter the barn while virtually eliminating most wind and draft.  When we did this, we also had to solve the problem of freezing water lines.  We accomplished this by encasing the water lines in rough lumber in the old barn gutter and putting heated water bowls on top.  Since doing this, we have virtually eliminated all pneumonia problems in this barn. 

 

The windscreen is a European product available from Alberta Wind & Sun Protection Inc.

 

The following year we built runs outside for calves exercise and for ease of cleaning the barn.  This also allows the calves to be outside in the sunshine both in winter and summer.

 

 

 

 

Management tips have been sponsored at the 2003 Dairy Calf and Heifer Conference by: .  Special thanks to Dr. Wayne Cole, Dr. Phil Widel and Dr. Craig Jones for their support

 

Assistance in promoting the Management tips by Tom Quaife and Stan Erwine of Dairy Herd Management is gratefully acknowledged.

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