Calving Barns Keep Newborns Dry, Warm, Better Calving Rate

by Heather Smith Thomas

In colder climates, calving barns can dramatically increase calving success rates, keeping cows and their newborn calves warm and dry during and immediately after calving. However, these shelters do not have to be custom-made or fancy. Here a variety of ranchers share their ingenious ways to create shelter for their cows and calves.

Dick and Judy Lorenz built a 12 stall barn on their ranch near Saratoga, Wyoming. To create a 40 by 84 foot pole barn, they dug a foundation trench—to bury a treated 6 by 6” beam (to which upright poles were anchored with aluminum plates), backfilling the trench with gravel. The barn has metal outside walls and an observation room with restroom, recliner for sleeping, and easy access to the hospital room—which has a cement floor and drains. Good lighting, insulation, heat, and running water (hot and cold) make calving problems easier. The chute for checking or restraining a cow is easily accessed and cows go into it readily; one person can put a cow in.

A ranch in west-central Alberta uses a 60 by 100 foot barn with living quarters and office at one end, and ventilated, heated calving area at the other. The 12 inch thick walls are filled with fiberglass insulation. Inside are posts and moveable panels; stall layout is altered as needed. The barn has 3 large exhaust fans and several gas heaters but rarely needs the heat. Ventilation pushes moist warm air out and keeps the barn dry (less risk of pneumonia).

An inexpensive calving barn was created by Jim Grills near Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, by remodelling a 20 year old pole hay shed. He took the roof off in pieces and sawed the 20 foot tall support poles off at 8 foot height. He used two 2x8-inch timbers for beams across the 12 foot spaced poles, to hold the 28 by 72 foot roof. An insulated roof was made by first putting on chipboard sheets strapped with 2x4’s. A sheet of plastic was unrolled over the chipboard, spreading wood shavings over the plastic, then covering the top with metal sheeting.

Grills used a four foot high plank wall in front, with a three foot opening above it for ventilation. Walls are sandwich construction--chipboard sheets on a 2x4 framework filled with shavings and covered on the outside with rough cut wood slabs to protect the chipboard from weather or cows rubbing. If weather gets cold, a plastic sheet is lowered over the opening across the front.

Michael and Carolyn Thomas, a young couple in Idaho, made an “instant” barn using tall posts set deep in the ground, to support pole rafters for a metal roof. Walls were small straw bales stacked to the roof, with pole panels on the inside to keep cows from eating the walls. Straw makes an inexpensive wall to provide excellent insulation against wind and cold. The barn front was enclosed with panels, with a tarp rolled down to keep out wind and cold, rolled up on nice days. They didn’t have time or money to build a real barn and their cows were about to start calving; they created this barn in a few days. It sheltered their calving cows through a cold February and March (down to 25 below zero F.)

Whatever type of shelter is used for calving, the secret to successful barn calving is to keep it clean and dry, to prevent illness. In cold weather, straw bedding can be left to build up, removing only wet spots daily and covering each stall with enough new straw to make it clean for each cow. The buildup of straw and manure can make the barn warmer. If weather warms up and bedding stays wet, it must be thoroughly cleaned. A small area can be cleaned with fork and wheelbarrow, but a large barn should be designed so it can be cleaned with tractor and blade. Barn calving can be clean and disease-free, if you make sure each cow has clean bedding and pairs are not left in the barn too long after calving. ©