Cows and Calves

mark 6910

Hello I keep weanling heifers and I am thinking of going into cows and calves. I was wondering how many cows and calves you would fit in a 3 bay double slatted shed

DBB

Moving to farming forum.
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Farmer Pudsey

mark 6910 wrote: »

Hello I keep weanling heifers and I am thinking of going into cows and calves. I was wondering how many cows and calves you would fit in a 3 bay double slatted shed

What size slats. Slurry capacity may be more of an issue than physical pens. It would depend wheather cows were big Cont sucklers pr handy traditional breeds

Feckthis

well mark, you might not be able to keep the calves on the slats. A straw bedded shed is usually suited better to Sucklers. How many you thinking of getting?

towzer2010

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

What size slats. Slurry capacity may be more of an issue than physical pens. It would depend wheather cows were big Cont sucklers pr handy traditional breeds

Agree with pudsey. It all depends on pen size and cow size. Mine is a 14'6" slat but 8 cows is the max for me.

Unless you have a creep no calves should be allowed on slats with cows imo.

Kovu

H Mark, welcome to boards!

We always have a few early calves that end up on the slats for a few months. There's always a risk of chills from the draughts coming up under them & I have witnessed two neighbours calves getting half their cloot ripped off when it got stuck in the slat

I would never put them on slats unless there is an area in the back to close them up into, away from the barrage of cows at the front. Even a crate of some form works well but still isn't ideal. We've used old ring feeders with an entrance cut out as a successful area to bed two calves.

As mentioned above, it's very hard to know how many you'll fit wthout a few more details;
What are the pen sizes & the depth of the tank?
What breeds are you hoping to go for? You'll fit more traditional/cont's with dairy breeding behind them into a pen than full cont's.
Have you a calving area in the back or a holding area in each pen that can be closed off 24/7 for calves to lie?

Parishlad

towzer2010 wrote: »

Agree with pudsey. It all depends on pen size and cow size. Mine is a 14'6" slat but 8 cows is the max for me.

Unless you have a creep no calves should be allowed on slats with cows imo.

8 cows seems a lot. Also have 14'6'' slats and would only put 6 cows in. Have big continentals though. Its not so much that there wouldn't be room for more (space wise) I just find that they are more agitated and more likely to be pucking each other when the pen is any fuller.
Fully agree with no calves on slats unless they can access a creep.

towzer2010

Parishlad wrote: »

8 cows seems a lot. Also have 14'6'' slats and would only put 6 cows in. Have big continentals though. Its not so much that there wouldn't be room for more (space wise) I just find that they are more agitated and more likely to be pucking each other when the pen is any fuller.
Fully agree with no calves on slats unless they can access a creep.

Ya when there is 8 in the pen its well full but as I said that's the max. Wouldn't be 8 in all pens. The pen size is around 16'5 x 16'5 because I've an 2' extra at the feed barrier. Was supposed to stop them pulling feed in on the slats. Don't notice them being more agitated really but I have a bold cow pen where all the bullies go.

Parishlad

towzer2010 wrote: »

Ya when there is 8 in the pen its well full but as I said that's the max. Wouldn't be 8 in all pens. The pen size is around 16'5 x 16'5 because I've an 2' extra at the feed barrier. Was supposed to stop them pulling feed in on the slats. Don't notice them being more agitated really but I have a bold cow pen where all the bullies go.

Yep, bold cow pen here too!

mark 6910

I built a 3 bay double shed with lieback area and I put 5 cows in each pen and the calves can go in and out between the slats and the lieback area

Sami23

Should be able to fit 6 cows in a pen.