Every creature on our farm needs a place to live. A shelter.  A place to get in out of inclement weather.  A place to eat, a place to sleep, a place to hang out.  And each animal has varying needs depending on size and age and ability to handle different weather conditions.  The horse, the cow, and the older heifers are all on pasture and have free will access to the barn. They can choose where they want to be and when they want to be there. Interestingly, the horse most often chooses to spend his time outside in the open pasture. The rain and snow don’t bother him. In fact, I think he rather enjoys the bath the rain provides. The cattle on the other hand aren’t quite as tough as ‘ol Rusty the Horse.  They love the great outdoors when the sun is shining, but if it’s raining you can almost certainly find them hiding out in the barn.  And you don’t have to spend all day watching them to know this either. The extra piles of fertilizer left behind in the barn are evidence enough of the extra time spent indoors on the not so nice days!
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The bottle calves on the farm also need housing but their needs are a little more particular. They are small, have more delicate immune systems and are more susceptible to changing weather conditions. Because of their special needs, we house them in these strange looking looking box like things called ‘calf hutches.’  :)

Now, there are many variations of calf hutches. There are bigger ones and littler ones, homemade, manufactured, plastic, wood, fancy, plain … you get the idea. Despite a variety of makes and styles available, the concept behind all calf hutches is to keep calves clean and dry, warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and all around healthy. 

We have chosen to use calf hutches for a variety of reasons. They really provide an ideal environment for each calf.
The ability to give each calf its own individual little house helps prevent the spread of disease. If a calf DOES get sick, the sickness is more likely to be isolated to just that one calf and we can give it extra care to help it recover as quickly as possible.  On the other hand, if the calves were all housed in a group pen, any sickness would spread quickly throughout the group. When calves get sick they have very few reserves to help them recover. Not only is it heartbreaking to watch a little calf suffer, but sickness in ‘calfhood’ can have a huge impact on their adult lives too. Cows that were sick as a calf oftentimes produce less milk throughout their lifetime and can have recurring illnesses later in life due to things like decreased lung capacity or adhesions in the body cavity. And steers may take longer to reach market weight and may not reach their full potential due to time and weight lost during those critical early days of life.

The other great thing about calf hutches is that they are able to keep the calves warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Even though they are small, calves are capable of producing a fair amount of body heat. In the small, micro-environment of the hutch, this heat is conserved and the calf is essentially able to heat its own little house! Now, it isn’t going to be 70 degrees in a hutch in the middle of winter, but they definitely take the edge off. I’ve ducked in more than one calf hutch in the wintertime under the pretense of checking a calf but really I was just getting warmed up! Shhh, don't tell NP ;) And we have to remember that calves thrive at different temperatures than you and I do.  Seventy degrees is borderline too warm for them while 33 or 34 degrees doesn’t bother them at all!
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To make this all work, we also have to provide plenty of clean, DRY bedding like straw or chopped up cornstalks to help insulate them from the cold ground and also to give them something to nestle down into. During really cold spells, we can also put little calf ‘coats’ on the younger calves that have a harder time self-regulating their temperature.  And we can cover the front door when it snows or rains or the wind is just too strong!

​In the summertime, the hutch provides the calf with shade and we can open up all of the vents and ‘windows’ on the hutches to create as much air flow through the hutch as possible. We also put a cattle panel ‘fence’ in front of each hutch in the summertime so we can open up the doors of the hutches and the calves can have a little extra room to play and also take advantage of any breezes.

You can see in these pictures, the hutches also have a bottle holder (time saver for us!) and bucket holders so the calf can have free choice access to feed and water all day long! Also, the hutches are movable, so we can adjust their location depending on season and it is easy to clean them out in between groups of calves as we can move the hutches to the side and clean out with the tractor. Furthermore, the plastic material they are made out of is washable meaning we can wash and sanitize them in between groups of calves and/or as needed.

So, when you are wrapped up in a blanket sipping a cup of hot chocolate this winter, you can rest easy knowing that our calves are contentedly napping while nestled in their little hutches with a belly full of warm milk!

And when that time comes, I’ll be sure to share pictures!

Enjoy!
Brun Ko Farm

Over the next few months we want to introduce you to our little herd. Today is going to be all about 26147.

26147, affectionately known as Abby was born in July of 2011, making her a shy 4.5 years old.  That may seem young to you but in cow time she is leaning toward middle aged and it’s probably safe to say that her first calf has made her a grandmother by now.

With that said, Abby is undisputedly the boss here at Brun Ko Farm.  She is quick to put the heifers in their place at the feed bunk and is the only bovine on the farm that Piper, our cattle dog, is afraid of. I don’t even think the horse would stand a chance at bossing Abby around. And we may not like to admit it, but Abby even dictates NP’s and I’s schedule and influences much of our activities and decision making.  Milking time is the number 1 thing we have to consider when making plans because if we are a half an hour late for chores, she lets us know about it!!