Post-parturition isolation pen

Calves are most vulnerable in their first few days of life. Therefore, it is highly recommended that single pens or individual sheds be provided. Neither should there be any calving cows or other older animals in a post-parturition isolation pen.

Advantages

Advantages of separate housing in individual boxes are: 

• limits risk of passing on diseases
• convenient monitoring of health, feed intake and digestion
• better protection against draughts
• limits licking and sucking between the animals
• easy way of creating dry and clean prostrate place using mesh grills under the straw

Requirements

The following requirements are specified: 

• dimensions: 60 – 75 cm wide and 1.30 cm long
• removable mesh grill with a mesh width of 2.5 cm
• mesh grill should be at least 15 cm above the floor
• height of side wall is approx. 110 cm above the mesh grille
• side wall should be of smooth, polished material (easy to clean)

Front area

The front area should be placed in such a way that there will be space for: 

• weaning bucket for storage feed (weaning nipple ± 60 to 70 cm above the grille)
• trough for concentrates (possibly mixed with alfalfa)
• bucket for drinking water
• a hay rack on the partition wall

Boxes should be situated in such a way that it will be easy to walk behind the calves for inspection purposes. Placing the boxes in two or more groups will make it possible – depending on the farm size – to adopt an “all in/all out” system.
The individual boxes can be placed both in a closed pen as well as in an open pen (for example, below a shed with a roof).


Calf igloos

In many cases, a good alternative to a post-parturition isolation pen is to install external hooks or “calf igloos”. Here, calves can be accommodated throughout the entire milking/feeding period.

Points of attention:

• the person responsible for the calves must take care of them in all types of weather
• feeding roughage and concentrates requires extra attention
• there must be a hard floor with a slope for convenient removal and collection of liquid manure, dung and rain water
• the opening of the igloo should face south or south-east, or be at a maximum of 3 m from the pen wall
• the change-over from igloo (outdoors) to the young cow pen (indoors) may cause problems, especially if the young cow pen does not have a very good climate.

Rearing pen

After a stay of approx. 14 days in the individual boxes, the calves are moved to the rearing pen. Group penning can be best applied here, with groups consisting of four to six calves in uniform groups. A hay rack, concentrate trough and drinking trough (or nipple) are needed for every pen. If milk is supplied through a calf bar, one nipple is sufficient per group of three or four calves. The four feedstuffs (milk, water, roughage and concentrates) should be placed close to each other.

Options for group housing:

Group pen with straw

• pen surface area per calf ± 2.5 m2 (the standard is 1.5 m2, but in practice this is too small)
• self-feed rack 35 to 40 cm wide per calf
• depth of pen 300 to 350 cm
• a leak-proof partition wall of 1.20 m high between the group pens

Group pen with a common bed

• pen surface area per calf ± 1.5 m2
• raised bed against the rear wall of the pen
• protected area for eating and free movement with grille floor (mesh width 3 cm)
• depth bed 1.6 m
• slope, from bed to the mesh grille floor, of 3 cm per metre
• rear wall of bed 12 cm above the grill
• depth of covered yard 2 m
• the self-feed rack needs to be 35 to 40 cm wide per calf

Group pens with lying boxes

• dimensions should be the same as in the case of group pens with bed
• lying boxes instead of collective bed
• dimensions of lying boxes: 0.5 – 2 months: 70 x 130 cm   and    2 – 4 months: 80 x 160 cm
  
   

 
Young heifer pen

When the calves are moved from the rearing pen to the young heifer pen, group penning with lying boxes is generally preferred. In this phase of life, group pens with fully grilled flooring are forbidden. The following table shows a summary of the guidelines for the dimensions of young heifer housing.

Summary guidelines dimensions young heifer housing

Source: IKC