Radford, Va
Give Me Shelter!
Providing shade and shelter for protection from the heat and cold stress are essential to providing good welfare. Kinder Ground supported this farms DIY shelter upgrade for their small cattle operation.
The Goal:
Provide Better Housing & Comfort
Funding provided: $2,000
Animal lives improved each year: 20
The grant supported the construction of a 24'x15' barn that can be divided into two groups. The intent is to use each side as an all-in, all-out group calf housing barn. Calves will start out in the barn as newborn calves, fed using nipple buckets. As they grow the pen can be expanded as needed and opened to travel lanes to reach rotational grazing paddocks.
The Outcomes:
A Comfort Upgrade
This barn provides 36 sq ft per animal when 10 are housed in the barn. The back is covered in metal siding to protect from the high winds winter brings. The sides have adjustable curtains to provide cross ventilation and protect cattle from the elements. The barn has mono-slope roof that opens to the southeast to allow for morning sun to warm during the winter but keeps out the hot evening sun from the west.
Corral panels form an expandable lot in front of the barn. The front corral panel is a slanting bar gate to allow for the feeding area to be separated from housing, keeping it free from manure and urine. A automatic two-hole waterer was also installed.
What Farmers Are Saying
“The big parts go up fast, but the little details take awhile. Thank you again for your patience!”
- Beverly, Cattle farmer, Virginia
Add a caption – Adjustable side curtains, and gates make this structure adaptable to provide for summer shade and winter warmth and grouping by age wean needed.
