A brown and white calf lying down ini a pile of hay next to a silver fence.

Centerville, PA

Sweet Dreams

Did you know the welfare of a calf in its first 3 months has an impact on her success years later? Providing a dairy farm with calf hutches, large calf bottles and hay racks, Kinder Ground supported the farms’ transition to safer and comfortable housing for calves, encouraging adoption of social housing and improved feeding practices.

Hero-Arrow-Beige-Green
A before and after collage of the Sweet Dreams project implementation. The before photos show young calves in dark pens, the after photos show calves in hutches with small fenced in outdoor areas.

The Goal:

Improved Housing and Feeding

Funding provided: $3,835

The farms' original housing set-up was a patchwork of gates, fences and trailers, as the farm had grown from milking 25 cows to 50. This made everything from feeding, cleaning and caring for calves harder. One of the consequences was high morbidity (50%) and mortality (>20%) in the young calves.

Working with his dairy processor welfare specialist, the farmer developed a calf housing strategy that would help get calves off to a better start and be flexible enough to let them try and implement paired housing and feeding hay.

The Outcomes:

Starting on the right foot… hoof

Early experiences and nutrition for calves impacts their health and welfare today and into the future.

A brown and white calf with their head outside their pod-like shelter nudges a water dispenser with their nose.

What Farmers Are Saying

“The new set-up works great! Calves look great, no calves have been sick which makes things even easier. The kids take care of feeding calves, and this makes it easier and safer for them too.”

- Adin, Dairy Farmer, Pennsylvania

Support farmers. Support animals.

Sleep well knowing that Kinder Ground has a 100% donation guarantee which means your whole contribution goes toward helping farmers & animals.

Scroll To Top